SERIES PAGE

Rev Racing stresses quality

2012-01-27T15:41:00.000-05:00

Rev Racing stresses quality over quantity in 2012 Drive for Diversity class

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
(January 27, 2012)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- At first glance, the most striking aspect of NASCAR's 2012 Drive for Diversity class is its size -- six drivers.
A closer look, however, reveals the top-to-bottom quality of the program's smallest class to date. The size of the class doesn't reflect a shrinking of the talent pool; rather, it represents a paradigm shift in the direction of the program.
Rev Racing (formerly Revolution Racing), which will field four teams in NASCAR's K&N Pro Series East this season, is channeling its efforts toward a smaller number of drivers at a higher level of racing in order to expedite their progress.
"We took a hard look at how we can accelerate the development, and concentrating the resources at the higher series and continuing to bring in the highest caliber talent was the route to go," Rev Racing team owner Max Siegel told the NASCAR Wire Service.
Ryan Gifford, 22, from Winchester, Tenn., is back for a third season with Rev Racing, and he can appreciate the shift in focus.
"I think that concentrating their efforts on a smaller group is going to be really good from a competition standpoint, and I can only look for better things than last year," said Gifford, who in 2010 became the first African-American driver to win a pole in the East Series.
Gifford has another reason for optimism. Rev Racing placed three drivers in the top 10 in the East Series last year, headed by second-place Darrell Wallace Jr., winner of three races, and Sergio Pena, also a three-time winner. Together they won six of the 12 East races last year.
Wallace expects to make his first start in the NASCAR Nationwide Series with Joe Gibbs Racing, and Pena earned an East Series ride with Hattori Racing Enterprises for 2012. Paulie Harraka, another D4D alumnus, will compete for the Sunoco Rookie of the Year award in NASCAR's Camping World Truck Series for newly formed Wauters Motorsports.
Gifford is gratified to see drivers emerge from the D4D pipeline into series that will bring them national exposure.
"To me, it shows that there are team owners out there who are looking for young drivers and wanting to put somebody younger in the sport, to bring new faces to the sport other than just recycling the same drivers over and over," Gifford told the NASCAR Wire Service.
In addition to Gifford, the 2012 class includes Jorge Arteaga, 25, from Aguascalientes, Mexico; returnee Mackena Bell, 21, from Carson City, Nev.; Trey Gibson, 19, from Easley, S.C.; Bryan Ortiz, 22, from Bayamon, Puerto Rico; and Kyle Larson, 19, from Elk Grove, Calif.
Bell and Gibson will race in the Whelen All-American Series for late models at a variety of tracks in the Southeast. The other four drivers will compete in the K&N Pro Series East.
Larson, who won 22 open-wheel features last year, finished third in the Jan. 14 Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Okla., beating NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart and NASCAR Nationwide Series titlist Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the process.
To Siegel, the selection process for the 2012 class was more difficult than ever.
"What we are seeing is that the quality of the applicants is going up exponentially," Siegel said. "There were some people who pretty quickly distinguished themselves, but when we got to selecting the class, it was tough, because we had some pretty great people."
In addition to training drivers, the program also strives to bring diversity to the NASCAR garage through efforts to train and place crew members.
"We've placed 18 women or people of color over the last two years throughout the entire series, ARCA to Sprint Cup," Siegel said. Phil Horton (Rev Racing's strength and conditioning coach) is running the program.
"That was actually the first program that we brought in-house, training and actively out there placing. That program's been sailing along pretty great for the last three years."

NASCAR, Rev Racing Announce 2012 Team

2012-01-26T15:03:00.000-05:00

NASCAR, Rev Racing Announce 2012 Team

NASCAR Drive For Diversity Initiative Building Off Historic Season

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 26, 2012) — NASCAR and Rev Racing announced today the six drivers that will compete for Rev Racing in the 2012 season. The announcement was made during the preseason NASCAR Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway stop at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, where the drivers were introduced.
Rev Racing, formerly known as Revolution Racing, operates under the ownership of Max Siegel and will field four teams in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and two teams in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.
“We have a great lineup of drivers,” said Siegel, owner and CEO, Max Siegel, Inc. “They offer an outstanding mixture of skill, experience and talent. Together with our championship winning crew chiefs and leadership, we are extremely excited about what the 2012 season has in store.”
The team is coming off the most successful season in the history of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity, which is entering its ninth season as NASCAR’s leading on-track initiative. Rev Racing collected six wins in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and had three drivers finish in the top 10 in series points last year.
The drivers (Twitter handle in parentheses) who will compete for Rev Racing in 2012 include:
Jorge Arteaga (@JorgeArteaga46) – Arteaga, 25, from Aguascalientes, Mexico, will run his first full season in NASCAR K&N Pro Series. He competed in NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Models for Rev Racing last season, and also drove in the NASCAR Mexico Series, where he was voted Most Popular Driver by the fans.
Mackenna Bell (@MackenaBell) – Bell, 21, from Carson City, Nev., will be in her third year with Rev Racing having competed in both the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series and NASCAR K&N Pro Series. This will be her second full-time season in Late Models.
Trey Gibson (@TGibsonRacing) – The 19-year-old from Easley, S.C., will enter his second season driving a Late Model with the team after finishing seventh in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series South Carolina standings last year.
Ryan Gifford (@RyanGifford2) – The 22-year-old driver from Winchester, Tenn., will return to the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East for his third full-time season in the series. He became the first African-American in series history to win a pole award in 2010 and has finished in the top 10 in the standings in each of his two seasons with Rev Racing.
Kyle Larson (@KyleLarsonRacin) – The 19-year-old open-wheel standout from Elk Grove, Calif., will move into the NASCAR K&N Pro Series ranks after he became the first driver to win a World of Outlaws race and score victories in all three USAC divisions in the same season last year.
Bryan Ortiz (@BryanORacing) – The Bayamon, Puerto Rico native will move up to NASCAR K&N Pro Series from Late Models in his second season with Rev Racing. The 22-year-old has a strong road-racing background and will also compete in select events in the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.
The Twitter hashtag for Thursday’s announcement and throughout the season is #D4D2012.
“The NASCAR Drive for Diversity initiative achieved unprecedented success in 2011 on the race track, and created momentum for driver advancement to opportunities beyond the program,” said Marcus Jadotte, NASCAR vice president of public affairs and multicultural development. “In 2012, our partnership with Rev Racing will continue to deliver best in class driver development opportunities to the outstanding group of drivers announced today.”
The four NASCAR K&N Pro Series drivers will compete in the East, which opens its season at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 17. Bell and Gibson will compete in the Late Model division at multiple NASCAR Whelen All-American Series tracks in the southeast.
The year-long NASCAR Drive for Diversity consists of three training and development components: classroom, physical fitness and racing. Additionally, an interactive fan engagement asset travels throughout the country to educational institutions and racing venues as part of the Fueling Dreams Tour, which uses a combination of iRacing simulators, show cars, deejays, driver meet/greets and career panels.
The Rev Racing team drivers were chosen after they competed in the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Combine last fall. This driver assessment event brought selected drivers together to demonstrate their abilities in a head-to-head evaluation session both on and off the track.
Toyota, Sprint and Goodyear are the primary partners supporting Rev Racing and NASCAR Drive for Diversity.
Complete information on the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and NASCAR Whelen All-American Series is available at NASCARHomeTracks.com or by following @NASCARHomeTrack (hashtags: #KNEast & #NWAAS); Rev Racing’s official website and Twitter is RevRacing.net and @RevRacin; information on the NASCAR Drive for Diversity can be found at NASCARDiversity.com or on Twitter @NASCARDiversity.

Agreement Establishes First NASCAR Series In Europe

2012-01-14T08:35:00.002-05:00

Partnership With EURO-RACECAR Announced

Agreement Establishes First NASCAR Series In Europe

By Jason Cunningham, NASCAR

January 13, 2012 - 4:30pm
Tweet DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) and Team FJ has announced a licensing agreement that recognizes EURO-RACECAR as a NASCAR touring series.
EURO-RACECAR opened the Autosports International show in Birmingham, England with the announcement. EURO-RACECAR is registered as a FIA International Series that contests races in England, France and Spain. It is under the management of Team FJ, which founded the series in 2009. EURO-RACECAR will become the third international series to fall under the NASCAR touring banner – joining the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series and NASCAR Mexico Series – and the first outside of North America.
“We are proud to welcome EURO-RACECAR to our family of NASCAR regional tours in the U.S., Canada and Mexico,” said George Silbermann, NASCAR vice president for regional and touring series. “Fans can enjoy the excitement of great stock car racing in locations across Europe, while talented drivers take the important first step on NASCAR’s ladder system.”
“Obviously, it’s a great day for everyone who has participated in the RACECAR Series adventure.” said Jérôme Galpin, originator of the series. “Fans, drivers, sponsors, officials, teams, circuits, they all were a part of the series development. Joining NASCAR means entering a great family where key words are passion, professionalism and commitment. Beyond the recognition, this agreement is a fantastic boost for our series to become one of the main motorsport series in Europe.”The race cars of EURO-RACECAR are spec stock cars that feature a tubular chassis and fiberglass bodies with Chevrolet V8 engines that generate 450 horsepower and run on green E10 race fuel. The 2012 schedule features eight regular-season races – primarily on road courses – from April through July with a playoff consisting of a semifinal round in September and the championship in October.
The first race under the NASCAR banner will be on April 8 in Nogaro, France while first oval event will take place at Tours Speedway – a temporary urban short track – in France on July 7.
The 2012 EURO-RACECAR champion, runner-up and third-place drivers will be recognized along with the Most Popular Driver and Rookie of the Year at the postseason NASCAR Night of Champions Touring Awards Gala, which honors the top performers from each of NASCAR’s other six touring series.

112 Cars Expected To ‘Roar’ At Daytona

2012-01-05T16:58:00.000-05:00

112 Cars Expected To ‘Roar’ At Daytona In Final Test For 50th Rolex 24

New Daytona Prototypes, Ferraris, Audis Part Of 57-Car Rolex Series Entry

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 5, 2012) – There will be no trophies handed out or champagne sprayed at the end of the day on Sunday at Daytona International Speedway, but GRAND-AM Road Racing teams are treating this weekend’s Roar Before the Rolex 24 At Daytona testing as seriously as any event on the 2012 schedules.

Fans can get a glimpse into the future beginning on Friday in the three-day test session, the final tune-up for Rolex Sports Car Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge teams before the 50th Anniversary of the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the start of the 2012 racing season.

A strong turnout of 57 Rolex Series and 55 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge cars are entered, including top drivers and teams in a variety of new cars.

Corvette Daytona Prototypes from Action Express Racing, SunTrust Racing, Spirit of Daytona and GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing head a 14-car DP turnout which will also include a look at new Riley DPs from Michael Shank Racing and defending Rolex 24 and Rolex Series champions TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.

DP entries have also been filed from Starworks Motorsport, Doran Racing Krohn Racing, and 50+ Racing/Predator.

The GT class will have a strong presence as well with 40 cars entered. Extreme Speed Motorsports, AF Waltrip, Risi Competizione and AIM Autosport Team FXDD will shake down the new Ferrari 458 Italia Grand Am, while APR Motorsport and Oryx Racing will debut customer entries in the Audi R8 GRAND-AM.

Defending GT class champions Leh Keen and Andrew Davis return with Brumos Racing and will be joined by endurance racing legend Hurley Haywood in the No. 59 Porsche GT3.

Joey Hand and Graham Rahal will again join defending Rolex Series champs Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas in the No. 01 TELMEX BMW/Riley, while the team's second car will be driven by international racing superstars Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, Juan Pablo Montoya and former Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray.

Other drivers with NASCAR ties expected to attend include Boris Said (No. 94 – Turner Motorsports), Max Papis (No. 9 – Action Express Racing), Colin Braun (No. 76 – Krohn Racing), Michael Waltrip (No. 56 – AF Waltrip), Jeffrey Earnhardt (No. 15 – Rick Ware Racing) and Michael McDowell (No. 6 – Michael Shank Racing). Reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year winner Andy Lally moves to the Rolex Series full-time in 2012 and will be piloting the No. 44 Porsche GT3 for Magnus Racing.

Hollywood actor Patrick Dempsey (No. 40 – Dempsey Racing) and AC/DC lead singer Brian Johnson (No. 50 – 50+ Racing/Predator) will also take their passion of sports car racing to the high banks of Daytona.

World Series pitcher C.J. Wilson (No. 03 C.J. Wilson Racing) and GRAMMY Award-winning music producer Jim Jonsin (No. 07 Rebel Rock Racing) are part of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge test, while Multimatic Motorsports and drivers Joe Foster and Scott Maxwell will debut the new Aston Martin Vantage eligible for GS competition.

Testing is open to the public, running from 9 a.m.-5:15 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $15 per day. Ticket holders for the 2012 Rolex 24 At Daytona and children 12 and under will receive free admission. In addition to the testing sessions, there will also be open garage access as well as fan forums, pit stop demonstrations and tech talks.

NASCAR Champions In Uptown Charlotte

2011-12-10T08:05:00.002-05:00

NASCAR Champions In Uptown Charlotte

Getty Images for NASCAR
December 2011 -

The annual gathering of NASCAR champions is an opportunity for the drivers who achieved the highest honor in their respective series to share stories of their season and bond over their common success. The Champions Week kicks off with the annual Champions photoshoot.
This year, NASCAR and Getty Images captured the championship drivers in the NASCAR regional touring series -- German Quiroga (NASCAR Mexico Series), Scott Steckly (NASCAR Canadian Tire Series), Ron Silk (NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour), George Brunnhoelzl III (NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour), Greg Pursley (NASCAR K&N Pro Series West) and Max Gresham (NASCAR K&N Pro Series East) -- and the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion Philip Morris with the Uptown Charlotte skyline as their backdrop.

NASCAR Announces 2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Schedule

2011-11-21T09:11:00.002-05:00

NASCAR Announces 2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Schedule

A Return To Rockingham, Two Trips To Iowa Short Track Highlight 18th Season

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Nov. 21, 2011) – NASCAR announced today the 2012 schedule for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, highlighted by the sport’s return to historic Rockingham Speedway for the first time since 2004 and a number of familiar venues known for the typically intense battles among the tough trucks.

“The 2012 schedule has a great mix of tracks that will continue to deliver great racing for our fans," said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR senior vice president of racing operations. "We're excited to bring the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series to the famed Rockingham Speedway, along with the addition of a second date at Iowa Speedway. Looking ahead, interest in the truck series continues to grow in a number of different markets and we’re excited about what the future holds for next season and beyond.”

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will race at Rockingham for the first time in its 17-year history, marking the first time the 1.017-mile track will host a NASCAR national series race since February of 2004.

Next season’s schedule, which features 22 races, opens with the traditional Daytona International Speedway Friday night bout, on Feb. 24. The championship will once again be decided at the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 16.

With a nod to the sport’s – and the series’ – roots, the trucks will race on short tracks five times, at three different tracks, next season. Martinsville Speedway hosts the first short-track event, on March 31, with a return engagement on Oct. 27.

Iowa Speedway, the popular 7/8th-mile short track, also hosts two NASCAR Camping World Truck events next season – on July 14 and Sept. 15. Bristol Motor Speedway’s high banks will hold its traditional Wednesday night show, on Aug. 22.

For the third consecutive season, the series will race at the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway triangle for its fast 50-lapper.

For more information, contact:

Amanda Ellis, NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications, (704) 930-1240 or aellis@nascar.com

2012 NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES SCHEDULE

Date Site Network

2/24 Daytona International Speedway SPEED

3/31 Martinsville Speedway SPEED

4/15 Rockingham Speedway SPEED

4/21 Kansas Speedway SPEED

5/18 Charlotte Motor Speedway SPEED

6/1 Dover International Speedway SPEED

6/8 Texas Motor Speedway SPEED

6/28 Kentucky Speedway SPEED

7/14 Iowa Speedway SPEED

7/21 Chicagoland Speedway SPEED

8/4 Pocono Raceway SPEED

8/18 Michigan International Speedway SPEED

8/22 Bristol Motor Speedway SPEED

8/31 Atlanta Motor Speedway SPEED

9/15 Iowa Speedway SPEED

9/21 Kentucky Speedway SPEED

10/6 Talladega Superspeedway SPEED

10/13 Las Vegas Motor Speedway SPEED

10/27 Martinsville Speedway SPEED

11/2 Texas Motor Speedway SPEED

11/9 Phoenix International Raceway SPEED

11/16 Homestead-Miami Speedway SPEED

Keselowski wins at Homestead as Stenhouse clinches Nationwide title

2011-11-19T21:42:00.000-05:00

Keselowski wins at Homestead as Stenhouse clinches Nationwide title

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(November 19, 2011)

HOMESTEAD, Fla.—Polesitter Brad Keselowski may have won Saturday’s Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but Roush Fenway Racing had a better night, winning two Nationwide Series championships in one race.

Keselowski held off a furious charge from series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on the final lap to secure his fifth victory of the season and the 17th of his career.

Third-place finisher Carl Edwards clinched the owners’ championship for Roush Fenway, leading the most laps and finishing two positions ahead of Denny Hamlin’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, which entered the race with a one-point lead.

“What an effort, champion,” spotter Mike Calinoff radioed to Stenhouse after Keselowski blocked a last-ditch attempt at a pass.

Keselowski, the 2010 Nationwide champion and current Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifier, wasn’t allowed to defend his title under a NASCAR rule—new this year—that prevents a driver from competing for a championship in more than one series.

“You couldn’t ask for a better way to end the season,” Keselowski said. “Not being able to win the championship, it’s good to be able to finish on a high note, winning the pole and the race at Homestead. It’s a great exclamation point to the season for the whole team.”

Long before Keselowski crossed the finish line, however, Stenhouse, 24, clinched the Nationwide Series championship. When the number of cars retired from the race reached six on Lap 28 of 200, Stenhouse was guaranteed the 37th-place finish he needed to lock up the title.

As it turned out, he ran much better than that.

“That was all I had,” Stenhouse said of the final lap. “I was really hoping for one more lap there, but Brad did a good job. I got a little loose there coming off (Turn) 4, or I thought we could have got him. But the (No. 6) Mustang did its job at Ford championship weekend.

“This is a dream come true.”

The title in hand, Stenhouse stepped up his effort as the race unfolded. After the sixth caution, for Steve Wallace’s spin in Turn 1, Stenhouse passed fourth-place finisher Clint Bowyer for the lead on Lap 155 and began to pull away. But teammate Trevor Bayne scraped the wall and cut his right rear tire to put the field under yellow again on Lap 174.

Pit stops under caution shuffled the field, and a problem with lug nuts on the right rear tire dropped Edwards back to sixth. Moments after a restart on Lap 180, however, Edwards rocketed into second place and went on to secure the owners’ championship for the No. 60 Ford.

Keselowski grabbed the lead on that same restart and stayed out front until Reed Sorenson’s spin in Turn 2 slowed the field for the eighth time.

Edwards passed Keselowski for the top spot on a Lap 187 restart, but the race didn’t stay green for long. Separate incidents on Lap 188 involving Danica Patrick and Kenny Wallace brought out the ninth caution, and Edwards led the field back to green on Lap 194, before Keselowski made the winning pass shortly after the restart.

FORD 300 Race Winner: Brad Keselowski

2011-11-19T21:17:00.002-05:00

Race Fast Facts
Homestead-Miami Speedway
17th Annual FORD 300
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sat, November 19, 2011 @ 07:25 PM Eastern
Race Winner: Brad Keselowski
Age: 27
Team : No. 22 - Discount Tire Dodge
Owner: Roger Penske
Crew Chief: Todd Gordon
Brad Keselowski won the 17th Annual FORD 300, his 17th victory in 168

NASCAR Nationwide Series races.
This is his fifth victory and 21st top-10 finish in 2011.
This is his first victory and third top-10 finish in six races at

Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (second) posted his second top-10 finish in

two races at Homestead-Miami Speedway.  It is his 26th top-10 finish in 2011.
Carl Edwards (third) posted his sixth top-10 finish in seven races

at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wins the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship

by 45 points over Elliott Sadler.
Timmy Hill wins the 2011 Sunoco Rookie of the Year.

FORD 300 Pole Winner: Brad Keselowski

2011-11-19T16:46:00.000-05:00

Qualifying Fast Facts
Homestead-Miami Speedway
17th Annual FORD 300
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sat,

November 19, 2011 @ 02:16 PM Eastern
Coors Light Pole Winner: Brad Keselowski
Age: 27
Team : No. 22 - Discount Tire Dodge
Owner: Roger Penske
Crew Chief: Todd Gordon
Brad Keselowski won the Coors Light Pole Award for the

17th Annual FORD 300 with a lap of 32.208 seconds, 167.660 mph.
This is his 12th pole in 168 NASCAR Nationwide Series races.
This is his fourth pole and 23rd top-10 start in 2011.
This is his first pole in six races at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Elliott Sadler (second) posted his 25th top-10 start of 2011

and his fourth in six races at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Carl Edwards (third) posted his seventh top-10 start at

Homestead-Miami Speedway.  It is his 31st in 33 races this season.
Points leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. qualified fourth.

CAMPINGWORLD TRUCKS CHAMPION AUSTIN DILLON

2011-11-19T09:00:00.001-05:00

Championship Fast Facts
UPDATED
Provided by NASCAR Statistics – Friday, November 18, 2011
Driver: Austin Dillon
Team: No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet
 This is Austin Dillon’s first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship. His previous best championship finish was fifth, in his Sunoco Rookie of the Year-winning season.
 At 21 years, six months and 22 days, Dillon becomes the youngest champion in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series history.
 Dillon is the first driver to follow up his Sunoco Rookie of the Year season with a championship the following season. He is the third ROY overall to win the championship (Greg Biffle, Travis Kvapil).
 Dillon finished the 2011 season with two wins, 10 top fives and 16 top 10s.
Team: Richard

Dillon wins truck title despite valiant run by race winner Sauter

2011-11-19T05:37:00.002-05:00

Dillon wins truck title despite valiant run by race winner Sauter

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(November 18, 2011)

HOMESTEAD, Fla.—Austin Dillon withstood a strong challenge from race winner Johnny Sauter to win the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship in Friday night’s Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

NASCAR called the event with 15 laps left with Sauter in the lead and Dillon in 10th place, giving Dillon, 21, the youngest champion in series history, a six-point edge over Sauter in the final series standings.

Dillon is the first driver in series history to win the rookie of the year title in his first full season and the series championship the following year.

“I remember my first championship with Dale Earnhardt,” said team owner Richard Childress, Dillon’s grandfather. “I had the same feeling tonight watching my grandson.”

“You can’t go out of the truck series any better than this,” said Dillon, who will graduate to the Nationwide Series with RCR next year.

Denny Hamlin finished second in the No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports truck, followed by Kevin Harvick, Nelson Piquet Jr. and Joey Coulter, who won the 2011 rookie of the year title. Coulter is a teammate of Dillon’s at Richard Childress Racing.

Early in the race, patience was a virtue for Dillon, who steered clear of potential complications and found a comfortable place to run at or near the back of the top 10.

As the race progressed, so did Dillon, who had worked his way into the second position behind Sauter before Ross Chastain’s spin on Lap 96 caused the fourth caution of the evening. The subsequent restart, however, brought more stress than Dillon ever could have expected.

Dillon fell back to 15th, fearing that he might have a problem with the right front fender on the No. 3 Chevrolet. Shortly thereafter, Sauter clinched most laps led, putting Dillon in danger of losing the championship if he lost more positions by the end of the race.

But Dillon drove back to the 10th position before rain halted the race on Lap 119 of 134 with Sauter in the lead.

“The fender got bent in—I don’t know how it happened,” Dillon said. “I didn’t hit anybody on the track, but I think it happened on pit road. We got real tight once I got back there (in traffic). I think it was more on the conservative side when I was three-wide. We were three-wide in the middle, and to force a spot right there was not worth it.”

Sauter, who won his second race of the season and the fourth of his career, wasn’t aware of how far behind Dillon had fallen on the restart.

“I had no clue,” said Sauter, who won more than one event in a season in a top NASCAR touring series for the first time in his career. “Not one time tonight did they tell me where the 3 truck was. It didn’t really matter where he was running. We knew what we had to do, and that was lead the most laps and win the race.

“It’s a huge accomplishment, coming out here and doing what we needed to do. Six points is a bummer. You can think back on the season—dominating Kentucky, broke an axle, 20 to go, leading the race; ORP (Indianapolis), leading the race, flat tire; the lane violation at Texas, 22 points; six points at Pocono. You can go down the list—but everybody can. That’s just racing.”

Notes: Greg Biffle and Travis Kvapil won rookie of the year honors and truck series championships, but not in consecutive years. Biffle accomplished the feat in 1998 (rookie) and 2000. Kvapil was rookie of the year in 2001 and champion in 2003. … Harvick had clinched the owners’ championship with his No. 2 truck before the series arrived at Homestead.

Hornaday to drive for Joe Denette Motorsports in 2012

2011-11-18T17:45:00.002-05:00

Hornaday to drive for Joe Denette Motorsports in 2012

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(November 18, 2011)

HOMESTEAD, Fla.—Four-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. will drive for Joe Denette Motorsports in 2012, the driver and owner Joe Denette announced Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The agreement with Denette—a one-year deal with an option year—will keep Hornaday in a Chevrolet and will reunite him with crew chief Jeff Hensley, who started the 2011 season with Hornaday at Kevin Harvick Inc. but finished the year with KHI driver Nelson Piquet Jr.

Hornaday will drive the No. 9 truck, with sponsorship still to be determined. According to Denette and Hornaday, the deal came together very quickly.

“I signed the contract at 9:05 (Thursday) night,” said Hornaday, who found himself in the job market when team owners Kevin and DeLana Harvick decided to sell their truck series assets to Eddie Sharp Racing and to merge their Nationwide Series program into Richard Childress Racing.

Hornaday, who has a series-best 51 truck victories, was scheduled to make his 300th start in the truck series in Friday night’s Ford 200 at Homestead. Denette, on the other hand, is already looking ahead to the first race of 2012, at Daytona.

“I want his 301st race to be the first victory for Joe Denette Motorsports,” Denette said. “The way I actually look at it, I feel like I’m taking up where Kevin Harvick left off. To me, he’s one of the best in the series, and if you can take up where he left off, you’re doing nothing but good.”

Driver/TV reporter Hermie Sadler has been overseeing team operations for Denette, who credited Sadler as the catalyst for putting the deal together with Hornaday.

“About a month ago, myself and Hermie started discussing it,” Denette told Sporting News. “He says, ‘What do you think?’ I’m like, ‘Why not? We can put it together. We can put the truck on there.’ He said why not get an experienced driver, which I feel like Ron’s got plenty of experience.

“He’s got championships. He knows how to race, and all through my watching the truck series, it’s always ‘Ron Hornaday is the master of restarts.’ If you’ve got two laps to go, and it’s a restart, that’s who you want up there in front.”

Denette has fielded the No. 23 Chevrolet for Jason White this year. As of Friday, White, who carries the GunBroker.com sponsorship with him, hasn’t told Denette whether he plans to return next year. If White returns, Denette will run two trucks in the series.

“Honestly, I talked to Jason earlier today, and he pretty much said he’s not sure what they’re doing next year at all,” Denette said. “He is more than welcome to join us again. If he does, he does. If he doesn’t—sorry, he doesn’t, and he’ll be the competition.”

Hornaday said he had gotten three calls this week from Rick Ren, general manager at Kyle Busch Motorsports, about driving for Busch next year. Two weeks ago at Texas, Busch wrecked Hornaday under caution and knocked the 53-year-old driver out of contention for the series championship.

Hornaday, however, said he couldn’t see himself driving anything but a Chevrolet. KBM runs Toyotas in the truck series.

“I wouldn’t know even where the distributor cap is on another manufacturer,” Hornaday said.

As far as the Texas incident itself, Hornaday says that’s in the past. Busch was parked for the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races that weekend and subsequently was fined $50,000 and placed on probation by NASCAR.

Busch is driving only in the Sprint Cup race this weekend.

“That’s behind us,” Hornaday said. “Can’t do nothing about it. For one thing, he’s not running the truck race, so I really can’t do anything. Only kidding. I can see that in bold print: ‘Hornaday threatens Busch.’ ”

After his 2010 failings, Stenhouse appreciates 2011 success more

2011-11-18T08:54:00.001-05:00

After his 2010 failings, Stenhouse appreciates 2011 success more

By Lee Montgomery
Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(November 17, 2011)

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said he'd be more aggressive in this weekend's Ford 300 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, having taken a fairly comfortable 41-point lead in the NASCAR Nationwide Series points standings.

But if you read that as a young driver being unnecessarily risky, you haven't been paying attention. Maybe there was a time when the aggressive Stenhouse would take too many chances, but that was before he nearly lost his ride last year.

"Ricky Stenhouse, a year ago, was just a possibility," Roush Fenway Racing co-owner Jack Roush said. "He was not a reality for sure. Ricky has matured over the winter. His Dad, Ricky Sr., has certainly counseled him, and Ricky Jr., has taken his advice."

And now, the 24-year-old Stenhouse Jr. is on the verge of a Nationwide Series championship, as he needs only to finish 37th or better at Homestead to eliminate Elliott Sadler.

Stenhouse has talked openly about nearly losing his job a year ago after a difficult beginning of the 2010 season. But Roush stuck with him, though Stenhouse said the turnaround actually began at Daytona last July—the first race with the new Nationwide Series car.

"I don't think a light switch went off between last year and this year," Stenhouse said. "I think it started about Daytona, July, of last year. Everything started clicking. I think our racecars got better, our engines got better. I feel like our team was strong. I feel like I probably let them down a lot of times. I think I learned more patience and to stay focused through the races better and better at every race.

"That carried over to this year. Up and down in this sport is how it has always been, and it doesn't matter if it is growing up racing Sprint Cars at the dirt track or up here in this league. The up and down is part of it, but I think that it really makes me appreciate this year a lot more. I think if we were to be in this situation last year, I wouldn't have appreciated it as much as I do now."

Stenhouse has won twice this year, both times at Iowa Speedway, and has 15 top-five and 25 top-10 finishes. None of those totals leads the series, as Sprint Cup drivers Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch have eight wins apiece, while Edwards—Stenhouse's Roush Fenway teammate—has 22 top-five and 26 top-10 finishes.

But Edwards and Busch and other Cup drivers aren't eligible for the Nationwide title this year after NASCAR demanded that drivers pick one series in which to earn points.

That doesn't diminish the championship in the least, Stenhouse said.

"I don't think so," Stenhouse said. "We are sitting third in owners points and we are up there with the other guys. We are running with those other guys every week. At Iowa we beat Brad (Keselowski) and Carl so I don't think it takes anything away from it. We are working really hard to win this deal. It is not easy. I don't think it takes away from it at all."

Dillon keeps championship nerves at bay by staying busy

2011-11-16T20:59:00.002-05:00

Dillon keeps championship nerves at bay by staying busy

By Jared Turner

Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(November 16, 2011)

All told, it has been a fun week for NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points leader Austin Dillon.

Following the truck series' most recent race held two weeks ago at Texas Motor Speedway, Dillon stayed in the Lone Star State a few extra days to explore one of his favorite pastimes: Deer hunting.

This past Sunday, the 21-year-old attended a game in Charlotte, N.C., between the National Football League's Carolina Panthers and Tennessee Titans.

On Monday, Dillon was back in the woods hunting again—only this time closer to home in Lewisville, N.C.

The grandson of legendary team owner Richard Childress admits he's deliberately been trying to stay busy to keep his nerves calm before leaving for South Florida to hunt his most coveted prize yet: the 2011 truck series title.

"I'm doing a little bit of everything to try and keep my mind off of what's coming up, but I've also been studying a lot on last year's (Homestead) races and trying to get as prepared as I can going into Friday night," Dillon said. "I feel like I'll be fine once I get in the truck but the nerves will run right up until then."

Dillon can become the series' youngest ever champion by finishing 16th or better; 17th or better with at least one lap led; or 18th or better with the most laps led in Friday night's season-ending Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The only drivers with a mathematical shot of leapfrogging Dillon are Johnny Sauter, who is 20 points out of first, and third-place James Buescher, 28 points in arrears.

A Dillon title would be RCR's first in trucks since Mike Skinner won the championship in the series' inaugural season of 1995.

Dillon claimed truck rookie-of-the-year honors in 2010 and continued his steady progression this season, which started off a bit shaky but has produced two wins and stellar consistency down the stretch run.

A championship would be the culmination of a spectacular finish for the driver who is moving up in 2012 to a full-time Nationwide Series ride also fielded by RCR.

"It will definitely be the biggest racing moment of my career and probably one of the happiest moments of my career, too," Dillon said. "Especially as tough as the truck series is this year—there's great competition out there—it would be unbelievable."

But Dillon, whose family knows a thing or two about running for championships (Childress won six in the Sprint Cup Series with the late Dale Earnhardt), is taking nothing for granted.

Dillon's grandfather and father, RCR vice president of competition Mike Dillon, are particularly on edge as the weekend approaches.

"I'm more worried about my grandfather and my dad getting sleep," Austin said with a laugh. "I'm fine. I'm ready to go win the race. I feel like we'll be just fine and that whatever happens it's God's will. It's out of our hands."

Two Championships To Be Decided at Season Finale

2011-11-16T14:54:00.001-05:00

Two Championships To Be Decided at Season Finale

After 33 competitive races, at 24 different world-class venues that included an international track, two NASCAR Nationwide Series championships are on the line as the NASCAR Nationwide Series heads to South Florida for the Ford 300 on Saturday, Nov. 19.

Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 60 team is a scant one point behind Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 team in the NASCAR Nationwide Series owner championship standings. Only one finish guarantees the No. 18 a championship – a victory on Saturday. Both teams have eight wins, but the No. 60 has nine second-place finishes (the No. 18 has five) – giving the No. 60 the tie-breaker.

Joe Gibbs has tasked Denny Hamlin with driving the No. 18 Toyota and holding off Carl Edwards, who will drive Jack Roush’s No. 60 Ford. JGR would set a new series record if it is able to capture its fourth consecutive owner title.

Edwards and the No. 60 team won at Homestead in 2008, but JGR’s No. 18 team have been stellar at Homestead the last three seasons finishing second in 2008 and winning in 2009 and 2010 with Kyle Busch behind the wheel. Hamlin has made five series starts at Homestead, posting two top fives and three top 10s. Hamlin has an average finish of 13.2 at Homestead while Edwards has an average finish of 5.7.

While the owner championship has grown tighter, the driver championship opened up last Saturday at Phoenix, Roush Fenway Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. leads second-place Elliott Sadler by 41 points. Stenhouse has the opportunity to clinch the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver championship with a finish of 37th or better; or 38th or better with at least one lap led; or 39th or better with most laps led at Homestead.

Though the stats favor Stenhouse, Sadler isn’t conceding the trophy. Anything can happen, as evidenced by Stenhouse’s 38th-place finish earlier this season at Talladega and three other results of 38th or worse in 72 career series starts.

Last season Stenhouse posted a fourth-place finish in his series track debut at HMS.

Championships Not The Only Story at Homestead-Miami Speedway

With one race left on the docket, it is no surprise a lot of the teams are already beginning to look toward next season. But while some are looking ahead, others are trying to end 2011 on a positive note.

The series all-time starts leader, Kenny Wallace, currently sits seventh in the standings. If he can stand pat, this will be his best points finish since he was seventh in 2005.

But Wallace has work to do. Michael Annett, after last week’s top-10 finish at Phoenix, moved from 10th to eighth in the standings, 34 points behind Wallace in seventh.

In 11th place is Trevor Bayne. The 2011 Daytona 500 champion has had a roller-coaster season. Bayne, 20, ran the first eight races, posting one top five and five top 10s, and was fifth in the driver standings. Then he suddenly was sidelined for six races because of health issues. The absence from the series dropped him from fifth to 16th – 56 points out of 10th place.

Despite his championship hopes for the season being dashed, Bayne returned to the series after being cleared by doctors, and did so in impressive fashion. In his series return, he finished third at Chicago, then went on to post three top-five and eight top-10 finishes.

The culmination of Bayne’s comeback came at Texas when he claimed his first career series victory in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Rookie Of Year Standings Get Hot In South Florida

White sandy beaches, warm sun and a season finale to remember await Sunoco Rookie of the Year contenders Timmy Hill and Blake Koch.

Rookie standings leader Ryan Truex will not be participating this weekend, which leaves the door wide open for Hill and Koch to perform well and make a run at Truex’s lead. Truex (188) holds a three-point lead over second-place Hill and third-place Koch, a West Palm Beach native, who both have 185 points.

Though Truex does lead the standings but isn’t in the season finale doesn’t mean he can’t retain the honors.

NASCAR Nationwide, Etc.

Along with Turner Motorsport’s driver James Buescher, Brazilian native and former F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr. will be running double-duty in both the NCWTS and NNS races this weekend at Homestead. … Milestone Watch: Danica Patrick will attempt to make her 25th series start, Joe Nemechek will attempt to post his 75th top-five and 125th top-10 series finish and Justin Allgaier will attempt to post his 50th top-10 series finish. … MAKE Motorsports owners Mark Beaver and Tracy Lowe will run a special paint scheme on the No. 50 car as a tribute to Staff Sgt. Christopher Newman. He was killed in a suicide-bomb raid on a bus in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Oct. 29, 2011. … As part of the ‘ExtenZe Local Hero’ program, Kevin Conway is stepping up to assist the Miami-Dade Police Department in the unsolved homicide case of Coral Gables Police Officer Walter Stathers. Conway’s No. 87 ExtenZe Toyota will carry an image of Officer Stathers along with MDPD contact information.

Dillon Controls Championship Destiny In South Florida Finale

2011-11-16T11:56:00.004-05:00

Dillon Controls Championship Destiny In South Florida Finale

Twenty-four races down and three competitors are still standing – the largest championship contingent entering a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series finale since 2003.

The title is 21-year-old Austin Dillon’s to control. He holds a 20-point advantage over Johnny Sauter and leads James Buescher by 28. Ron Hornaday Jr. is 48 points behind and will be eliminated when Dillon takes the green flag in South Florida.

Dillon guarantees himself his first championship by finishing 16th or better; or 17th or better with at least one lap led; or 18th or better with the most laps led in Friday night’s Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Dillon – or Buescher, also 21 – would become the youngest champion in the series’ 17 seasons. Travis Kvapil, winner of the 2003 championship in a four-way, final-race battle with Brendan Gaughan, Ted Musgrave and Dennis Setzer, was 27 years old.

The grandson of Richard Childress, Dillon would be the second champion to sit in RCR’s black No. 3 Chevrolet. Skinner became the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ first titleholder in 1995, edging Joe Ruttman by 127 points.

Here’s what the contenders are saying:

• Dillon, who would become the first to win a championship and rookie of the year in consecutive seasons: “The pressure isn’t too bad, actually. I know we have a great truck and I have a very capable team. We know we are capable of doing what we need to do there.”

• Sauter, 10 times the points leader: “All you can ask for is a shot and I’m privileged right now. That’s the coolest thing about racing. You never know how it’s going to turn out.”

• Buescher, who has battled back from his failure to qualify for the season’s second race: “We’re going with one goal, which is to win the race. We know we have to get the most points we can in order to have a chance to win the championship.”

• Hornaday, who will make his final start for Kevin Harvick, Inc., where he won championships in 2007 and 2009: “It would be really great for us to … give Kevin and DeLana one last trip to Victory Lane.” Hornaday won in Miami in 2002.

No Single Path Leads To This Year’s Sunoco Rookie Crown

Creation of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series provided a place to race for drivers from a variety of motorsports disciplines. The three finalists for this year’s Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award may be the most varied contingent yet.

• Miami-area resident Joey Coulter, 21, won two World Karting Association titles before graduating to stock-type car racing. He is the rookie leader, by five points, entering the finale.

• Nelson Piquet Jr., 26, made 28 starts in the Formula One world championship.

• Cole Whitt, 20, is the 2008 U.S. Auto Club national midget champion. He trails Coulter by 10 points in a competition based upon each rookie’s best 14 finishes.

Coulter and RCR teammate Dillon can achieve a sweep of rookie and championship awards done just once by the same organization. Roush Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle and Kurt Busch won championship and rookie of the year, respectively, in 2000.

Race A Building Block For Those Who Came Up Short

This season’s a closed book for most, but it’s never too soon to begin building momentum for 2012. The Ford 200 offers that potential for several likely to be title contenders next season.

• Timothy Peters has ranked among the top five in the championship since race No. 11, winning once.

• Two-time Miami winner Todd Bodine has one final chance to preserve a streak of at least one win in every season since 2004.

• Matt Crafton won in Iowa and led the points standings three times.

• Parker Kligerman had back-to-back second-place finishes at midseason.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Etc.

Hornaday and Setzer are set to become the third and fourth drivers to compete in 300 series races. ... The season ends at Homestead for the 10th consecutive season. This year’s NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champions Awards Banquet will be held Monday, Nov. 21, at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel.

Sam Hornish, Jr.

2011-11-12T21:35:00.002-05:00

(PHOENIX, Ariz.) – Sam Hornish, Jr., already a two-time winner at Phoenix International Raceway in the Indy Racing League, became the first-ever driver to win at PIR in both an Indy Car race and a major NASCAR event. He finished first in the NASCAR Nationwide Series WYPALL* 200 at the newly repave and reconfigured 1-mile oval.

Hornish left pit road in second place in his Alliance Truck Parts Dodge after a two-tire, yellow-flag stop on lap 133. On the following restart, he surged past leader Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., from the outside lane. He survived three more restarts to best second-place finisher and teammate Brad Keselowski to deliver the 10th career win at PIR to car owner Roger Penske. Penske has owned eight Indy car winners at Phoenix, including the last by Hornish in March 2005. Rusty Wallace contributed the other NASCAR win in the Sprint Cup Series in 1998.

Hornish was excited about PIR’s new banking and backstretch dogleg. From victory lane, he roared, “I love the new track I think it’s the greatest thing ever!” Later he said, "The way you could pass people in the dog leg and drive way down on the flat and do things like that was wild. I knew we had a good car and I knew we would run strong."

Stenhouse went on to finish fifth today and all but lock up the 2011 Nationwide Series title. He leads Elliott Sadler by 41 points with one race remaining. Stenhouse led 73 laps today, more than any other driver, in his Ford Drive One Ford but couldn't hold off Hornish in turn 1 when the most critical move of the race took place on a lap 140 green flag.

The championship hopes of Sadler all but died and those of pole sitter Aric Almirola officially ended in a three-car wreck on lap 177. Sadler, on the inside of the track coming off turn 2, drove quite low and came up in front of Almirola and Jason Leffler as the three battled for spots in the top 10. Leffler tapped Sadler, slid into Almirola, and all three hit the turn 3 wall. Veteran Morgan Shepherd also was collected in the crash that brought out a red flag for 11 minutes and 27 seconds.

Sadler, who finished 27th, blamed Leffler, saying, "The number 38 (Leffler) just run right into the back of us. Not much respect for guys running for the championship." Leffler took full responsibility, noting, "It’s tough back there because when a guy slides across there he clears you but it kills off (his) momentum. He’s (Sadler) a good driver, smart driver. So obviously he lifted early to keep from blowing the corner."

Almirola, who harbored a slim chance to stay in NASCAR Nationwide Series contention, started as if he wanted to run away with today's race. He led the first 66 laps until overtaken by series points leader Stenhouse.

Joey Logano, driving the No. 18 Game Stop Call of Duty MW3 Toyota, had his sights set on Carl Edwards in the World Financial Group Ford. While Kyle Busch mostly has piloted his car this year to within two owner points of Edwards' Fenway-Roush Racing machine, it was left to Logano to try to catch Edwards today. He couldn't quite make it, finishing in fourth place, one spot behind Edwards. However, the owner points remain an open question as the Teams head to Homestead-Miami for next week's 2011 finale.

Several drivers from today's race – Edwards, Logano, Clint Bowyer, and Joe Nemechek – will stick around for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt Tools 500 at PIR, which will go a long way in determining the season's champion. Edwards leads Tony Stewart by three points.

Hornish wins at Phoenix; Leffler KO’s Sadler's title hopes

2011-11-12T18:33:00.002-05:00

Hornish wins at Phoenix; Leffler KO’s Sadler's title hopes

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(November 12, 2011)

AVONDALE, Ariz.—Sam Hornish Jr. cruised to his first Nationwide Series victory Saturday as Elliott Sadler’s championship hopes crumbled behind him.

Taking the lead after a two-tire stop on Lap 131 put him on the front row, Hornish held off teammate Brad Keselowski to win the Wypall 200 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Carl Edwards ran third, followed by Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who all but locked up his first series championship with one race left.

The victory was Hornish’s first in NASCAR racing, but the driver of the No. 12 Dodge scored two IndyCar Series wins at the one-mile track.

Sadler, who entered the race 17 points behind Stenhouse, saw his championship hopes disappear on Lap 175. After cutting across the backstretch dogleg, Sadler moved back up the track well clear of Jason Leffler and polesitter Aric Almirola, who were racing side-by-side.

At the entrance to Turn 3, a tap from Leffler’s Chevrolet spun Sadler, whose No. 2 Chevrolet slammed into the outside wall, collecting Almirola in the process. Morgan Shepherd’s Chevrolet was destroyed when the 70-year-old driver got up into the marbles trying to avoid the wreck. Sadler finished 27th and trails Stenhouse by 41 points.

The race was less than a lap old when an eight-car wreck in Turn 3 ruined Danica Patrick’s day. Patrick backed into the outside wall and lost three laps to Almirola, who led the first 66 laps, as her car was being repaired. She finished 21st.

Almirola surrendered the top spot to Stenhouse on Lap 67. Stenhouse pulled out to a lead of more than two seconds before caution for D.J. Kennington’s collision with the Turn 2 wall on Lap 84 bunched the field.

Stenhouse stayed out front after pit stops and again pulled away after a restart on Lap 91. Keselowski passed Almirola for the second spot on Lap 107 but couldn’t close significantly on Stenhouse, who maintained an advantage of approximately three seconds as the top two cars worked traffic.

A violent wreck on Lap 130 involving Derrike Cope and Mike Bliss brought out the fourth yellow. Stenhouse was first off pit road under the yellow, and Sadler gained eight positions with a two-tire stop. He restarted fifth behind Stenhouse, Hornish, Keselowski and Logano when the field took the green flag on Lap 140.

Hornish powered around Stenhouse to the outside to take the lead, but the race was yellow-flagged for the fifth time on Lap 143 when contact from Steve Wallace’s Toyota sent James Buescher’s Chevrolet spinning into the frontstretch wall.

After the restart on Lap 151, Hornish opened a margin of more than a second over Keselowski, who surged from sixth to second in the space of two laps and then began to close on his Penske Racing teammate.

Bayne aims to ride Texas momentum into Phoenix

2011-11-11T10:54:00.001-05:00

Bayne aims to ride Texas momentum into Phoenix

By Lee Montgomery
Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(November 9, 2011)

Trevor Bayne did OK putting the controversy from the Talladega Sprint Cup race behind him, scoring his first Nationwide Series race at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend. So how does he handle success? We'll find out this Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway, which hosts the Nationwide Series Wypall 200. "We try not to feed off the negative things, and we know we're going to be back to a positive day," Bayne said of Talladega, where he was roundly criticized for abandoning the draft of Jeff Gordon late in the race. "With that said, when we do have good days, we do ride that a little bit more." Interestingly, Phoenix was also the next race after Bayne won the Daytona 500 in February. But he hopes to do better this time, as he crashed in both Cup and Nationwide races there after his popular Daytona victory. "I finally got my first career Nationwide Series win at Texas last weekend, so I am ready to ride that momentum into Phoenix this weekend," Bayne said. "I feel like we have another fast car for this race and I am looking forward to competing against the best in the series. "As a team, our confidence is sky high right now and I am pretty sure we are going to stay aggressive with our strategy going into this race. It's all about putting ourselves in position to win races and I think we have finally figured out how to do that on a consistent basis." Staying aggressive is a message crew chief Chad Norris has tried to instill in Bayne recently. Norris has even had Bayne watching film of past races, getting him to work on his driving style much the same way a football coach has a player watch film to study himself. "That's been important," Bayne said, "and I've been able to (apply) it to every track." Norris' message at Texas was to have a "sense of urgency." Bayne had it at the end of the race, battling past teammate Carl Edwards to win on a late restart. That's just how Bayne won a short-track race at Myrtle Beach, S.C., four years ago, when he restarted fourth on a green-white-checkered finish. "That's one that's always stood out in my head," Bayne said. "That's the driver that I want everybody to know I can be, that I can go get it done at the end." And that's what Norris wants out of Bayne in the final two races of the season. "We need to continue to do that to finish the season on a high note," Norris said. "I believe in Trevor and I believe in our team. It was only a matter of time before we put it all together." Now, they hope to do it again.

Fast facts

What: Wypall 200

Where: Phoenix International Raceway; Avondale, Ariz.

When: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN2, 3 p.m. ET

Radio: MRN-Sirius/XM Satellite Ch. 90

Track layout: 1-mile oval

Race distance: 200 laps/200 miles

Qualifying: Saturday, 12:05 p.m. ET

2010 winner: Carl Edwards

2010 polesitter: Joey Logano

Points standings: 1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 1,138; 2. Elliott Sadler, 1,121; 3. Justin Allgaier, 1,039; 4. Aric Almirola, 1,039; 5. Reed Sorenson, 1,034; 6. Jason Leffler, 978; 7. Kenny Wallace, 925; 8. Brian Scott, 909; 9. Steve Wallace, 886; 10. Michael Annett, 884.

NATIONWIDE SERIES REVIEW

2011-11-09T14:53:00.001-05:00

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

Roush Fenway Closing In On Stellar Season

With two races left and championships among drivers and owners hanging in the balance, there may be an air of confidence resonating from the Roush Fenway camp heading to Phoenix.

Jack Roush leads all owners with nine NASCAR Nationwide Series wins at the track, including this race last year. Carl Edwards, the 2007 series driver champion, has won the last three November races at Phoenix.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. leads the driver standings by 17 points over Elliott Sadler, who’s the only competitor who can catch Stenhouse. After Texas, the last of the drivers who were mathematically eligible for the championship were eliminated. Stenhouse’s 14 top-five and 24 top-10 finishes lead the series. He also has two wins, which is best among driver championship contenders.

Speaking of Texas, Stenhouse’s teammate Trevor Bayne was able to capture that elusive first NASCAR Nationwide Series victory, something he felt he needed to do to validate his surprising Daytona 500 win to start the season.

Momentum continues to roll after Edwards took another step toward reeling in the owner championship he missed in 2007 when Richard Childress Racing earned that title. Edwards, the driver of the No. 60 Ford for all but one race this year, moved his team to within two points of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota following Texas. Kyle Busch has manned the No. 18 for the majority of the season; however the Phoenix event wasn’t on his original 22-race schedule. Joey Logano will be in the No. 18 at Phoenix.

Should Stenhouse and the No. 60 prevail at season’s end, it would be a first in NASCAR national series history if the same owner captured two different championships in the same series.

Knotted Up: Rookie Race Could Be Closest Ever

With so much drama surrounding the driver and owner championship chases, the closest race for a post-season award may come down to the series’ Sunoco Rookie of the Year.

Danny O’Quinn edged John Andretti by one point in 2006. This season’s race is closer still.

After closing to within one point of leader Timmy Hill following the fall race at Charlotte last month, Blake Koch finally pulled even with Hill following Texas. It marked the first time Koch has caught the leader and, save for his one-point differential after Charlotte, the closest he’s been to the top since being two points out after the spring race at Phoenix and after the Kansas race. That race marked the series debuts for both Koch and Hill – Koch didn’t have a ride for Daytona and Hill hadn’t yet turned 18.

It’s not just a two-man race, however. Ryan Truex will run his last scheduled race of the year at Phoenix. Truex is third, only two points behind Koch and Hill. He could still be in the mix following his final series race of 2011.

The award is based on accumulating points and also via vote by a Rookie of the Year panel that weighs on and off track elements. A full explanation of the Sunoco Rookie of the Year scoring system – along with former award winners – can be found on page 35 of the 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series media guide.

Phoenix A Homecoming For Patrick

Although a native of Illinois, Danica Patrick now calls Phoenix home. Saturday, she’ll have the opportunity to race at her home track and continue building on her NASCAR learning curve.

Following the end of the IndyCar season, Patrick returned to stock-car racing last week at Texas, where she finished 11th. Her weekend was topped off by the announcement of her 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule, including her series debut at the Daytona 500. Patrick is now a full-time NASCAR driver and will embark on her first full season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2012 in addition to her 10-race Cup schedule.

In her first foray into NASCAR in 2010, Patrick ran in 13 races with a best finish of 19th at the season finale at Homestead-Miami. After 10 of her scheduled 12 events this year – she’ll close out her 2011 schedule once again at Homestead – Patrick has shown dramatic improvement, posting one top five and three top-10 finishes. Her fourth-place finish at Las Vegas was the best ever by a female in NASCAR national series competition. She was 11th last week at Texas, her best finish since the July race at Daytona (10th).

Patrick finished 32nd in this race last year and improved to 17th in the spring race. Her start Saturday will give Phoenix the distinction as one of two tracks where she’s run the most in her NASCAR career – she’s also started three races at Daytona.

CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES REVIEW

2011-11-09T10:55:00.001-05:00

Dillon Poised To Be Series’ Youngest Champion

A solid performance at Texas was pivotal for Austin Dillon in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship hunt – and he delivered.

Dillon – who had an average finish of 18th at Texas heading into the Friday’s night event – finished second and increased his standings lead to 20 points over competitor Johnny Sauter and 28 points over James Buescher.

If Dillon can hold on to the top spot in the series finale in two weeks he will become the youngest NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion at 21 years of age.

However, he would not stop writing the history books there.

He would also become the first driver to win the Sunoco Rookie of the Year title and win the series championship the following year.

Sunoco Rookie of the Year Battle Heats Up

Which driver will be crowned the 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year champion is still to be determined and the battle is a tight one.

With no one driver holding an advantage:

Joey Coulter currently holds point by five points over second place contender Nelson Piquet Jr. while Cole Whitt finds himself a mere 10 points out of the top spot.

Coulter has garnished four top-five and 12 top-10 finishes to Piquet’s five top-five and nine top-10 finishes in 24 races. Whitt is the only rookie contender to win a pole, but has only two top-five finishes.

Ironically, all three drivers are currently ranked eighth -10th in the series standings respectively.

Up Next: Homestead

Following an open week on the schedule the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will return to action on Friday, November 18 at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Ford 200-final event of the season.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competitors James Buescher, Ricky Carmichael and Ron Hornaday will compete in this weekend’s NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Phoenix International Raceway for Turner Motorsports.

Hornaday has two truck series victories at the 1.0-mile oval.

Trevor Bayne parlays late restart into first Nationwide win

2011-11-05T17:33:00.000-04:00

Trevor Bayne parlays late restart into first Nationwide win

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(November 5, 2011)

FORT WORTH, Texas—Nearly nine months after winning the Daytona 500 in his first attempt, Trevor Bayne finally got his first victory in NASCAR’s second-tier series.

Bayne powered past Roush Fenway teammate Carl Edwards after a restart on Lap 194 of 200 and held off hard-charging Denny Hamlin for the victory in Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge Nationwide Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Bayne crossed the finish line .142 seconds ahead of Hamlin, who started from the rear of the field after Kyle Busch, scheduled to drive the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, was parked for the weekend for wrecking Ron Hornaday Jr. in Friday night’s truck series race.

Edwards, who dominated the event until the final caution flew on Lap 189, after Jason Leffler scraped the Turn 4 wall, came home third, followed by Clint Bowyer and Brad Keselowski.

Coincidentally, Texas was the track where Bayne first started feeling sick in April from what was assumed to have been an insect or tick bite. Illness sidelined the 20-year-old driver for approximately six weeks, and during that time he underwent extensive tests for what he believes was Lyme disease.

For Bayne, 2011 has been a year of extreme highs and lows—from the Daytona 500 win to the illness to intense criticism two weeks ago at Talladega for breaking a promise to drafting partner Jeff Gordon to Saturday’s maiden win in the Nationwide Series.

“I don’t know if you could script a story like the year I’ve had,” Bayne said. “It’s crazy to think only one year ago I was making my first Cup start (at Texas). To come back to Texas and get our first Nationwide win, this is a place I’m going to love from now on.”

Series leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished sixth and expanded his margin to 17 points over polesitter Elliott Sadler, who finished ninth.

Bayne pushed Edwards out front on the Lap 194 restart, then ducked inside his teammate and fought for the lead. One lap later, he secured the top position and held it the rest of the way, as Hamlin passed Edwards for second in the closing laps.

“Going into the last restart, I knew that our car was going to be really strong for a short run,” Bayne said. “We were able to push Carl out front, and once he got out front, we actually cleared the 18 (Hamlin). Had I not cleared the 18, I don’t know if we could have won the race, but fortunately we had enough power to get by him and get to the bottom and get on Carl’s left rear a little bit and get by him.

“These are the kinds of (races) you’ve always wanted to win as a driver. That’s the driver I want everybody to know that I can be, the guy that can get it done at the end, and I’m glad that we were finally able to do that.”

Notes: Danica Patrick ran 11th in her first Nationwide start since Oct. 8 at Kansas. … Kenny Wallace finished 13th in his series-record 520th start. … Bayne’s victory enabled Ford to clinch the Nationwide Series manufacturers’ championship. … The win was the 299th for Roush Fenway Racing in NASCAR’s top three series combined. … Bayne tied the record for least laps led by a Texas winner—six. … Edwards led 157 laps, the second-most laps he has led in a Nationwide race he didn’t win. He led 160 laps two months ago at Richmond, finishing second to Busch.

O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge Winner: Trevor Bayne

2011-11-05T15:32:00.000-04:00

Race Fast Facts
Texas Motor Speedway
7th Annual O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sat, November 05, 2011 @ 03:24 PM Eastern
Race Winner: Trevor Bayne
Age: 20
Team : No. 16 - Roush Fenway Racing Ford
Owner: Jack Roush
Crew Chief: Chad Norris
Trevor Bayne won the 7th Annual O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge,

his first victory in 77 NASCAR Nationwide Series races.

His previous best finish was 3rd on multiple occasions most

recently at Charlotte several weeks ago. He won the 2011 Daytona 500.
This is his first victory and 13th top-10 finish in 2011.
This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in five races at

Texas Motor Speedway.
Denny Hamlin(i) (second) posted his fifth top-10 finish in eight races at

Texas Motor Speedway.  It is his fourth top-10 finish in 2011.
Carl Edwards(i) (third) posted his ninth top-10 finish in 14 races at

Texas Motor Speedway.
Blake Koch (22nd) was the highest finishing rookie.
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. leads the point standings by 17 points over

Elliott Sadler. He entered the race with a lead of 15.

Harvick wins at Texas, after NASCAR parks Kyle Busch

2011-11-05T08:41:00.002-04:00

Harvick wins at Texas, after NASCAR parks Kyle Busch

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(November 4, 2011)

FORT WORTH, Texas—Kevin Harvick did his best to take the drama out of Friday night’s WinStar World Casino 350K at Texas Motor Speedway, winning a two-lap shootout in his own No. 2 Chevrolet.

Most of the drama already had occurred, however, by the time Harvick took the checkered flag for his fourth NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win in nine starts this season, and one of the central figures in the action was Ron Hornaday Jr., who drives Harvick’s No. 33 Chevy.

Harvick powered across the finish line .294 seconds ahead of runner-up Austin Dillon, who extended his lead in the series standings to 20 points over second-place Johnny Sauter. Dillon’s brother, Ty Dillon, ran third, followed by Nelson Piquet Jr. and Matt Crafton.

James Buescher ran out of fuel under caution with three laps left, fell from second position to 18th and saw his title hopes all but evaporate with a 19th-place finish.

Long before Harvick collected his 13th victory in the series, NASCAR parked Kyle Busch for the rest of the race after a Lap 14 incident that started with Busch and Hornaday racing hard side by side and ended with Busch knocking Hornaday into the Turn 4 wall and out of the series championship battle.

Hornaday slid up into Busch as the drivers approached the slower truck of Johnny Chapman, and after the contact, Busch and Hornaday scraped the outside wall. Busch pursued Hornaday into Turn 4 and turned him hard into the outside wall.

“This is just stupid,” Hornaday fumed after the wreck. “He knew what I was going for. He knew I was there. He had to lift, too. If I’d have lifted, I would have hit the back of that slower truck and it would have caused a big wreck.

“He just drove me in the fence and ruined a pretty good racecar.”

Busch was unapologetic.

“If you consider that Ron was in the championship, maybe Ron could have played it a little bit smarter on (Lap 14) and checked up a little bit and given room to everybody around,” Busch said. “Obviously, if you make it a three-wide situation, I can’t go up in the dirt.

“I’m already on the outside lane. There’s not three lanes out there right now. … If I just lay over and give up everything for Ron Hornaday, that’s not Kyle Busch’s fashion. I’m out here to win the race as much as anybody else is. When he races up on my inside, gets loose and takes me up to the fence, I ended up losing my cool.

“I’ve been wrecked four weeks in a row, and finally I just had enough of it. I’m sorry it was Ron Hornaday. He’s going for a championship, but the fact of the matter is you can’t place all the blame on one person. There was two people that got into it to begin with, and there was two people that ended it.”

NASCAR officials met with Busch and Kyle Busch Motorsports general manager Rick Ren for three minutes after the race. Another meeting is planned for Saturday morning, likely before the first scheduled Sprint Cup practice at 9:45 a.m. ET.

“We met with Kyle, and we’re going to revisit with him in the morning,” NASCAR spokesperson Kerry Tharp said.

Hornaday also visited the NASCAR hauler after the race to express his opinion.

“The last five races before that, we gave each other room,” Hornaday said before he met with NASCAR officials. “He caught me—I let him go. I caught him—he let me go. All of a sudden, why did it change? I don’t know. I didn’t wake up on the wrong side of the bed. He did.

“He’s got to be parked. They did it to Harvick at Martinsville (in 2002, while Harvick already was on probation). If they don’t park him for the Cup race and the Nationwide race …”

To Hornaday, the circumstances were markedly different from Carl Edwards’ retaliation against Brad Keselowski in a Cup race at Atlanta last year, an incident that earned Edwards a three-race probation.

“This was a whole different points deal,” Hornaday said. “This was a yellow flag, (turned) when you’re not prepared and your heart’s not pumping and you’re going down the back straightaway, and all of a sudden you get turned directly into the fence.

“He lives too close to me. We’ll see what NASCAR does, and if they don’t handle it right, I’ll be at his house Monday morning.”

Harvick, who has been warned to stay away from Busch after both served probation for a postrace confrontation at Darlington in May, shared Hornaday’s sentiment.

“He’s going to grow up, or he’s going to have some swollen eyes,” Harvick said.

Notes: The victory gave Kevin Harvick Inc. the owners championship. ... Austin Dillon can clinch the drivers title with a finish of 16th or better in the season finale at Homestead. … Harvick led a race-high 61 of the 148 laps. Buescher led 56 laps. ... Ty Dillon, 19, was making his second truck start. He finished 18th last month at Kentucky in his debut.

WinStar World Casino 350k Pole Winner: James Buescher

2011-11-03T21:34:00.002-04:00

Qualifying Fast Facts
Texas Motor Speedway
13th Annual WinStar World Casino 350k
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Thu, November 03, 2011 @ 09:10 PM Eastern
Keystone Light Pole Winner: James Buescher
Age: 21
Team : No. 31 - Exide Chevrolet
Owner: Steve Turner
Crew Chief: Michael Shelton
James Buescher won the Keystone Light Pole Award for the

13th Annual WinStar World Casino 350k with a lap of 29.824 seconds,

 181.062 mph.
This is his third pole in 71 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races.
This is his third pole and 18th top-10 start in 2011.
This is his second pole in six races at Texas Motor Speedway.

He gets a TMS season pole sweep having won the pole here in June.
Austin Dillon (second) posted his 22nd top-10 start of 2011

and his fourth in four races at Texas Motor Speedway.
Blake Feese (third) posted his first top-10 start at Texas Motor Speedway.

 It is his first in nine races this season.
Nelson Piquet, Jr. (seventh) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

Kyle Busch hopes to get back to victory lane at Texas

2011-11-03T21:30:00.002-04:00

Kyle Busch hopes to get back to victory lane at Texas

By Lee Montgomery
Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(November 2, 2011)

For most drivers, a two-race losing streak at any particular track is simply the cost of doing business.

But Kyle Busch is clearly not most drivers—especially not at Texas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Busch won five in a row at the 1.5-mile track, but that streak was stopped by Carl Edwards last year. Busch lost again there in April, so he heads to Texas for this weekend's O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge on a rare two-race losing skid.

"We hopefully (have) at least a shot at it again this weekend," Busch said in an understatement. "I've been out of the Nationwide car a lot the last couple of weeks, so I'm looking forward to racing a lot this weekend and hope we can get our Camry to victory lane again at Texas."

Busch's winning streak at Texas matched the series record held by Jack Ingram at South Boston and Dale Earnhardt at Daytona for the longest at any track. It started in 2008, his first year with Joe Gibbs Racing, and continued through the first race there in 2010. He led an amazing 810 of a possible 1,000 laps during the streak, which ended last November despite leading a race-high 107 laps. He finished second to Edwards in that race and then crashed while fighting for the top spot just before the halfway point in April.

"It's been a team effort," Busch said of his Texas success. "(Crew chief) Jason (Ratcliff) and all those guys at Joe Gibbs Racing—the chassis guys, the body guys, the guys in the engine shop and everybody who makes this possible. It's just good racecars and good people. They work so hard and bring such good cars to the racetrack.

"It seemed like we couldn't do anything wrong at Texas in the Nationwide Series for a long time. Being able to win five in a row there was really quite an accomplishment. Hopefully, we can start another winning streak there this weekend."

A win would bolster the No. 18 team's chances in the Nationwide owners' championship race. The JGR team leads the No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing team—with Edwards as the main driver—by three points with three races remaining. JGR has won the last three Nationwide owner titles.

Busch has won eight times in 20 races in the 18 this season, but Ratcliff has had four other drivers in the car in 2011: Michael McDowell, Kelly Bires, Drew Herring and Joey Logano.

"I'm excited that we're even in position to do it with Kyle running such a limited schedule and we've had some young guys in the car this year," Ratcliff said. "We've had five different drivers in the car, so just to be in contention and be where we are, I'm really excited about that. …

"Kyle at Texas is always a winning combination and then Joey at Phoenix, I think we have a really good shot at it. After two weeks off, I think the guys are geared up and ready to close the deal."

Texas a great spot for Bodine to notch elusive first win of season

2011-11-02T21:54:00.002-04:00

Texas a great spot for Bodine to notch elusive first win of season

By Jared Turner

Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(November 2, 2011)

Reigning NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Todd Bodine doesn't know if he'll return to Germain Racing next season.

Bodine does know that wherever he lands for 2012, he won't be happy with another season like 2011.

With just two races left on the 25-race schedule, it's quite plausible that the two-time truck series champion will fail to reach victory lane just one season after collecting four wins in a runaway march to the title.

Hampered by sponsorship uncertainty, atypically average equipment and just plain old rotten racing luck, the best Bodine can realistically hope to finish in the standings is fifth—a far cry from 2010 when the veteran driver often ran roughshod over the competition.

But while he won't repeat as champion, Bodine would be hard-pressed to find a pair of tracks that play more to his favor than the two that remain on the 2011 schedule.

A six-time winner at Texas Motor Speedway, site of Friday night's WinStar World Casino 350k, Bodine has demonstrated a mastery of the l.5-mile oval like few others.

"When you go to a place that you know you can run well, you kind of have a little extra confidence knowing that you can go there and do it again," said the 47-year-old Bodine. "It's a place that we really look forward to going to."

Ditto for Homestead-Miami Speedway, site of the season finale on Nov. 18. Bodine has a pair of victories in six starts at the south Florida track, and could thus conceivably close out the season 2-for-2 after being denied victory in the first 23 events.

Win or not, Bodine is ready to put 2011 behind him.

What many prognosticators expected to be a repeat championship season quickly went south for the Chemung, N.Y., native when he recorded just one top-five finish in the first seven races.

By the start of the summer stretch, Bodine's title hopes were toast, and serious questions had emerged about whether lack of sponsorship would force him to abandon a full-time run.

But thanks to a sponsor-sharing partnership forged between Germain and Randy Moss Motorsports, Bodine wasn't forced to sit out a race. And his results have steadily improved since, with him recently moving all the way to sixth in the standings after spending much of the year outside the top 10.

Not that Bodine, a 21-time truck series winner, is ready to celebrate.

"We're not pleased at all with it. We're used to finishing in the top five every week," said Bodine, who has 11 top 10s but just five top fives in his 23 starts. "And to finish sixth and seventh and eighth and 11th and 12th, that's just not what we're about. It's not acceptable for the standards that we've set for ourselves. … We're not pleased with that performance at all."

Bodine isn't, however, overly concerned about the possibility of going winless for the first time in seven full seasons of truck series competition.

"You can't go to Texas or Homestead and put all that on your shoulders," he said. "You've just got to go there to try to do what you can do and win the race."

Fast facts
What: WinStar World Casino 350K
Where: Texas Motor Speedway; Fort Worth, Texas
When: Friday, 8 p.m. ET
TV: Speed, 7:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN/Sirius-XM Satellite Ch. 90
Track layout: 1.5-mile oval
Race distance: 147 laps/220.5 miles
Qualifying: Thursday, 8:10 p.m. ET
2010 winner: Kyle Busch
2010 polesitter: Matt Crafton
Points standings: 1. Austin Dillon, 811; 2. James Buescher, 800; 3. Ron Hornaday, 796; 4. Johnny Sauter, 796; 5. Timothy Peters, 763; 6. Todd Bodine, 744; 7. Matt Crafton, 720; 8. Joey Coulter, 719; 9. Cole Whitt, 715; 10. Parker Kligerman, 682.

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

2011-11-02T16:58:00.001-04:00

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

Patrick Begins Full-Time NASCAR Trek

Danica Patrick makes her return to the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Texas. But this time, the usual buzz that surrounds her is a bit bigger. This time, Patrick is now a full-time NASCAR driver, competing in the final three 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series races as she prepares to run the entire series schedule for JR Motorsports in 2012. In addition, she’ll run a limited schedule in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Stewart-Haas Racing.

Her start at Texas will be her ninth this year and her first since Kanas. Patrick has posted one top five and three top 10s in her previous eight races, including a fourth-place finish at Las Vegas that put her in the record books as the highest-finishing female in any NASCAR national series race.

In 13 races last year, her best finish was 19th at the season finale at Homestead-Miami.

Patrick finished 22nd last year at Texas in her series track debut. When she gets to Phoenix in two weeks – her city of residence – she’ll be running her third series race at the 1-mile track, her most starts at any NASCAR track other than Daytona.

Kenny Wallace To Become Series’ All-Time Starts Leader

This certainly will be a bittersweet week for Kenny Wallace. After cheering the improbable World Series comeback by his beloved St. Louis Cardinals, the popular NASCAR veteran is set to start the 520th race of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career at Texas, surpassing the previous mark of 519 held by his good friend Jason Keller. Wallace and Keller are the only drivers in series history to make over 500 starts.

His celebration will be tempered, however, due to the passing of his father Russ Wallace last weekend. Kenny Wallace, his brothers Rusty and Mike, nephew Steve and others in the Wallace family cite Russ, the family patriarch, as the conduit to their racing heritage.

Driving for independent owner Robby Benton and RAB Racing, Kenny Wallace is seventh in the driver standings as the series heads to Texas following consecutive open weeks. He’s aiming for his best points result since 2005 when he finished seventh driving for Greg Pollex.

Championships Come Down To Final Three Races

Not one but two NASCAR Nationwide Series championships are in question as the season comes down to its final three races. And the series’ Sunoco Rookie of the Year award chase involves three drivers separated by two points.

Not since 2005 and the standoff between Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer has the driver championship been this close this late. The “select-a-series” rule has done its job, making for exciting racing across all three NASCAR national series.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. holds a 15-point lead over second-place Elliott Sadler in the driver standings. It’s a nice margin, but consider that Sadler was 22 points out after Dover.

On the owner side, the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team has its ace back in the driver’s seat at Texas as 2009 series champion Kyle Busch returns. Joe Gibbs Racing – going for its record-breaking fourth consecutive series owner title – has a scant three-point lead over the No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing team, led by 2007 series driver champion Carl Edwards. The No. 60 has gained 47 points on the No. 18 since being 50 points behind the leader following the August race at Bristol.

Busch had won five consecutive races at Texas before Edwards won this event last year. Edwards also won the spring event at Texas this season.

Timmy Hill has a one-point edge over second-place Blake Koch in the Sunoco rookie race. Ryan Truex is third, two points behind Hill, but has just one more race on his 2011 schedule, next week at Phoenix. The closest series rookie award battle to date was a one-point result between Danny O’Quinn Jr. and John Andretti in 2006 where O’Quinn was the ultimate winner.

CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

2011-11-02T14:57:00.001-04:00

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

Texas Penultimate Race For Trucks

So it’s coming down to this for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2011. Two races remain, four drivers are in contention for the driver championship, one team is on the cusp of wrestling an owner championship away from the favorite and three drivers within nine points – two within four points – of the Sunoco Rookie of the Year award.

Texas Motor Speedway is the launching pad for the fireworks that are certain to explode on Friday night. Will points leader Austin Dillon further separate himself from the trio who’s chasing him or will he be brought ever closer to the pack for a one-race shootout at Homestead-Miami Speedway in two weeks?

Dillon, who was third at Texas in June, has an 11-point lead over Plano native James Buescher, who made a statement by winning the pole for the June race at his home track. Four-time series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. is third, 15 points behind Dillon after a recent tear that has seen him creep into contention after being 47 points out only five races ago. Johnny Sauter is fourth, also 15 points behind Dillon but the tie goes to Hornaday due to more wins.

One of Hornaday’s wins came at Texas in June, in big part due to Sauter being black-flagged on the final restart, giving Hornaday a clear route to Victory Lane.

Kevin Harvick can bring the series owner championship home to the No. 2 KHI Chevrolet at Texas, defeating his nemesis Kyle Busch and KBM Motorsports for that coveted award.

Not to be forgotten is an epic run for Sunoco Rookie of the Year where Joey Coulter has a four-point lead over Cole Whitt. Nelson Piquet Jr., one of the surprises of the 2011 series season, is still in the mix, nine points out.

Reigning Champ Bodine Searching For Elusive Win

It’s been a frustrating season for reigning series champion Todd Bodine. Not only is he on the outside looking in at a third truck series championship, but he’s yet to get to Victory Lane.

That is unusual for the Chemung, NY, native, who won six consecutive races at Texas from 2004-10 before Kyle Busch snapped the streak with a victory at the 1.5-mile speedway in this event last year. Then in June, Bodine watched helplessly after an accident on Lap 67 relegated him to a 31st-place finish at TMS, his worst result since 2009 when he finished 32nd at Bristol.

Bodine has won at least two races each season since 2004 – with a career-high of five in 2005 – but still is tracking down his first win of 2011 to keep that streak alive. His best finish has been third – twice – at Kansas and Bristol.

NCWTS Texas Etc.

David Starr – a Houston, Texas native – will be making his 289 series start on Friday for Green Light Racing. Starr is currently 13th in the series standings with two top-five and eight top-10 finishes this season.

Danica Patrick Goes All In

2011-11-02T13:13:00.000-04:00

Danica Patrick Goes All In

She’s back, and this time for good. Danica Patrick is now a full-time NASCAR driver, competing in the final three 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series races as she prepares to run the entire series schedule for JR Motorsports in 2012. In addition, she’ll run a limited schedule in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Stewart-Haas Racing.

Texas will be her 10th start this year and her first since Kanas where she finished 15th.

Patrick has posted one top five and three top 10s in her previous nine races, including a fourth-place finish at Las Vegas that put her in the record books as the highest-finishing female in any NASCAR national series race.

Patrick finished 22nd last year at Texas in her series track debut. Heading to the 1.5-mile speedway this weekend her pre-race Driver Rating is 51.6 and her Average Running Position is 29th.

When she gets to Phoenix in two weeks – her city of residence – she’ll be running her third series race at the 1-mile track, her most starts at any NASCAR track other than Daytona. Patrick finished 32nd at Phoenix and 19th at Homestead to close out the 2010 season.

Patrick continues to improve each time out, her season-to-date Driver Rating is 79.9 and average finish is 16.1 – both better than last season’s average finish of 28.0 and a Driver Rating of 51.7.

Championships Abound: Three-Race Showdown To Decide It All

Only three races are left for the top contenders in the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver and owner championships to showcase their talents and seal the deal on the 2011 titles. The spectacle couldn’t get any bigger as the series heads to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. Four heavyweights and two significant bouts – driver standings leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. vs. second-place Elliott Sadler and owner standings leader Joe Gibbs Racing vs. second-place Roush Fenway Racing – headline the bill this weekend.

The scene has been set for an epic final three races.

Not since 2005 and the standoff between Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer has the driver championship been this close this late. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. holds a 15-point lead over second-place Elliott Sadler in the driver standings. Which Sadler has closed from a 22 point margin after Dover.

Stenhouse has made three starts at Texas posting an average finish of 16.0. His pre-race Driver Rating is 98.0. While Sadler has made seven starts at Texas posting an average finish of 15.3 and a pre-race Driver Rating of 87.0.

On the owner side, all-time series wins leader Kyle Busch returns to pilot the No. 18 and Joe Gibbs Racing is going for its record-breaking fourth consecutive series owner title and has a scant three-point lead over the No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing team, led by 2007 series driver champion Carl Edwards. The No. 60 has gained 47 points on the No. 18 since being 50 points behind the leader following the August race at Bristol.

Busch had won five consecutive races at Texas before Edwards won this event last year. Edwards also won the spring event at Texas this season.

Kenny Wallace To Become All-Time Starts Leader In The NASCAR Nationwide Series

Kenny Wallace will break the NASCAR Nationwide Series all-time starts mark this week at Texas Motor Speedway with No. 520. Wallace will surpass his longtime friend Jason Keller (519 starts) for the all-time starts record.

Wallace is 13th on the all-time NASCAR national series combined starts list with 874 starts among NASCAR’s three national series – 519 NASCAR Nationwide; 344 NASCAR Sprint Cup and 11 NASCAR Camping World Truck. Wallace has made 15 series starts at Texas posting one top-10 finish.

“When I was growing up in St. Louis as a 12-year-old and you would have said, ‘Hey, Kenny, you’ll be racing in NASCAR until you’re 48 or 50,‘, that’s a dream,” Wallace said. “There have been a lot of bumps, but it’s been a dream life.”

NASCAR Nationwide Series Etc.

Currently Timmy Hill has a one-point edge over second-place Blake Koch in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year race. Ryan Truex is third, two points behind Hill, but has just one more race on his 2011 Joe Gibbs Racing schedule, next week at Phoenix. … The two Rusty Wallace Racing entries driven by Steve Wallace and Michael Annett as well as Kenny and Mike Wallace will honor the late Russ Wallace by displaying his name above their driver and passenger side doors. Russ, who passed away last weekend, was Rusty Wallace’s father and Steve Wallace’s grandfather. … Reed Sorenson will finish out the season with MacDonald Motorsports in the No. 82 Dodge. Sorenson currently is fifth in the driver standings and has run with MacDonald Motorsports since Kansas. … Brian Vickers, the 2003 series champion, will drive Sorenson’s former ride, the No. 32 Dollar General Chevrolet for Turner Motorsports at Texas, which is the home base for team owner Steve Turner. James Buescher, a native of Plano who is in the running for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship, will be in the No. 30 Chevrolet for Turner at Texas this weekend. … The No. 23 Chevrolet driven by Robert Richardson, Jr., a resident of nearby McKinney, will be sponsored by Tia Rosa's Tortillas, a division of the Bimbo Bakeries USA, with headquarters in Mexico. Takis, a product of Barcel, also a Hispanic-owned company, will adorn the car and show a different scheme than normal – black, blue, purple and red. … Texas serves as home base for sponsors for series drivers Blake Koch and Joey Logano. Koch’s DayStar Television Network sponsor is based in Bedford, while Logano’s GameStop sponsor is located in Grapevine. … David Ragan will drive the No. 08 Texas Tech University Ford this weekend for Randy Hill Racing.

Dillon’s Lead Grows: Championship Still Too Close To Call

2011-11-02T11:11:00.001-04:00

Dillon’s Lead Grows: Championship Still Too Close To Call

What a difference two years make.

Last season as well as in 2009, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points leader wrapped up the championship with a race remaining on the schedule.

That’s not likely to happen in 2011. With 15 points covering the top four title contenders it’s virtually assured the championship won’t be settled until the final lap of the last race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 18.

Austin Dillon, who would become the series’ youngest champion at age 21, carries an 11-point lead over James Buescher into the season’s 24th of 25 races on Friday at Texas Motor Speedway. Dillon extended his advantage with a third-place finish last weekend in Martinsville where Buescher was 10th.

“We were kind of worried going into today,” he said. “I’m looking forward to the next two races.”

Dillon has been hot and cold at Texas – and on the series’ 1.5-mile intermediate tracks where the championship ultimately will be decided.

• In three trips to Ft. Worth, he has a Keystone Light Pole and a third-place finish.

• He finished 25th in last fall’s WinStar World Casino 350k and 26th in June’s Texas race.

• Two of his four series victories have come on intermediate tracks at Las Vegas and in September at Chicago. Dillon has an average finish of 12.6 on 1.5-mile layouts.

Three Challengers Good At TMS But Is It Good Enough

Call it a good, old fashioned Texas shoot-out.

A posse of three is gunning for NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points leader Austin Dillon and if past performances mean anything, Ron Hornaday Jr., Johnny Sauter and James Buescher are at full gallop into Texas Motor Speedway.

• Hornaday, after a fifth title, is a three-time Texas winner including the track’s 2011 spring event. A victory would give the 53-year-old Californian a season sweep for the second time.

• Sauter had victory in sight in June – until he jumped the race’s final restart, was penalized and finished a frustrated 22nd. The Wisconsin native finished second in both Texas races a year ago.

• Buescher, a 21-year-old from Plano, Texas, sat on the pole in June and led three times before finishing ninth. Still looking for his first NASCAR national series victory, the Katy, Texas resident was sixth in both Texas stops in 2010.

With Dillon’s lead in double digits – and just a single point between finishing positions 2nd through 36th - each of the three faces the same challenge: win and collect the bonus points the victory carries. Hornaday and Sauter are under the greatest pressure trailing Dillon by 15 points apiece.

Waiting for the leader to stumble appears problematic at best. Dillon has finished third or better in three of his last six races.

Trio Of Texas Winners Complicate Championship Picture

Spoiler alert: Three of Texas Motor Speedway’s most prolific winners could have a significant impact on how the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship plays out this week.

Kyle Busch, Todd Bodine and Brendan Gaughan count a combined 12 victories and represent a major obstacle to Victory Lane for the four championship contenders.

• Busch, a six-time winner in 2011, goes for his third consecutive WinStar World Casino 350k victory.

• Bodine, the series’ only six-time Texas winner (most recently in June 2010), has won two or more races every year beginning in 2004. He’s winless this season.

• Gaughan swept both Texas races in 2002-03 but his victory in the latter year’s WinStar World Casino 350k was his last in a NASCAR Camping World Truck. The drought reached 124 races at Martinsville. Gaughan finished 14th at Texas in June.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Etc.

Joey Coulter has the Sunoco Rookie of the Year lead by four points over Cole Whitt. But don’t count out Nelson Piquet Jr., who trails Coulter by nine in third. Scoring is based on a driver’s best 14 finishes and Piquet’s current log has three fewer top 10s than his rivals. A solid performance at Texas could send the trio to Homestead-Miami Speedway in a virtual deadlock. … Eric Phillips won his 26th race as a series crew chief, one fewer than Kyle Busch Motorsports’ director of competition Rick Ren’s series record. Denny Hamlin was Phillips’ seventh different winning driver. … Kevin Harvick Inc.’s No. 2 Chevrolet holds a 72-point series owners’ championship lead and will wrap up the title if the margin over Kyle Busch Motorsports’ No. 18 is 49 points or greater after the Texas race. If the No. 2 finishes 19th with no laps led; 20th with at least one lap led or 21st with the most laps led, it clinches the owners championship.

Kroger 200 Winner: Denny Hamlin

2011-10-29T16:25:00.000-04:00

Race Fast Facts
Martinsville Speedway
13th Annual Kroger 200
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sat, October 29, 2011 @ 04:03 PM Eastern
Race Winner: Denny Hamlin
Age: 30
Team : No. 18 - Toyota / Traxxas Toyota
Owner: Kyle Busch
Crew Chief: Eric Phillips
Denny Hamlin won the 13th Annual Kroger 200, his first victory in 12

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races.
Hamlin becomes the 23rd driver to win in all three of NASCAR's national series.
This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in 2011.
This is his first victory and third top-10 finish in five races at

Martinsville Speedway.
There were 12 lead changes among eight drivers, both marks

matching track records.
Ron Hornaday Jr. (second) posted his 13th top-10 finish in 19 races at

Martinsville Speedway.  It is his 17th top-10 finish in 2011.
Austin Dillon (third) posted his second top-10 finish in four races at

Martinsville Speedway.

Late charge gives Hamlin first truck series victory

2011-10-29T16:14:00.002-04:00

Late charge gives Hamlin first truck series victory

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(October 29, 2011)

MARTINSVILLE, Va.—Making excellent use of a fresh set of tires, Denny Hamlin drove through the field after a pit stop on Lap 134 and won Saturday’s Kroger 200 Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway in his only start this year.

Ron Hornaday Jr. ran second to make a small dent in the advantage on series points leader Austin Dillon, who finished third. Johnny Sauter ran fourth, followed by Joey Coulter and Kevin Harvick.

The victory was Hamlin’s first in the series in 12 starts, adding the driver of the No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota to the list those who have won at least one race in each of NASCAR’s top three series.

Dillon passed Harvick for the lead on Lap 141 shortly after a restart that followed the sixth caution of the race, caused by contact between Germain Racing teammates Todd Bodine and Max Papis, who battled until Papis spun off Bodine’s front bumper.

After Papis spun again to bring out the seventh caution, Dillon led the field to the green flag for a restart on Lap 160 and held the top spot until Ryan Sieg’s spin on Lap 172 caused caution No. 8. Moments before the yellow flew, Hornaday passed Harvick for second, setting up a battle between a four-time champion (Hornaday) and a driver seeking his first title (Dillon).

When the field restarted on Lap 179, Dillon and Hornaday held the top two spots, chased by Hamlin and Sauter, both on fresher tires. One caution later, Hamlin powered beneath both Hornaday and Dillon on a Lap 187 restart and pulled away for the win.

Wallace Family Having Banner Season

2011-10-26T15:30:00.001-04:00

Wallace Family Having Banner Season

Racing on his 32nd wedding anniversary weekend – in a series in which he doesn’t collect championship driver points – was itself out of the ordinary for Mike Wallace. But winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Saturday at Talladega – marking his first NASCAR national series victory since 2004 – during an open weekend for the NASCAR Nationwide Series made it more unusual.

In a season where the series’ driver and owner championship has taken center stage with two close races separated by 15 and three points, respectively, Wallace has managed to stay in the headlines. Come to think of it, his St. Louis, Mo.-based family has, too.

In his in his second full season with JD Motorsports, an independently owned NASCAR Nationwide Series team, Wallace is 13th in the points with one top-five and two top-10 finishes. In July at Kentucky Speedway, he became just the fourth series driver to make 400 career starts. His younger brother Kenny will break the series starts mark next week at Texas with No. 520. During a 22-year NASCAR career, Mike has 718 starts across all three series.

Older brother Rusty (1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion) and Kenny’s (currently ranked seventh in the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings, nine series wins, three-time series’ Most Popular Driver) NASCAR exploits are well-documented. Mike’s nephew Steve is having another solid season, aiming for his third-consecutive finish among the top 10 in the final NASCAR Nationwide Series championship standings. His daughter Chrissy and son Matt are fine racers in their own right. Chrissy and Mike made NASCAR national series history in 2009 at Talladega when they were the first father-daughter duo to start a NASCAR national series race. Earlier this month, Chrissy won the track championship in the Late Model division at Lebanon (Mo.) I-44 Speedway and also became the first female driver to earn the West Region track championship.

“A lot of things that happened this year that have been good for us,” Kenny said of the Wallace family’s 2011 season. “I’m crazy proud of Chrissy for what she’s done and I’m really proud of Steven. I’m not jealous of Mike one ounce, but I told him, ‘You did in that truck race what I want before I’m done. I want to win too.’ Let’s face it. I’m 48 and Mike’s 52. We know things are starting to wind down. We just want people to know we’re worthy.”

Although not family-related, Kenny Wallace cited another major accomplishment this year – his beloved St. Louis Cardinals and their surprising run to the World Series. He draws a parallel to that team and his career. “I made a deal with myself,” he said. “Regardless of what happens with the Cardinals, don’t be disappointed. This season is a surprise, take it for all its worth. Kind of like my season in NASCAR.”

Driver Standings Top 10 Still Wide Open With Three Races Till Season’s End

Great competition in the NASCAR Nationwide Series this season has amassed 12 standings lead changes, among six different standings leaders and 13 different race winners. As the season comes to a close – three races remain – NASCAR Nationwide Series position jockeying will become the name of the game.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has held the points lead for the last 11 races, since Lucas Oil Raceway (July 30), the longest duration any standings leader has held the top position all year – but just 15 points separate Stenhouse from second-place Elliott Sadler.

Aric Almirola is trying to hang on to his third-place position, but Justin Allgaier and Reed Sorenson are making that lead precarious at best. Allgaier, in fourth, is four points behind Almirola. Sorenson is fifth, three points behind Allgaier and just seven points behind Almirola. Sorenson also has the added difficulty of securing a ride to stay in contention. He was released from Turner Motorsports prior to the Kansas race but has been running with MacDonald Motorsports since. A ride for Sorenson for Texas has yet to be announced.

Almirola has made two starts at Texas posting an average finish of 14.0. His pre-race Driver Rating is 86.8. While Allgaier has made six starts at Texas posting an average finish of 14.3.

Those drivers in slots 8-10 – Brian Scott, Steve Wallace and Michael Annett, respectively – also are maneuvering for better positions. Scott sits in eighth place, but Wallace is lurking seven points behind in ninth. Annett is a manageable 11 points behind his Rusty Wallace Racing teammate Wallace, and Scott also has the opportunity to aim a bit higher as he’s 17 points behind Steve’s uncle, Kenny Wallace, who’s seventh.

Of the four making up 7-10, Michael Annett has the best average finish at Texas with a 17.0, but Brian Scott has the best pre-race Driver Rating with 79.8

NASCAR Nationwide Series Etc.

Last week, NASCAR industry members, many specific to the NASCAR Nationwide Series garage, traveled to Monterrey, Mexico, to work with former series Motor Racing Outreach (MRO) Chaplain Lonnie Clouse and his “Back 2 Back Ministries” venture. Those volunteers included driver Justin Allgaier and his wife Ashley; Jason Ratcliff, crew chief for the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and his son Dakota; Matt Sauer, tire specialist on the No. 18; Jason Clements, formerly on the No. 18 NNS team but now a mechanic on the No. 18 NASCAR Sprint Cup crew; Todd Brewer, a mechanic on the No. 18 crew; Hudson Belk, JGR team chaplain; Heath Landis, No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford car chief and his wife Lisa; Matt Dillner, ESPN/NASCAR.com photographer and Ashley Jones, NASCAR’s manager, competition outreach. Working with children’s homes there, the volunteers played with the kids, poured a sidewalk for a children’s home, fed 500 hotdogs to a squatters village and participated in various other work projects. … Elliott Sadler is gearing up for the arrival of the family’s second child this week. Wyatt, 20 months old, will gain a new sister as Amanda Sadler is scheduled to deliver daughter Austyn this week.

Martinsville: A Defining Moment For Championship Contenders

2011-10-26T13:31:00.002-04:00

Martinsville: A Defining Moment For Championship Contenders

Take a good look at the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points standings, and enjoy them while they last. That rundown may look vastly different come Lap 200 on Saturday afternoon.

Austin Dillon and James Buescher, the frontrunners, have little experience at the tiny Martinsville Speedway paper clip, site of Saturday’s Kroger 200. And the races they have run … well, they could’ve been better.

Dillon owns a tenuous three-point advantage over Buescher.

Then there’s Johnny Sauter and Ron Hornaday Jr., 14 and 16 points behind Dillon, respectively. They have combined to win the last two races there.

Don’t be surprised if the chasers become the chased once the checkers fly on Saturday. Here’s a rundown of the four contenders with three races to go.

Dillon: The sophomore driver made a rookie mistake at Talladega, stalling during a late caution. Dillon’s error led to a seventh-place finish that probably should’ve been higher (his Driver Rating ranked third in the race). Now he heads to Martinsville, a track at which he has yet to score a top-five finish. In three starts there, Dillon has two 16th-place finishes and a seventh (last April). It’s the only track where Dillon has three or more starts, yet no top fives. He’ll make his 50th series start on Saturday.

Buescher: Buescher feels Dillon’s pain. Last April, he finished 35th in a 35-truck field thanks to a red-flag-inducing accident on Lap 137. The finish was just another in a string of Martinsville outings that have resulted in results outside the top 10 for the Texas native. Prior to the April DNF, Buescher finished 12th and 11th, twice. Buescher finished third at Talladega to cut his deficit to Dillon from seven points to three.

Sauter: Perseverance is the only thing keeping Sauter alive right now. Typical Talladega tough luck left him with a 15th-place finish and knocked him down to third in the points (but it could have been much worse). Sauter won the April Martinsville race, besting NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regulars Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. If he can win again this weekend, he’ll join Mike Skinner as the only drivers to sweep Martinsville since the series went to two races a year in 2003. Skinner swept in 2007.

Hornaday: With 22 short-track victories, Hornaday is the king of this style of racing. Only one of those wins came at Martinsville – in this race last season. You can almost guarantee a top-five finish out of Hornaday; the four-time champion has finished inside the top five at Martinsville in five consecutive races, including a third in April. Hornaday’s trek up the standings is nothing short of amazing. After race 12, he was 69 points out. In the 10 races since, Hornaday has finished outside the top 10 only once, and has scored more points than any other driver (391).

Homecoming Party For Virginia Natives This Weekend

This weekend some heavy hitters will enjoy a little home cooking.

Red Horse Racing’s Timothy Peters, a Providence, N.C.. native, grew up 30 miles from Martinsville Speedway. Peters is currently ranked fifth in the series standings after posting a win (Lucas Oil Raceway), seven top fives, 10 top 10s and a Keystone Light pole (Charlotte).

In 2009, Peters captured his first career series victory, at his home track of Martinsville. In addition to his win, Peters has posted three top fives and six top 10s in 11 series starts at famed 0.526-mile.

Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup contender, Denny Hamlin, a Chesterfield, Va. native will be driving the No. 18 Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Hamlin has only made 11 career starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and this weekend will be his series debut this season. Of his 11 career starts four of them have come at Martinsville Speedway, where he has posted two top 10s.

Elliott Sadler, Emporia, Va. native, will make his 19th career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start this weekend in the Kroger 200. Sadler is returning to drive the No. 24 Joe Dennette Motorsports Chevrolet. The last time he was in that ride: Bristol earlier this season, when he famously tangled with Kyle Busch in yet another layer to the ongoing Busch-Kevin Harvick feud. Sadler drives for Kevin Harvick Inc. in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Also, crew chief Jeff Hensley – who calls the shots atop the pit box for Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Nelson Piquet Jr. – hails from nearby Ridgeway, Va. Jeff Hensley swept the Martinsville races with Mike Skinner in 2007, and hopes to have more success with Piquet this weekend. Hensley’s uncle Jimmy Hensley has also won at Martinsville driving for Richard Petty in 1999.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Etc.

The No. 2 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet can clinch the 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series owners championship this weekend. If it leaves Martinsville with a 97-point lead over the No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports truck, it will clinch the title. The No. 2 currently holds an 81-point advantage. … 75 drivers have made their first series start at Martinsville, most of any track. Only four scored a top 10 in that start. … Josh Richards will run a special paint scheme at Martinsville highlighting artwork by Mooresville, N.C., residents Hunter and Alexandra Vogel. The children created the artwork to honor the Navy SEALs and warriors who gave their lives fighting terrorism in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011. … NASCAR K&N Pro Series East champion Max Gresham returns to the series in the No. 66 Chevrolet for Stacy Compton. The 18-year-old Georgian made his series debut in Las Vegas earlier this month where he finished 25th.

NCWTS Championship Battle Tightens As Final Short Track Looms

2011-10-25T15:14:00.001-04:00

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

NCWTS Championship Battle Tightens As Final Short Track Looms

As the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season winds down, the championship points gap

continues to shrink.

With three races remaining the top-four in the standings are separated by a mere 16 points:

Austin Dillon: A preseason championship favorite following last year’s Sunoco Rookie of the Year Honors holds a three point lead over his competition heading into Martinsville this weekend.

Dillon – who has two finishes outside the top-10 in three starts at the famed short track – is poised to become the youngest champion (21) in series history.

James Buescher: Mr. Consistency could easily be Buescher’s nickname for this season. After failing to qualify for the second race (Phoenix) of the season, his team has rebounded with two poles, 10 top-five and 15 top-10 finishes. He now sits second in points

The 21-year-old – who is still searching for his first series victory – will be making his fifth start at

Martinsville.

Johnny Sauter: Never give up is the theme of Sauter’s ThorSport Racing team. After having a dominant first half of the season he has battled bad luck since early June, which has resulted in seven finishes outside the top-10.

Sauter – who has finished third in points the last two seasons – is 14 points out of the championship lead.

The short track ace won at Martinsville earlier this season (April) after leading 71 laps en route to victory.

Ron Hornaday Jr.: The season has not gone as Hornaday planned, but with two victories and a second-place finish this month, the veteran driver finds himself back in championship contention.

Hornaday is the defending race champion at Martinsville.

Earlier this season he found himself as low as ninth in the standings, but with four series championships, he is the only driver in the top-four to have battled for a title.

Hometown Heroes

Timothy Peters – currently ranked fifth in the series standings – heads back to his roots this weekend along with several other competitors.

The Providence, NC native grew up approximately 30 miles from Martinsville Speedway.

In 2009, Peters captured his first ever series victory at his home track.

In addition to Peters, Virginia natives Denny Hamlin and Elliott Sadler will compete in the Kroger 200.

Hamlin will pilot the No. 18 Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports with Sadler returning to drive the No.24 Joe Denette Motorsports Chevrolet.

It will be Hamlin’s 12th and Sadler’s 19th NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start.

Jeff Hensley – who calls the shots atop the pit box for Nelson Piquet Jr. - hails from nearby Ridgeway, Virg.

NATIONWIDE SERIES

2011-10-25T10:13:00.001-04:00

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

Mike’s Feat Latest Addition To A Banner Season For Wallace Family

In a season where the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver and owner championships have taken center stage with the two titles separated by 15 and three points, respectively, veteran Mike Wallace has crafted his own headlines. Come to think of it, his St. Louis, Mo.-based family has, too.

• Mike Wallace won last Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Talladega, his first NASCAR national series win since 2004. Earlier in the week – the week of his 32nd wedding anniversary to wife Carla – Kevin Harvick Inc. came calling for the restrictor-plate specialist to run with teammate Ron Hornaday Jr. The two veterans worked the two-truck tandem to perfection with a 1-2 finish.

• Kenny Wallace is poised to break the NASCAR Nationwide Series’ all-time starts mark next week at Texas. The youngest Wallace brother currently has 519 starts, tied for first with Jason Keller. When he started at Kentucky this summer, Mike Wallace became only the fourth driver in series history to surpass 400 starts.

• Two Wallace family members are ranked in the top 10 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver standings. Kenny is seventh while his nephew Steve is ninth. Steve runs for his father Rusty’s team, and is aiming for his third consecutive top-10 championship finish. Rusty is the 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion.

• Mike, who drives full-time for independent owner Johnny Davis, is 13th in the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver standings. He has registered one top five and two top 10 results this year, his first in each category since 2008.

• Mike’s daughter Chrissy and son Matt are fine racers in their own right. Chrissy and Mike made NASCAR national series history in 2009 at Talladega as the first father-daughter duo to start a NASCAR national series race. Earlier this month, Chrissy won the ASA Late Model Division Track Championship at Lebanon (Mo.) I-44 Speedway and also became the first female driver to earn the 2011 West Region ASA Member Track Championship.

With Three To Go, Drivers Prepared For Top-10 Tango

With three races to go, jockeying for position within the top 10 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver standings remains wide open.

Those drivers in slots 8-10 – Brian Scott, Steve Wallace and Michael Annett, respectively – also are maneuvering for better positions. Scott sits in eighth place, but Wallace is lurking seven points behind in ninth. Annett is a manageable 11 points behind his Rusty Wallace Racing teammate. Scott can also aim a bit higher as he’s 17 points behind Steve’s uncle, Kenny Wallace, who’s seventh.

Mike Wallace won Coca-Cola 250 at Talladega

2011-10-23T21:28:00.002-04:00

In his first Camping World Truck Series start since 2009, Mike Wallace won Saturday’s Coca-Cola 250 at Talladega Superspeedway, as Kevin Harvick Inc. teammate Ron Hornaday Jr. pushed him across the finish line.

Hornaday ran second, followed by James Buescher, who made a dent in the series points lead of Austin Dillon. Dillon scrambled to a seventh-place finish after he was demoted to 18th for not maintaining pace under the final caution of the race. The recovery enabled Dillon to stay ahead of Buescher in the standings.

The victory was the fifth overall for Wallace, who was substituting for Elliott Sadler, whose wife, Amanda, is expecting the couple’s second child. Wallace won in the truck series for the first time since 2000. The victory was his first in any of NASCAR’s top three touring series since he won a Nationwide race at Daytona in July 2004.

Wallace had tears in his eyes when he climbed out of his truck in victory lane.

“I’m very emotional right now, because a lot of people doubt you,” Wallace said. “They doubt your ability. An opportunity like this just proves, ‘Hey, I can get it done. Give me something good to drive, and I can prove I can do it.’

“I’m numb. My son’s at home, my daughters … I wish they were all here. It is my wife (Carla) and my anniversary this weekend. It’s a cool anniversary.”

Wallace turned to his wife in victory lane.

“This is your exotic weekend, honey,” Wallace said.

Johnny Sauter’s championship aspirations suffered a major setback on Lap 35. He and ThorSport teammate Matt Crafton had dropped to the rear of the field to stay out of harm’s way early in the race, but the strategy backfired.

The two trucks crashed as they ran together in tandem, after Donnie Neuenberger’s Chevrolet blew a right-front tire in front of them. Sauter, who entered the race second in the standings and five points behind Dillon, lost two laps as his crew made repairs on pit road.

With a wave-around and a free pass, Sauter got back on the lead lap and finished 15th, lessening the damage to his title chances.

Notes: Buescher trails Dillon by three points with three races left in the season. Sauter is third in the standings, 14 points back of Dillon and two ahead of Hornaday in fourth. … The top two finishers are a combined 105 years old. Wallace is 52, Hornaday 53.

Mike Wallace Wins Talladega With Assist From Hornaday

2011-10-23T08:45:00.001-04:00

NCWTS Recap: Mike Wallace Wins Talladega Race With Assist From Hornaday

October 22, 2011

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(October 22, 2011)

TALLADEGA, Ala.—In his first Camping World Truck Series start since 2009, Mike Wallace won Saturday’s Coca-Cola 250 at Talladega Superspeedway, as Kevin Harvick Inc. teammate Ron Hornaday Jr. pushed him across the finish line.

Wallace had tears in his eyes when he climbed out of his truck in victory lane.

“I’m numb. My son’s at home, my daughters … I wish they were all here. It is my wife (Carla) and my anniversary this weekend. It’s a cool anniversary.”

Wallace turned to his wife in victory lane.

“This is your exotic weekend, honey,” Wallace said.

With a wave-around and a free pass, Sauter got back on the lead lap and finished 15th, lessening the damage to his title chances.

Mike Wallace wins Talladega race with assist from Hornaday

2011-10-22T19:27:00.002-04:00

Mike Wallace wins Talladega race with assist from Hornaday

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(October 22, 2011)

TALLADEGA, Ala.—In his first Camping World Truck Series start since 2009, Mike Wallace won Saturday’s Coca-Cola 250 at Talladega Superspeedway, as Kevin Harvick Inc. teammate Ron Hornaday Jr. pushed him across the finish line.

Hornaday ran second, followed by James Buescher, who made a dent in the series points lead of Austin Dillon. Dillon was demoted to 18th position for not maintaining pace under the final caution of the race, but he recovered to finish seventh to stay ahead of Buescher in the standings.

The victory was the fifth overall for Wallace, who was substituting for Elliott Sadler, whose wife, Amanda, is expecting the couple’s second child.

Johnny Sauter’s championship aspirations suffered a major setback on Lap 35. He and ThorSport teammate Matt Crafton had dropped to the rear of the field to stay out of harm’s way early in the race, but the strategy backfired.

The two trucks crashed as they ran together in tandem, after Donnie Neuenberger’s Chevrolet blew a right-front tire in front of them. Sauter, who entered the race second in the standings and five points behind Dillon, lost two laps as his crew made repairs on pit road.

With a wave-around and a free pass, Sauter got back on the lead lap and finished 15th, lessening the damage to his title chances.

Buescher On Pole For Coca-Cola 250

2011-10-21T20:34:00.002-04:00

Buescher On Pole For Coca-Cola 250 Powered By fred’s

TALLADEGA, Ala. – The points race for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is as tight as the action on the track at Talladega Superspeedway. And James Buescher finds himself closely involved in both.

Buescher turned in a fast lap of 177.676 mph on Friday to take the pole position for Saturday’s running of the Coca-Cola 250 Powered By fred’s Truck Series race. That will place him on the track directly in front of Austin Dillon, who qualified third and happens to be the points leader.

Dillon holds a slim five-point lead over Johnny Sauter (who qualified 20th) and a seven-point edge over Buescher with four races remaining. So when the green flag flies at 3 p.m. Saturday, Buescher said there will be no points racing, only hard racing.

“You race as hard as you can to get the best possible finish you can, and then the points will work themselves out,” Buescher said. “You don’t gauge yourself off what those other guys are doing. You just try to go out and get the maximum points.”

Nelson Piquet Jr. qualified second, as he continues to compete for NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Rookie of the Year. Ricky Carmichael qualified fourth, followed by Ron Hornaday Jr. in fifth. Hornaday trails Dillon in the standings by 21 points.

Mike Wallace qualified sixth, Joey Coulter seventh, Johanna Long eighth, Parker Kligerman ninth and Cole Whitt 10th. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch qualified 17th, and Alabama native Grant Enfinger was 18th.

Buescher said he plans to be “patiently aggressive” during Saturday’s race.

“We’re not leading the points, we’re third. So we still have to try to outrun those guys and gain points on them,” said Buescher, who also sat on the pole at Talladega Superspeedway for the 2008 ARCA race. “It’s definitely a tight championship battle.”

Dillon, the grandson of Sprint Cup Series car owner Richard Childress, said he is looking forward to the drafting strategy and close-quarter racing that takes place at Talladega Superspeedway.

“It’s a lot of fun to come here and draft,” Dillon said. “I had a blast today during practice messing around with the two-car tandem and trying to get it to work. It’s like gaining 100 horsepower when you get it to hook up. It’s pretty wild. It’s going to be a crazy race.

“We don’t have a big cushion (in the standings), but at least we have a cushion. This is a tough race. You just don’t know how it’s going to go. Anybody can win it. We’re going to put it all on the line and hopefully we can come out with at least a top-five finish.”

Prior to the Coca-Cola 250 Powered by fred’s, there will be Foodland/Food Giant Qualifying beginning at 11:15 a.m. Saturday to set the starting lineup for Sunday’s Good Sam Club 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

Race fans that want to experience true southern hospitality combined with the most competitive racing in NASCAR should call the Talladega Superspeedway Ticket Office today at 1-877-Go2-DEGA. Tickets are available online at www.talladegasuperspeedway.com.

Coca-Cola 250 Pole Winner: James Buescher

2011-10-21T19:47:00.000-04:00

Qualifying Fast Facts
Talladega Superspeedway
6th Annual Coca-Cola 250 Powered By fred's
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Fri, October 21, 2011 @ 06:40 PM Eastern
Keystone Light Pole Winner: James Buescher
Age: 21
Team : No. 31 - Bad Boy Mowers Chevrolet
Owner: Steve Turner
Crew Chief: Michael Shelton
James Buescher won the Keystone Light Pole Award for the

6th Annual Coca-Cola 250 Powered By fred's with a lap of 538960 seconds,

 177.676 mph.
This is his second pole in 69 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races.
This is his second pole and 16th top-10 start in 2011.
This is his first pole in three races at Talladega Superspeedway.
Nelson Piquet Jr.  (second) posted his 16th top-10 start of

2011 and his first in one races at Talladega Superspeedway.
Austin Dillon (third) posted his second top-10 start at Talladega Superspeedway.

  It is his 20th in 22 races this season.
Nelson Piquet Jr.  (second) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

If Sauter survives Talladega, remaining races set up well for him

2011-10-21T08:59:00.001-04:00

If Sauter survives Talladega, remaining races set up well for him

By Jared Turner

Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(October 20, 2011)

Based on experience and results, the odds are stacked in Johnny Sauter's favor to become the 2011 Camping World Truck Series champion.

Sauter, however, isn't one to make bold predictions.

That's because the very same experience that could give him a leg up over the season's final four races is the same experience that has taught him to make no assumptions.

"I don't think you can ever proclaim yourself to be the odds-on man to win anything," the ThorSport Racing driver said. "I think it's just way to competitive. I've seen the cycles of this sport where you're on top, and technology changes, things just change so fast."

Nowhere can things change faster than at Talladega Superspeedway, site of Saturday's Coca-Cola 250.

Sauter, who jumped up a spot to second in the standings and closed within five points of championship leader Austin Dillon last weekend at Las Vegas, is admittedly a little worried about Talladega—a high-speed 2.66-mile circuit notorious for multicar wrecks.

"Talladega in my opinion is the linchpin that determines a lot of the outcome of what's going to go on in the points," said Sauter, who holds a two-point edge on third-place James Buescher. "The strategy for me is going to be very simple, and that's ride around for 85 laps and see what you can get in the (end). That worked for us last year. When you're racing in that tight of a pack, somebody's going to make a mistake somewhere along the way and it's going to be havoc for everybody else."

If Sauter can escape Talladega without losing much ground, the series' final three stops could play to his favor in the championship battle.

The 33-year-old Wisconsin native's resume is better—and deeper—at the remaining tracks than those of Dillon and Buescher, a pair of 21-year-olds with promising futures but not nearly the seat time of Sauter, who has been around the block in all three of NASCAR's national series.

At Martinsville, the track following Talladega, Sauter won from the pole this spring while Dillon finished seventh and Buescher 35th.

At Texas, this season's penultimate event, Sauter finished second in both of last year's races and led 56 laps in the spring before a late penalty relegated him to 22nd. Dillon, meanwhile, has finished outside the top 20 in two of his three visits to the Lone Star State, while Buescher has finished no better than sixth in five outings at TMS.

As for the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Sauter also carries the statistical edge, with top 10s in two of four starts, including a third-place run last November.

Dillon's lone Homestead outing yielded a 31st-place finish, while Buescher has been no better than 18th in three starts at the South Florida track.

All this could bode well for Sauter. Or does it?

"A week ago a lot of people would have told you we were out of it (the title hunt), so anything can happen and obviously we know that," Sauter said. "So we've just got to keep going to the racetrack and doing our business."

2011 Drive For Diversity Combine Day 2

2011-10-20T20:53:00.002-04:00

2011 Drive For Diversity Combine Day 2: Plenty Of Talent Put To The Test

Combine Concludes With On-Track Showcase At Langley

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Oct. 20, 2011) – After a rainy first day, it was all sunshine and fast cars at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va., Thursday as the 2011 Drive for Diversity Combine concluded with 26 talented drivers participating in the on-track testing.

The drivers are competing for spots on the 2012 Revolution Racing team as part of Drive for Diversity, one of NASCAR’s most successful initiatives.

“Every year it’s great to see the quality of talent is improving and the word’s getting out,” said Max Siegel, CEO and owner of Revolution Racing. “We had some really talented young drivers here today and we’re just excited to get them on the track.

“It’s going to be tough to fill the spots on the team because we had so many talented drivers here.”

Revolution Racing is in its third year as a partner with the NASCAR Drive for Diversity initiative. In 2011, Revolution Racing drivers Darrell Wallace Jr. and Sergio Pena accounted for six wins in the 12-race NASCAR K&N Pro Series East season.

“It’s exciting to see the evolution in the program,” said Marcus Jadotte, NASCAR vice president of public affairs and multicultural development. “The success on track in 2011 certainly attracted additional talent to the Combine, and based on what we saw today, there are a couple of new standout drivers who are ready to follow in Wallace’s and Pena’s path.”

The drivers who participated in the Combine ranged from ages 16 to 24, and represented 10 U.S. states, Mexico and Puerto Rico. It attracted drivers from various racing disciplines, from open-wheel sprint cars to Legends cars and Bandoleros. The drivers with limited stock car experience impressed with how quickly they adapted to the heavier cars, while the returning participants continued to show improvement.

After waiting out the showers that cancelled Wednesday’s on-track testing, the drivers were looking forward to the chance to get behind the wheel – and they weren’t disappointed.

“We had a really great Combine run; we did really well, I’m proud of my run,” said Jessica Brunelli, 18, from Hayward, Calif., who was trying out for the third time after being part of Revolution Racing for the previous two seasons. “It’s a great opportunity and a great program, and I’m really lucky I get to drive with all these amazing people.”

“Today was really cool, the car was awesome and the people were really great to work with. The car was really good. When the track was really cold it took a while to get the tires heated up, but it was awesome and I hope they were good results,” said Julian Albarracin, from Bogota, Colombia, who then provided a recap of his day in Spanish. “El carro estuvo muy bien, la gente trabajo muy bien, nunca habia visto gente trabajando asi. Nunca habia provado un carro tan bueno como un late model que prove hoy. La pista estaba muy fria, tomo mucho tiempo para calentar las llantas y calentar el motor pero salio muy bien, me senti muy bien y espero buenos resultados.”

“It’s been a great day so far,” said newcomer Ryan Reed, a 17-year-old from Bakersfield, Calif. “I logged some really good laps, I’m really happy with myself, and we’ll see what that has in store for us when they announce the driver lineup for next year.”

The drivers attending the Drive for Diversity Combine will be evaluated by a select committee on multiple fronts including on-track performance, marketing and media aptitude, physical fitness and personality.

2012 Nationwide Series Schedule

2011-10-20T09:44:00.001-04:00

2012 Nationwide Series Schedule

Date	Track	Date	Track	Date	Track

2/25	Daytona	6/2	Dover	8/24	Bristol
3/3	Phoenix	6/16	Michigan	9/1	Atlanta
3/10	Las Vegas	6/23	Road America	9/7	Richmond
3/17	Bristol	6/29	Kentucky	9/15	Chicagoland
3/24	Auto Club	7/6	Daytona	9/22	Kentucky
4/13	Texas	7/14	New Hampshire	9/29	Dover
4/27	Richmond	7/22	Chicagoland	10/12	Charlotte
5/5	Talladega	7/28	Indianapolis	10/20	Kansas
5/11	Darlington	8/4	Iowa	11/3	Texas
5/20	Iowa	8/11	Watkins Glen	11/10	Phoenix
5/26	Charlotte	8/18	Montreal	11/17	Homestead

Day 1: Rain Washes Out On-Track Activity

2011-10-19T21:19:00.002-04:00

Day 1: Rain Washes Out On-Track Activity

Drivers Will Test At Langley On Thursday

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Oct. 19, 2011) – Rain washed out the on-track portion of the 2011 Drive for Diversity Combine at Langley Speedway Wednesday, pushing all Late Model testing to Thursday.

Featuring 26 drivers competing for spots on the 2012 Revolution Racing team as part of Drive for Diversity, the Combine is one of NASCAR’s most successful initiatives.

Drivers of diverse backgrounds ranging from ages 16 to 24 representing 10 U.S. states, Mexico and Puerto Rico, took part in media training Wednesday as they waited out the rain.

Sergio Pena is making his third trip to the Combine. The 18-year-old from Winchester, Va., picked up three wins for Revolution Racing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East this past season.

“I can't thank Revolution Racing, the Drive for Diversity program and NASCAR enough. They've given me such a great opportunity,” Pena said. “Hopefully we can set some fast times tomorrow. There’s going to be some tough competition out here, so it’s going to be hard to make the team. We’ve got some super fast drivers that are going to be looking to impress everyone.”

That list includes drivers like 17-year-old Amber Colvin, from Tallahassee, Fla. She will be making her first appearance at the Drive for Diversity Combine after making the transition from a successful run in Legends cars to Late Models at the end of last year.

“It's so much easier and so much more fun for me,” Colvin said. “It's a very big weight and size difference – you just have to get used to the size of the Late Model. … I’m really excited to be out here at Langley. It looks like a really cool place and I’m looking forward to show how fast I can go on a track I’ve never been to.”

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

2011-10-19T15:22:00.001-04:00

Despite Trouble In Sin City, Dillon Maintains Points Lead

Austin Dillon continues to lead the championship standings with four races to go in his bid, at age 21, to become the series’ youngest champion despite a disappointing 17th-place finish in Las Vegas. His points lead is just five over Johnny Sauter.

However, Dillon cannot get too comfortable with the leading the pack.

The top five in the championship – Dillon, Sauter, James Buescher, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Timothy Peters – are separated by just 25 points. All but Hornaday posted top-10 finishes (led by Sauter’s third place) at Talladega in 2010.

Hornaday’s bid for a fifth title, seemingly left in the dust at mid-summer when he trailed then-leader Sauter by 69 points after July’s race at Nashville, is very much alive. He’s just 21 points behind Dillon following his 51st series victory (and first) in Las Vegas.

Rookie Battle Tightens Up; KHI Hold Commanding Lead In Owner’s Standings

Cole Whitt is the new Sunoco Rookie of the Year leader by a single point by previous leader Joey Coulter after finishing eighth in Las Vegas. Nelson Piquet Jr., sixth in Las Vegas and the highest freshman finisher in the race, is four points behind Whitt.

This weekend will mark the first time the Whitt and Piquet has competed at Talladega. Coulter made three starts at the superspeedway in the ARCA series.

Kevin Harvick Inc.’s No. 2 Chevrolet holds a 73-point lead over Kyle Busch Motorsports’ No. 18 Toyota in the race for the series owner championship. Busch returns to the series at Talladega where he is the two-time defending winner of the Coca-Cola 250 Powered by Fred.

Former Winner: Bodine Still Searching For 2011 Victory

Todd Bodine is the only other previous Talladega winner entered. He posted back-to-back victories in 2007-08. He also is the holder of the top Driver Rating (114.8), has led the most laps (85) and has the best average running position (4.5). Bodine continues winless in the series in 2011 after having won at least two races annually beginning in 2004.

Last year’s Talladega race saw the closest finish under electronic timing and scoring in series history as Busch edged Aric Almirola by 0.002 seconds. The widest margin of victory in five previous series races on the 2.66-mile speedway is 0.074 seconds in 2008.

2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series Dates

2011-10-19T14:00:00.002-04:00

2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series Dates Announced For 30th Anniversary Season
Inaugural Brickyard Race, Montreal Return, Star Power Highlight Milestone Year
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Oct. 19, 2011) – Highlighted by an inaugural visit to one of the most historic
race tracks in motorsports, a return trip to Montreal and plenty of driver star power, NASCAR announced
today the 2012 schedule for the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
Full-time rides for Danica Patrick and Austin Dillon plus the addition of action sports superstar Travis
Pastrana who plans to run the majority of the schedule, give the 2012 season a huge dose of anticipation.
“From the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway to the finale at Homestead-Miami
Speedway, the 2012 schedule has a great mix of tracks that will continue to deliver great racing for our
fans,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR senior vice president of racing operations. “We're excited to bring
the NASCAR Nationwide Series to the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, along with the addition of a
second date at Kentucky Speedway.”
Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series season features 33 race dates,
including the series’ first visit to Indianapolis Motor Speedway as part of a companion weekend with the
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and GRAND-AM Road Racing. The inaugural Brickyard event will take place
on July 28.
Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve – a fan-favorite that has evolved into a “crown jewel” for the series –
returns for a fifth-consecutive season, on Aug. 18. The 14-turn layout is one of three road-course events
on the calendar, joining Road America (June 23) and Watkins Glen International (Aug. 11).
Additional 2012 schedule highlights:
• Daytona International Speedway again opens the season, on Feb. 25, a week later than past years.
• Iowa Speedway hosts the series’ first stand-alone event on May 20, with a second date on Aug. 4.
• Homestead-Miami Speedway will once again host the season-finale, on Nov. 17.
• For the first time, Kentucky Speedway will have two NASCAR Nationwide race dates, on June 29
and Sept. 22.
• Chicagoland Speedway also returns with two dates, one a stand-alone affair on July 22.
• Daytona’s summer event and Kentucky Speedway’s race will swap weekends in 2012, as the July
4th holiday falls mid-week next year. Daytona will run on July 6.
• In conjunction with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ schedule shift, Kansas Speedway’s date moves
to Oct. 20 to accommodate the track’s repave, scheduled for April of 2012.
The entire 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule is on Main Page

Anyone Who Counted Hornaday Out Counted Too Soon

2011-10-19T11:43:00.001-04:00

Anyone Who Counted Hornaday Out Counted Too Soon

Invitations to this year’s NASCAR Camping World Truck championship party came a bit late for four-time champion Ron Hornaday Jr. It remains to be seen if he has time to return an emphatic RSVP for next month’s South Florida championship festivities.

Hornaday stood ninth in late August after finishing 24th at Bristol. He trailed then-leader Johnny Sauter by 69 points – a race and a half – after July’s event at Nashville Superspeedway.

In other words, Hornaday had been left in the dust and all but out of the title picture. Not so fast.

Hornaday’s 51st series victory, and first in Las Vegas, halved a 42-point deficit to 21 heading into the season’s final four races. With two wins and top-10 finishes in eight of the last nine races, the Palmdale, Calif., competitor’s “drive for five” is very much alive.

Las Vegas was Hornaday’s 16th win since turning 50, two shy of Harry Gant’s NASCAR national series record total. Hornaday sat on the Keystone Light Pole for a seventh consecutive season, breaking a record he jointly held with Mike Skinner.

Hornaday’s stay in Kevin Harvick Inc.’s owners championship leading No. 2 Chevrolet was supposed to be brief – two races – but he’ll remain with crew chief Bruce Cook at least for Talladega. Cook also oversaw set-up of the team’s No. 33 truck in which Hornaday finished first, 10th and fourth at Atlanta, Chicago and New Hampshire.

"I'm looking forward to be back in the No. 2 truck this weekend,” said Hornaday, who won the Keystone Light Pole for last year’s race, led the most laps but was knocked out by accident. “With four races to go, Talladega is a track where we will just have to hold our breath all weekend and hope we don't get caught in the big one. We are in the midst of this championship battle and would really like to make it out of Talladega with momentum.”

Dillon Holds Serve But Allows Veterans Back In The Game

Talladega Superspeedway and Martinsville Speedway figured to be wild card races – events where the standings leaders rightly worry about losing points and positions with the 2011 season’s finish line in sight.

Surprise: a trap race came a week early for Austin Dillon and James Buescher, who both suffered accidents in the Smith’s 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and in the process let three rivals back into the championship picture.

The good news for Dillon, who at age 21 bids to become the youngest NASCAR Camping World Truck champion, is that he’s still the points leader. More concerning, however, is that it’s veteran Johnny Sauter, not fellow “young gun” Buescher, 22, who’s giving chase five points back. Buescher is seven points down in third. Just 25 points are the difference between Dillon and fifth-place Timothy Peters.

“We didn't have a good day but nobody gave up and we battled back to make the most of what we could, that's what makes a championship team," said Dillon, who finished 17th.

Advantage, perhaps, to veteran pursuers Sauter, Hornaday and Peters. All have been there before, battling for championships. Sauter finished third and Peters seventh a year ago at Talladega. Peters also counts a Daytona victory.

This is the first go-round under title pressure for the two youngsters, but each finished among the top 10 at Talladega Superspeedway in 2010, Buescher sixth and Dillon eighth.

Bodine Counts On ‘Bama Boost To End Drought

Time is not on Todd Bodine’s side. With four races left on the schedule, Bodine’s NASCAR Camping World Truck winning streak – at least two victories a year beginning in 2004 – is very much at risk.

Bodine, however, could replace the goose egg with a “W” beginning this week. The 47-year-old Bodine won consecutive Talladega races in 2007-08, has the Alabama track’s top Driver Rating (114.8), has led the most laps (85) and boasts the best Average Running Position (4.5).

The defending series champion figures to be a favorite in at least three of the last four races with a combined 10 wins at Talladega, Texas and Homestead-Miami speedways. His last win came Sept. 3, 2010, at Kentucky Speedway.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series .

Cole Whitt is a single point up on previous Sunoco Rookie of the Year leader Joey Coulter after finishing eighth in Las Vegas. Nelson Piquet Jr., sixth in the race, is four points behind Whitt. … Last year’s Talladega race, in which Kyle Busch edged Aric Almirola by 0.002 seconds, is the series’ closest finish as determined by electronic timing and scoring. … Busch also won the race in 2009 and seeks a third consecutive victory in his 100th series start. … Chevrolet, which leads series manufacturer standings by 11 points over Toyota, continues to be the only manufacturer without a victory at either Talladega or Daytona International Speedway.

Series History At The Doorstep of Season’s End

2011-10-19T08:42:00.001-04:00

10/19/11

Series History At The Doorstep of Season’s End

With two weeks off, followed by the final three races, there are two opportunities for history to be made by season’s end – a fourth consecutive owner title for Joe Gibbs Racing, or the driver and owner titles could be split among two teams but won by the same organization – Roush Fenway Racing.

Ever since 2007, when Carl Edwards won the driver championship but was unable to unify it with the owners title, he has wanted to win an owner title for Jack Roush. Richard Childress Racing won the owner title in ’07.

In 2008, Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota claimed the owner championship while Clint Bowyer won the driver title for Richard Childress Racing. Then the following year, Kyle Busch unified the championship (2009) in the No. 18 Toyota and last year, the No. 18 again claimed the owner title while Brad Keselowski won the driver championship for Penske Racing.

That 2010 championship tied Joe Gibbs with Bill Baumgardner for most consecutive owner championships – three – in series history.

Only three points separate the top two in the owner standings and if Joe Gibbs Racing is to set the mark with four straight, it will have to overcome the focused No. 60 team, which has gained 47 points over the last three races. Busch and Edwards will face off in two of the final three races (Texas and Homestead-Miami).

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. maintains the driver standings lead over second-place Elliott Sadler. However, Stenhouse has seen his 22-point advantage over Sadler just three weeks ago following Dover shrink to 15 points following last Friday night’s race at Charlotte.

Stenhouse continues to hold the standings lead by being consistent. He posted his sixth consecutive top-10 finish at Charlotte. However, Sadler has countered with two straight top-five efforts, which have resulted in the current deficit, the closest he’s been to Stenhouse since the September race at Chicagoland when he was 14 points out of first.

Competition Update: Series Stats Through 31 Races

Here is quick glance at the stellar competition of the NASCAR Nationwide Series this season:

• 13 different winners, most through 31 races since 2007

• 13 different Coors Light Pole winners

• An average of 7 different leaders per race

• An average of 14 lead changes per race, the most through 31 races in series history

• 49 drivers have led at least one lap

• 55 drivers have scored at least one top 10

• Average margin of victory of 1.161 seconds

• 19 races have had a margin of victory under 1 second

• An average of 1,467 green-flag passes per race

• An average of 24 green-flag passes for the lead all around the track per race, most through 31 races since the inception of Loop Data in 2005

Rookie Battle Between Three Now; Kenny Wallace To Become All-Time Starts Leader

With three races to go, Blake Koch has cut his deficit to one point behind leader Timmy Hill in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award chase. Hill has held serve with a two-point lead over Koch since mid-summer. However, Koch has finished in front of Hill over the last three races, the best such stretch for Koch this season.

One point was the deficit in the closest-ever series rookie battle. In 2006, Danny O’Quinn Jr. edged John Andretti, 235-234.

And look who’s gotten back into contention … Ryan Truex, sitting three points out of the lead. His six-race deal with Joe Gibbs Racing has one event left to go, at Phoenix. A top finish at Phoenix may be enough to propel him into first and perhaps the ROY nod if he doesn’t secure rides for Texas and Homestead-Miami.

In February, Truex had the best result (14th) of the three rookies at Phoenix. Koch finished ahead of Hill at Phoenix and Texas (Truex didn’t run at Texas in April).

As for the veteran Kenny Wallace, assuming he grids the No. 09 RAB Racing Toyota on Nov. 5 at Texas Motor Speedway, he officially will become the NASCAR Nationwide Series’ all-time starts leader.

Wallace tied the record of 519 starts set by his good friend Jason Keller, last Friday night at Charlotte.

Over his 22-year series career, Wallace has posted nine wins, 10 poles, 65 top fives and 170 top 10s. He’s currently seventh in the driver standings and aiming for his first top-10 finish in the points since a seventh in 2005.

Mike Wallace will compete in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Saturday at Talladega driving the No. 33 truck, normally manned by four-time NCWTS champion Ron Hornaday Jr., who will drive the No. 2 Kevin Harvick Inc. truck. Wallace spent three full-time seasons in the series, collecting three wins and four poles . … With Carl Edwards’ win last weekend at Charlotte, he tied Kevin Harvick for third on the all-time series wins list with 37. He is only 12 wins behind second-place Mark Martin and 14 wins back from all-time series wins leader Kyle Busch.

NATIONWIDE SERIES Open Weeks: Championship Boom Or Bust?

2011-10-18T11:02:00.002-04:00

NATIONWIDE SERIES

Open Weeks: Championship Boom Or Bust?

There are six open weekends on the 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule. Out of those, two come consecutively – this weekend and next – during the final five weeks of the season which encompasses the last three races of 2011.

With two close points battles hanging in the balance, do those open weeks offer time for head-clearing or head cases?

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. maintains the driver standings lead over his nearest challenger, Elliott Sadler. However Stenhouse has seen his advantage – as robust as 22 points over Sadler just three weeks ago following Dover – shrink to 15 points following last Friday night’s race at Charlotte.

Stenhouse is hardly in a slump, as his six consecutive top-10 finishes show. However, Sadler has countered with two straight top-five efforts which have resulted in the current deficit, the closest he’s been to Stenhouse since the September race at Chicagoland when he was 14 points out of first.

Could there be some mental anguish on the owner championship side as well? There, the No. 60 Roush Fenway Ford, driven with a purpose by Carl Edwards, now trails the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, manned by numerous drivers in 2011 but led mainly by Kyle Busch, by just three points.

After failing to unify the championship in 2007, Edwards, who won the driver title, and Jack Roush are still fuming. That season, Jeff Burton and Scott Wimmer drove the No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to the owner title. In 2008, JGR’s No. 20 Toyota claimed the owner championship while Clint Bowyer won the driver title. Busch unified the championship in 2009 in the No. 18 Toyota and last year, the No. 18 again claimed the owner hardware while Brad Keselowski won the driver championship.

That 2010 championship tied JGR with Bill Baumgardner for most consecutive owner championships – three – in series history.

If JGR is to set the mark with four straight, it will have to overcome the focused No. 60 team, which has gained 47 points on the No. 18 since being 50 points behind following the August race at Bristol.

Busch and Edwards will face of in two of the final three races, Texas and Homestead-Miami.

Rookie Title Shaping Up To Be Closest Ever

With three races to go, Blake Koch has cut his deficit to one point behind leader Timmy Hill in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year award chase. Hill has held serve with a two-point lead over Koch since mid-summer. However Koch has finished in front of Hill over the last three races, the best such stretch for Koch this season.

One point was the deficit in the closest-ever series rookie battle. In 2006, Danny O’Quinn Jr. edged John Andretti, 235-234.

And look who’s gotten back into contention … Ryan Truex, sitting three points out of the lead. His six-race deal with Joe Gibbs Racing has one event left to go, at Phoenix. Truex was able to secure an extra race last week at Charlotte thanks to his old team, Pastrana-Waltrip Racing, as he made his bid to collect the $100,000 NASCAR Nationwide Series “Dash 4 Cash” bonus award. A top finish at Phoenix may be enough to propel him into first and perhaps on to the rookie award in the event he doesn’t secure rides for Texas and Homestead-Miami.

In February, Truex had the best result (14th) of the three rookies at Phoenix. Koch finished ahead of Hill at Texas (Truex didn’t run at Texas in April). The season finale at Homestead-Miami, where the rookie winner officially will be declared immediately following the race, is a true wild card for Hill and Koch as both will make their track debuts there. Truex would be in the same boat should he run at HMS.

Record Awaits Kenny Wallace

He’ll have to wait two weeks to do it, but assuming he’s brings the No. 09 RAB Racing Toyota to the line as the green flag drops on Nov. 5 at Texas, Kenny Wallace officially will become the NASCAR Nationwide Series’ all-time starts leader.

Wallace tied the record of 519 starts set by his good friend Jason Keller, last Friday night at Charlotte.

Over his 22-year series career, Wallace has posted nine wins, 10 poles, 65 top fives and 170 top 10s. He’s currently seventh in the driver standings and is aiming for his first top-10 finish in the points since he also was seventh in 2005.

Hornaday wins at Las Vegas for second straight truck victory

2011-10-15T20:57:00.002-04:00

Hornaday wins at Las Vegas for second straight truck victory

By Brian Hilderbrand
Special to the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(October 15, 2011)

LAS VEGAS, Nev.—Polesitter Ron Hornaday Jr. held off a late challenge by Matt Crafton on Saturday to earn his 51st Camping World Truck Series victory in the Smith’s 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Hornaday, 53, led 107 of the 146 laps and notched his second victory in a row and his first in 11 starts in Las Vegas. Crafton was second, .629 seconds back, followed by Timothy Peters, Johnny Sauter and Todd Bodine.

Rounding out the top 10 were Nelson Piquet Jr., David Mayhew, Cole Whitt, Brendan Gaughan and Parker Kligerman.

Hornaday never really had a chance to maintain a sizeable lead because of the 10 caution periods in the race. But it was clear he had the dominant truck since Friday’s first practice session.

“I know I stunk up the show for the fans, but I wanted this win really, really bad,” Hornaday said. “I finally won in Vegas.”

Hornaday was driving the No. 2 Chevrolet for the second race in a row for Kevin Harvick Inc. owners Kevin and DeLana Harvick. The truck is leading the series’ owner points, and the decision to move Hornaday from the No. 33 to the No. 2 was made to help bolster that championship effort. Hornaday won two weeks ago at Kentucky Speedway in his first start this season in the No. 2.

“This is just a dream come true,” Hornaday said. “You don’t get trucks like that very often, and I’ve got it two races in a row, so that’s pretty awesome. Kevin and DeLana, I owe them a lot. They give me a championship truck with the owner points and still believing in me. They put Bruce Cook (crew chief) with me, and we go out and win another one.”

In winning for the third time in five races and the fourth time this season, Hornaday also thrust himself back into the championship race. Austin Dillon and James Buescher, the top two in points going into the race, were involved in separate incidents early, tightening up the points. Dillon now leads Sauter by five points and Buescher by seven. Hornaday is fourth, 21 points back, and Peters is fifth, 25 points off the pace with four races remaining.

Dillon made contact with the outside wall in the fourth turn of the third lap and finished 17th, 15 laps off the pace. Buescher tangled with Max Gresham on Lap 48 and also spent time behind the wall for repairs. He finished 21st.

Notes: There were eight lead changes among five drivers. … The race was slowed by 10 cautions for 44 laps. The track record for cautions and caution laps is 12 and 46, set in 2008. … Although it was Hornaday’s first victory at Las Vegas, it was his eighth top 10.

Smith's 350 Race Winner: Ron Hornaday

2011-10-15T18:33:00.002-04:00

Race Fast Facts
Las Vegas Motor Speedway 
15th Annual Smith's 350
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sat, October 15, 2011 @ 05:10 PM Central
Race Winner: Ron Hornaday
Age: 53
Team : No. 2 - Champion Chevrolet
Owner: Delana Harvick
Crew Chief: Bruce Cook
Ron Hornaday won the 15th Annual Smith's 350, his 51st victory in

296 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races.
This is his fourth victory and 15th top-10 finish in 2011.
This is his first victory and eighth top-10 finish in 11 races at

Las Vegas Motor Speedway .
Matt Crafton (second) posted his fifth top-10 finish in 11 races at

Las Vegas Motor Speedway .  It is his 12th top-10 finish in 2011.
Timothy Peters (third) posted his second top-10 finish in four races

at Las Vegas Motor Speedway .
Nelson Piquet Jr. (sixth) was the highest finishing rookie.
Austin Dillon leads the point standings by 5 points over Johnny Sauter.

Drivers competing for quality rides at diversity combine

2011-10-15T18:07:00.002-04:00

Drivers competing for quality rides at diversity combine

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(October 15, 2011)

Kyle Larson of Elk Grove, Calif., heads a list of newcomers who will be competing for rides in NASCAR’s K&N Pro Series and Whelen All-American Series at the Drive for Diversity combine next week at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va.

Larson, 19, who has a combined 18 feature wins this season in Midgets, Non-Winged Sprint Cars, Winged Sprint Cars and Silver Crown, faces stiff competition from Revolution Racing veterans, including Ryan Gifford, 22, of Winchester, Tenn.; Sergio Pena, 18, of Catharpin, Va.; Michael Cherry, 20, of Valrico, Fla.; and Mackena Bell, 19, of Carson City, Nev.

All told, 24 drivers ages 16 to 24 will compete for rides in NASCAR’s developmental series. The three-day combine begins Tuesday.

For the third straight year, Revolution Racing, under the direction of former Dale Earnhardt Inc. president Max Siegel, will field racecars for participants in NASCAR’s D4D program. Revolution Racing has enjoyed unprecedented success in 2011, placing three drivers in the top 10 in the K&N Pro Series East standings. Darrell Wallace Jr., 18, had three victories and finished second in points, Pena also won three races and finished fifth, and Gifford finished 10th.

The other 19 drivers who will participate in this year’s combine are Devon Amos, 18, Rio Rancho, N.M.; Jorge Arteaga, 23, Agualcalientas, Mexico; Annabeth Barnes, 20, Hiddenite, N.C.; Angelique Bell, 17, Roseville, Calif.; Juan Carlos Blum, 16, Guadalajara, Mexico; Jessica Brunelli, 18, Hayward, Calif.; Amber Colvin, 18, Tallahassee, Fla.; Enrique Contreras, 18, Cuernavaca Morelos, Mexico; Ruben Garcia, 16, Mexico City; Trey Gibson, 18, Easley, S.C.; Lindsey Holman, 23, Abingdon, Va.; Jack Madrid, 16, San Clemente, Calif.; Dallas Montes, 17, Bakersfield, Calif.; Tayla Orleans, 17, Randleman, N.C.; Bryan Ortiz, 21, Bayamon, P.R.; Ryan Reed, 17, Bakersfield, Calif.; Dylan Smith, 17, Randolph, Vt.; Alexis Wilson, 16, Hamburg, N.Y.; and Frank Young, 19, Fontana, Calif.

Edwards rallies for Nationwide win at Charlotte

2011-10-15T08:24:00.002-04:00

Edwards rallies for Nationwide win at Charlotte

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(October 14, 2011)

CONCORD, N.C.—Carl Edwards tested the durability limits of his No. 60 Ford Mustang on Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Rebounding from hard contact with the wall early in the Dollar General 300, Edwards held off Kyle Busch on a five-lap green-flag run to the finish to win his eighth Nationwide Series race of the season and the 37th of his career.

Busch came home second followed by Trevor Bayne and Elliott Sadler, who claimed the final $100,000 Nationwide Insurance Dash4Cash bonus and cut the series lead of ninth-place finisher Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to 15 points.

Brian Scott ran fifth, followed by Brad Keselowski, whose dominating run was foiled by a cut tire late in the race. Justin Allgaier, polesitter Paul Menard, Stenhouse and Brian Vickers completed the top 10.

Kenny Wallace finished 16th in his 519th Nationwide start, tying the series record of Jason Keller.

Just past 30 laps into the 200-lap race, Edwards smacked the outside wall, spent considerable time in the pits for repairs on Lap 41 and restarted 27th on Lap 45. Gradually, relentlessly, he worked his way back to the front.

On the final restart on Lap 196, Edwards benefitted from a push from Bayne, his Roush Fenway Racing teammate, and surged past Busch into the lead. The final five laps were the only ones Edwards led all night.

“What got us the lead—Trevor pushed, and that meant a lot,” said Edwards, who tied Kevin Harvick for third on the all-time series wins list. “He could have gone three-wide. Man, this is huge. I hit the wall really hard and messed the right side of the car up.

“I thought Brad had it, and there at the end, I thought Kyle was going to get me. He has the ability to turn it on there at the end. But he raced me really clean, and I appreciate that.”

The first two thirds of Friday night’s race looked like a replay of the preceding Saturday at Kansas, where Keselowski put an old-fashioned whipping on the rest of the Nationwide field, leading 173 of 200 laps on the way to his fourth victory of the season.

Keselowski wasn’t in Kansas anymore, but it didn’t matter. After a caution for Ryan Truex’s hard hit against the Turn 2 wall, Keselowski pulled away following a restart on Lap 136 and opened a wide margin over everyone save Stenhouse, who managed to stay within five car lengths of Keselowski’s rear bumper for the first 15 laps of the run.

Busch, whose car excelled on long runs, gradually reeled in Stenhouse and passed him on Lap 157. By Lap 160, Busch was 1.177 seconds behind Keselowski and closing.

In Turn 2 on Lap 171, Keselowski suddenly slowed. “I’ve got a flat! I’ve got a flat!” Keselowski radioed to his crew as Busch blew past, narrowly avoiding contact with the No. 22 Dodge as the two cars traded positions.

The punctured tire caused Keselowski to spin, bring out the fifth caution of the race, allowing him to change tires without losing a lap. After pit stops under the caution, Stenhouse led the field to the green flag, with Sadler beside him.

Busch restarted fourth on Lap 177 but grabbed the lead from Sadler on Lap 178, as Keselowski, who restarted 13th tried to make up ground.

Keselowski, who led a race-high 119 laps, had worked his way up to ninth before caution for debris on Lap 185 bunched the field for a restart on Lap 189. Joey Logano’s brush with the Turn 4 wall slowed the field again on Lap 192 and set up the final restart of the race.

Note: Sadler also won $100,000 for race fan Joe Thornton of New Port Richey, Fla., as part of the Nationwide Dash4Cash program.

Gresham's truck series debut coming where he's never raced

2011-10-13T19:32:00.002-04:00

Gresham's truck series debut coming where he's never raced

By Jared Turner

Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(October 13, 20110

At age 18, Max Gresham is just a few months out of high school.

Gresham, however, isn't done graduating.

Crowned 2011 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East champion at Dover International Speedway last month, Gresham is now nearing another graduation—to one of NASCAR's three national series.

It all starts Saturday in the Smith's 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where the youngster will make his Camping World Truck Series debut, driving the No. 66 Chevrolet of Turn One Racing. The 1.5-mile track will serve as a proving ground of sorts for Gresham, who is seeking NASCAR approval to compete at all-sized venues in 2012 when he hopes to run the full truck schedule.

"The target this weekend is to bring the truck back home in one piece … and hopefully finish in the top 20, top 15," said Gresham, who is guaranteed to start the race by virtue of the No. 66 team's position in owner points. "That's a realistic goal. I'd like to run inside the top 10 or top five if possible but if the truck's not right or it's just not going to be our day, the goal is to bring it home in one piece without any damage and just salvage what we can and learn from it."

While Gresham's youth and inexperience leave him with plenty to learn about the truck series, he is no newcomer to competitive auto racing. The Griffin, Ga., native has spent the past two years honing his skills in the K&N Series East (four wins) and the ARCA Racing Series (one win) where he's been a consistent force.

Gresham is looking forward to making the jump to the more competitive trucks.

"I'm not really nervous," he said. "I'm probably more anxious than anything; I'm ready to get it going. I've been waiting for this day for awhile now to venture into one of NASCAR's top three series. It's going to be a real cool experience for myself, my family when we show up Friday and Saturday to practice and race. I'm ready to go."

Gresham seems undaunted by the fact he'll be competing on a track where he's never raced before, and against former champions such as Ron Hornaday and Todd Bodine.

"It's just another race," Gresham said. "It's another track with four corners. You can't be nervous when you're inside the car. You just have to go out there and do what you know you're supposed to do, and that's what I'm going to do."

Plans call for Gresham to follow his truck debut with two more starts—at Martinsville on Oct. 29 and at Homestead on Nov. 18. Both outings will come with Turn One Racing, where he'll be tutored beginning at Las Vegas by team owner and former driver Stacy Compton, and veteran crew chief Trip Bruce.

"The biggest thing about this weekend is learning something and hoping the next time when I get to drive one of these trucks, I'll be even better," Gresham said.

Fan Favorite Kenny Wallace Poised To Equal Series Record

2011-10-12T17:16:00.001-04:00

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES
Fan Favorite Kenny Wallace Poised To Equal Series Record

Kenny Wallace certainly has had many interesting stories surrounding his 23-year NASCAR national series career. None, however, may have come in triplicate like they will Friday at Charlotte.

Wallace, who is seventh in the points, will make his 519th career start in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, tying the mark set by his good friend, Jason Keller. Wallace is expected to set a new standard in two weeks at Texas.

He’s also one of four drivers who have the opportunity to secure the final $100,000 NASCAR Nationwide Series "Dash 4 Cash" bonus of the season. Wallace became eligible – along with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Elliott Sadler and Ryan Truex – for the bonus thanks to his season-best fifth-place finish at Richmond last month.

Additionally, Wallace – a three-time NASCAR Nationwide Series Most Popular Driver and a long-time fan favorite – will have his regular No. 09 RAB Racing Toyota dressed in a "Thank You Fans!" scheme. This is the second time in Wallace’s career he’s let fans make a donation to place their name on the car he’ll drive in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race. He initiated the opportunity for the Montreal race in 2009, which was a rousing success. Over 20,000 fans donated for that event.

Can Kyle Hold Off Roush Fenway Charge?

Roush Fenway Racing could become the first team in NASCAR national series history to earn different championships in the same series in the same season.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. leads the driver championship standings. He’s 20 points in front of second-place Elliott Sadler with five races to go. On the flip side, Stenhouse’s teammate – and 2007 NASCAR Nationwide Series driver champion – Carl Edwards has his sights set on the series owner championship. He’s moved his No. 60 RFR team to within seven points of the owner champion leader, the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Edwards has made up a lot of ground over the last few weeks, especially in races where Kyle Busch – the alpha dog driver of JGR’s flagship car who is not running a full double-duty schedule – has been absent.

However, Busch, winner of four of the last seven overall series races at Charlotte (but shut out of the last two), is back in the No. 18 on Friday night. He’ll run twice more this year while Edwards will compete in each of the last five races.

In head-to-head competition this year, Busch has eight wins while Edwards has five. But here’s where Edwards has made up the deficit: He has two wins and six other top-five finishes in 10 of the 11 races in which Busch hasn’t competed (neither ran at Road America).

Final Dash "4" The Cash In 2012

Friday night’s race marks the fourth and final NASCAR Nationwide Series "Dash 4 Cash" event of the 2012 season. This go-round, the highest finisher among Elliott Sadler, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Truex and Kenny Wallace will collect $100,000 on top of the race prize money.
Four drivers have been eligible for the bonus in each of the four "Dash 4 Cash" races during the season’s second half – Daytona, Iowa, Richmond and the finale at Charlotte. The first field at Daytona’s July race was set via the top four in driver points entering that event. For the next three "Dash 4 Cash" races, the field was set by the four highest finishers in those races among driver championship contenders. This quartet was decided by their finishes at Richmond last month: Stenhouse was third, Truex a career-best fourth, Wallace, fifth and Sadler, sixth.

That Truex is racing at Charlotte is a story in itself. He has blossomed in the five of his late-season six-race deal with Joe Gibbs Racing (one top five, two top 10s, no finish lower than 13th). The two-time K&N Pro Series East champion, 19, started the season with Pastrana-Waltrip Racing but was free to find another ride when sponsorship ended after 10 races. He wasn’t scheduled to run for JGR at Charlotte, but PWR stepped up to reunite Truex with the No. 99 Toyota for this big chance at a big payday.

Shepherd 70 Years Young This Week

One of the mainstays in the NASCAR garage, the amazing Morgan Shepherd, will celebrate his 70th birthday on Wednesday, Oct. 12.

Shepherd, who will make the 886th start of his NASCAR national series career Friday at Charlotte, has won 19 races and collected 13 poles in his 44 consecutive seasons of NASCAR racing. He’s competed in all 29 NASCAR Nationwide Series races this season, and has completed 4,340 of a possible 5,597 laps.

With the assistance of series sponsor Nationwide Insurance, Shepherd’s family will throw him a "surprise" birthday party on Wednesday evening. NASCAR.com will house video birthday wishes from numerous members of the NASCAR community including NASCAR president Mike Helton, drivers, owners, crew chiefs, media members and NASCAR Nationwide Series officials.

CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES The championship battle

2011-10-12T15:00:00.001-04:00

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

Vegas Provides Wild Card Factor to Championship Hunt

The championship battle in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is down to a mere three points separating Austin Dillon from James Buescher with five races left.

Upcoming races at Talladega and Martinsville are already being pegged as the wild card events, but this weekend’s event at Las Vegas should not be overlooked. It will be the first daytime race at the 1.5-mile tri-oval since 2002.

So, who holds the advantage?

• Only three drivers who competed in the 2002 event are expected to race this weekend – David Starr, Brendan Gaughan and Matt Crafton.

• Dillon comes into the event as the defending winner and current standings leader.

• Johnny Sauter – who sits 19 points behind Dillon in the championship fight – captured his first NCWTS victory at Las Vegas in 2009 and finished second last season.

• Buescher finished third in 2010 behind Sauter, but is still searching for his first series victory.

Rookie Contenders Battle For Bragging Rights

This season’s Sunoco Rookie of the Year class is one of the most competitive in series history, but the bragging rights are still left up for grabs.

Who will be the first to visit victory lane?

Joey Coulter is the highest rookie in the series standings in sixth followed by Cole Whitt in seventh, two points behind Coulter (four-points back in the rookie standings). Coulter has captured three top-five and 10 top-10 finishes with Whitt bringing home three top-five and 10 top-10 finishes.

Parker Kligerman and Nelson Piquet Jr. – currently ranked 10th and 11th in the series standings - both lead the way in top-five finishes with four each followed by seven top-10 finishes.

Lofton, Carmichael Stay Busy In the Desert

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competitors Justin Lofton and Ricky Carmichael have a busy week planned in the desert this weekend.

After driving 146 laps at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Lofton will head south to Parker, Arizona, to compete in the final leg of the Best in the Desert Racing Associations BlueWater Desert Challenge on Sunday.

He will be splitting seat time in the off-road event with his father, Bob.

Immediately, following the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Carmichael will travel down the road to Sam Boyd Stadium to commentate LIVE on SPEED the running of the Monster Energy Cup Supercross event. Carmichael designed the track with former competitor Jeremy McGrath.

Gresham to Make NCWTS Debut in Vegas

Max Gresham – the recently crowned 2011 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Champion – will make his NASCAR national series debut at Las Vegas.

He will compete in the No. 66 Chevrolet fielded by Turn One Racing.

Gresham scored two wins and nine top-five finishes this season in the K&N Pro Series East Series.

Smith’s 350 A Toss-Up Between Three Title Contenders

2011-10-12T13:00:00.001-04:00

Smith’s 350 A Toss-Up Between Three Title Contenders

Call Saturday’s Smith’s 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship in microcosm.

Austin Dillon, James Buescher and Johnny Sauter comprise the top three – and most likely, only – contenders for the 2011 crown.

A year ago, the finishing order of the Smith’s 350 found each of the title hopefuls among the top three. Dillon won the race by 2.474 seconds over Sauter, with Buescher third.

Sauter won the race in 2009, his first series victory – a springboard to an eventual Sunoco Rookie of the Year title.

Dillon, 21 and bidding to become the youngest NASCAR Camping World Truck champion, leads Buescher by three points with Sauter 19 back. He’s coming off his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut in Kansas where he finished 26th.

Sauter has been particularly strong on intermediate tracks – he won last year at Kansas Speedway – and this week’s race is crucial to picking up the pieces, so to speak. The Wisconsin driver dominated competition from spring through early summer before faltering.

Buescher continues to seek his first series victory but has been the series’ most consistent competitor logging 17 top 10s in 19 starts. He finished third behind Ron Hornaday Jr. and Dillon in the most recent event at Kentucky Speedway.

Hornaday, meanwhile, hopes to avoid any hangover from the milestone 50th victory – and shake off what has been a Sin City jinx.

“This is one of those tracks that I don't have a victory at so that is definitely our priority this weekend. I am back with Bruce Cook and the No. 2 truck team this weekend and really looking forward to getting on the track to see what we have,” said Hornaday, who still harbors hopes for the fifth championship. He’s fifth, 42 points behind Dillon. “This team is on top of their game and with five races to go in the season, it’s game time."

Hometown Victory Would Add Shine To Gaughan’s Lackluster Season

Brendan Gaughan hasn’t exactly been a stranger to his home track, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, having competed at the 1.5-mile track in NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR Nationwide Series events over the past three seasons.

But Saturday’s Smith’s 350 marks a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series homecoming for the 36-year-old Las Vegas native, winner of the race in 2003. Gaughan’s last start in a truck came in 2008, resulting in a 12th-place finish.

Gaughan was hoping for much better as the 2011 season winds down. The eight-time series winner and 2002 Sunoco Rookie of the Year is 13th in the points standings with a single top-five and five top-10 finishes. A victory in his hometown would certainly be welcome.

“Our strong run at New Hampshire (12th) is our precursor for heading to Las Vegas,” he said. “We’re taking the New Hampshire truck to Vegas. It has been to the wind tunnel recently and it has a different downforce balance than our other chassis. I think I’m gonna like the truck there.”

Lofton, Carmichael Have Busier Weekend Than Most

Two drivers, Justin Lofton and Ricky Carmichael, have busy weekends before them. The Smith’s 350 is their primary focus but each has a second “job” once the checkered flag falls at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Lofton will compete off road on Sunday, sharing a Class 1500 Buggy with his father Bob in the Best in the Desert Racing Association’s BlueWater Desert Challenge near Parker, Ariz. The race is a two-day event run on a 28-mile course. The elder Lofton will qualify and race on the first day of competition with the son primed to take over Sunday.

Carmichael’s task is more immediate. He’s set to handle commentary for SPEED’s coverage of the Monster Energy Cup motocross race being held Saturday night at Las Vegas’ Sam Boyd Stadium. Carmichael, a 15-time AMA motocross champion, helped design the course for the two-wheel set’s richest payday.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

Saturday’s race is the final stand-alone event of the season – and the last in which no NASCAR Sprint Cup points-eligible drivers are likely to compete. The track’s most recent afternoon race in 2002 was won by David Starr. Gaughan and Matt Crafton also were in the field, finishing eighth and 25th. Crafton will make his 268th consecutive start this weekend, surpassing Dennis Setzer for No. 2 all-time. … Five former winners are entered: Dillon, Gaughan, Sauter, Starr and Todd Bodine. … Recently crowned NASCAR K&N Pro Series East champion Max Gresham will make his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut in Las Vegas. The 18-year-old Georgia competitor will drive the No. 66 Turn One Motorsports Chevrolet for Stacy Compton. … DeLana Harvick and Kyle Busch continue to battle for the NCWTS owner’s title. Harvick’s No. 2 Chevrolet team holds a 41-point lead over Busch’s No. 18 Toyota.

Roush Fenway Racing Looking To Make Series Championship History

2011-10-12T09:14:00.000-04:00

Roush Fenway Racing Looking To Make Series Championship History

Roush Fenway Racing could become the first team in NASCAR national series history to win a drivers championship and an owners championship in the same series in the same season – but with different drivers.

That impressive feat seems very real, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. closing in on his first drivers title in the No. 6, and Carl Edwards and RFR’s No. 60 closing in on the owners standings lead.

Stenhouse Jr., the current driver standings leader, is 20 points in front of second-place Elliott Sadler with five races to go. Stenhouse has ripped off five consecutive top-10 finishes in the last five weeks, and four of them were top fives. He sat on the pole at Charlotte earlier this season and finished fourth. His pre-race Driver Rating is 67.0 and his average finish at Charlotte is 24.5.

Sadler hasn’t given up. He gained two points on Stenhouse after his third-place finish at Kansas last weekend. In nine starts at Charlotte, he has posted one top five and two top 10s. His pre-race Driver Rating is 82.3 and his average finish at Charlotte is 21.6. Both are better than Stenhouse.

At the other end of the spectrum, Edwards has his sights set on the series owner championship. He’s moved his No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing team to within seven points of the owner champion leader, the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Edwards has made up a lot of ground over the last few weeks, especially in races where Kyle Busch has been absent. However, Busch, winner of four of the last seven overall series races at Charlotte (but shut out of the last two), is back in the No. 18 on Friday night. He’ll run twice more this year while Edwards will compete in each of the last five races.

In head-to-head competition this year, Busch has eight wins while Edwards has five. But here’s where Edwards has made up the deficit: He has two wins and six other top-five finishes in 10 of the 11 races in which Busch hasn’t competed (neither ran at Road America).

NASCAR Unites To Bring Awareness To Breast Cancer At Charlotte Motor Speedway

Breast Cancer Awareness has been a big focus for many of the nation’s major sports entities this month, and this weekend NASCAR and Charlotte Motor Speedway will be doing their part to bring awareness and support for a disease that has touched so many of the sport’s friends and family.

NASCAR is uniting to support kids who have been affected by the loss of a loved one to breast cancer. The NASCAR Foundation will raise funds to benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure College Scholarship Program through online donations, online auctions and an at-track donation program.

Also, NASCAR participants and officials will have several different ways this weekend to show support for breast cancer: pink NASCAR Breast Cancer Awareness Ribbon A-Post decals for the participating cars and pace car, pink NASCAR Unites lanyards to be worn by officials, teams and fans, pink Mechanix Wear gloves to be worn by officials and teams and pink NASCAR Breast Cancer Awareness Ribbon firesuit patches for officials.

Charlotte Motor Speedway will also honor 101-year-old Nanny Sue Neal, of Waxhaw, N.C., on Friday night. She is North Carolina’s oldest living breast cancer survivor.

Charlotte Marks The Final “Dash 4 Cash” In 2012

Friday night’s race marks the fourth and final NASCAR Nationwide Series “Dash 4 Cash” event of the 2012 season. This go-round, the highest finisher among Elliott Sadler, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Truex and Kenny Wallace will collect $100,000 on top of the race prize money.

Four drivers have been eligible for the bonus in each of the four “Dash 4 Cash” races during the season’s second half – Daytona, Iowa, Richmond and the finale at Charlotte. The first field at Daytona’s July race was set via the top four in driver points entering that event. For the next three “Dash 4 Cash” races, the field was set by the four highest finishers in those races among driver championship contenders. This quartet was decided by their finishes at Richmond last month: Stenhouse was third, Truex a career-best fourth, Wallace was fifth and Sadler, sixth.

Truex, who has blossomed in the five of his late-season six-race deal with Joe Gibbs Racing (one top five, two top 10s, no finish lower than 13th), is racing at Charlotte is a story in itself. The two-time K&N Pro Series East champion, 19, started the season with Pastrana-Waltrip Racing but was free to find another ride when sponsorship ended after 10 races. He wasn’t scheduled to run for JGR at Charlotte, but PWR stepped up to reunite Truex with the No. 99 Toyota for this big chance at a big payday.

Another interesting note on one of the four “Dash 4 Cash” contenders is Kenny Wallace, who is seventh in the points, will make his 519th career start in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, tying the mark set by his good friend, Jason Keller. Wallace is expected to set a new standard in two weeks at Texas.

Additionally, Wallace – a three-time NASCAR Nationwide Series Most Popular Driver and a long-time fan favorite – will have his regular No. 09 RAB Racing Toyota dressed in a “Thank You Fans!” scheme.

NASCAR Nationwide Series

Morgan Shepherd celebrates his 70th birthday this week (Oct. 12). Shepherd has made 316 series starts posting 15 wins and six poles. … As part of the ‘ExtenZe Local Hero’ program, driver Kevin Conway is stepping up to assist the Concord Police Department in the unsolved double homicide case of Donna Barnhardt and Darrell Noles. His No. 87 ExtenZe Toyota will carry an image of Barnhardt and Noles along with contact information on the car’s deck lid.

Keselowski powers to Nationwide win at Kansas

2011-10-08T18:24:00.002-04:00

Keselowski powers to Nationwide win at Kansas

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(October 8, 2011)

KANSAS CITY, Kan.—Driving a No. 22 Dodge that felt as if it was on rails, Brad Keselowski dominated Saturday's Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway to win his fourth Nationwide Series race of the year and the 16th of his career.

The reigning series champion passed runner-up Carl Edwards with just over 13 laps left and pulled away to win by 2.795 seconds. Elliott Sadler ran third, followed by Paul Menard and Nationwide points leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Keselowski had a 10-second lead over Paul Menard when the engine in Josh Wise's Chevrolet exploded on Lap 142. The No. 22 Dodge hit pit road for tires and fuel and quickly stretched out his lead.

But when Angela Cope spun and hit the Turn 2 wall on Lap 173, Edwards was able to grab the lead to the inside after a restart on Lap 179. His advantage didn't last. Keselowski moved past Edwards to the inside on Lap 187 and pulled away for the win.

Keselowski was the clear class of the field in the first half of the race. On successive green-flag runs, he opened leads of seven, five and four seconds before cautions bunched the field. Keselowski led Sadler by 3.785 seconds when NASCAR called the fourth caution of the race on Lap 86 for Timmy Hill's blown engine.

Keselowski, who had stayed out under the previous yellow, came to pit road for fuel and four tires on Lap 88 but stalled his car in his pit box because of a miscommunication between driver and crew on when to leave the stall.

"My fault," Keselowski radioed after the mistake. "I wasn't ready when you dropped the jack."

Keselowski restarted 14th on Lap 96. Six laps later he was back in the lead, blowing past Aric Almirola for the top spot on Lap 101.

Owners Championship: Edwards In It To Win It For Roush

2011-10-05T14:48:00.001-04:00

Owners Championship: Edwards In It To Win It For Roush

With a NASCAR Nationwide Series career that has spanned seven years, 239 starts, one driver championship (2007), 36 wins (fourth all-time), 124 top fives, 168 top 10s, 24 poles and seven perfect Driver Rating performances, Carl Edwards has achieved almost everything. Except this season he has set his sights on the series championship that has eluded him – the owners championship.

With just five races remaining, the top two spots in the owner’s championship are separated by 13 points. The Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 team is still in the top spot, which is not surprising with the cast that has been driving the car this season - Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Drew Herring, Ryan Truex and Michael McDowell.

Joe Gibbs is going for what would be a record-setting fourth consecutive owner’s championship this season, but Jack Roush, Edwards and the No. 60 team have other plans for the title. Edwards is coming off a dominant victory at Dover, where he led 179 of the 200 laps and posted his second career perfect Driver Rating at the one-mile speedway.

Edwards has been the primary driver of the No. 60 this year, missing just one race. Billy Johnson replaced him at Road America – the first series race Edwards has missed since the June Nashville race in 2005 – and finished 33rd.

Unlike Busch, who is only scheduled for three of the remaining five races, Edwards is scheduled to start the remaining six events.

Edwards is a Missouri native, but he considers Kansas Speedway his home track, and though he has won at 19 different tracks in his career, he has yet to win there. He has made six starts at Kansas, posting one top five and three top 10s.

Logano will be in the No. 18 this weekend and in his three series career starts at Kansas he has posted one pole, two wins and three top 10s.

Confidence Is Key In The Quest For A Championship

One thing is certain, if you want to be the best you have to beat the best, and standings leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has done just that this season. Of the championship contenders, Stenhouse is the only one with two wins (Iowa sweep), 13 top fives and 21 top 10s this season. Stenhouse sits 22 points ahead of second-place Elliott Sadler.

Stenhouse returns to Kansas – the track where he made his series debut – just after celebrating his 24th birthday on Oct. 2, to continue his momentum in his championship run after his fifth-place finish at Dover.

As Stenhouse matures with age, his confidence grows.

“I think we are in charge for sure,” Stenhouse said. “But we got to control what we do. We need to not make mistakes and bring good, fast race cars to the racetrack and I got to do a good job of keeping it out of the fence and keeping the fenders on it. So far we have done that, and I think that we have a really good shot at this championship. I think we have a race team that is pretty determined to win this thing,” Stenhouse said.

Stenhouse has one start at Kansas Speedway, where he qualified 18th, led five laps and finished sixth. His pre-race Driver Rating for this weekend is 103.5. Sadler has only one series start at Kansas, and didn’t fare as well as Stenhouse. In that 2005 event, Sadler was caught in an accident and finished 42nd.

Danica Patrick Back In The Hot Seat At Kansas

Danica Patrick returns to the NASCAR Nationwide Series this weekend for the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway. This will be race No. 9 of her 12-race schedule this season. After this weekend she’ll be off until the final three races of the season at Texas, Phoenix and Homestead-Miami.

Patrick will move exclusively to NASCAR next season, running full-time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series for JR Motorsports in addition to a partial schedule in NASCAR Sprint Cup for Stewart-Haas Racing.

In eight races this season, Patrick has posted one top five and three top 10s with an average finish of 16.3. Patrick’s season-to-date Driver Rating is 80.3, which is 28.3 points more than what she finished the season with last year (51.7). This will be Patrick’s first series career start at Kansas Speedway this weekend.

NASCAR Nationwide Series Etc.

Timmy Hill and Blake Koch have been the mainstays in the 2010 Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award chase. Hill has had the upper hand most of the season and despite a summer comeback by Koch, continues to hold off his nearest challenger by two points. Now Ryan Truex, who was the odds-on-favorite to win the award at the start of the season, has worked his way back into the conversation thanks to a late-season surge with his new team, Joe Gibbs Racing. Truex, the two-time NASCAR K&N Pro Series East champion, picked up a six-race schedule with JGR in early August and has since worked his way back into the rookie conversation. Heading to Kansas, Truex – who will drive the No. 20 Toyota – is third, 20 points behind Hill. … Michael Annett will have a special guest at Kansas. Ryan, a nine-year-old patient at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, will spend race day with Annett’s No. 62 team. Earlier this week, Annett visited the hospital and toured the facility. He signed autographs, interacted with the patients and distributed T-shirts. … With the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in the midst of an open week, James Buescher will compete at Kansas in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race. Before he races, he’ll trade his driving shoes for cleats and work out with Major League Soccer’s Sporting Kansas City club.

Hornaday Still Believes Fifth Title ‘Is Doable’

2011-10-05T10:50:00.001-04:00

Hornaday Still Believes Fifth Title ‘Is Doable’

Basking in the glow of his milestone 50th NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory, Ron Hornaday Jr. was only half-joking about still being in contention for a fifth championship with five races remaining in the 2011 season.

“I never say die,” said Hornaday, following his third victory at Kentucky Speedway on Oct. 2. “If they (Kevin Harvick Inc.) give me trucks like tonight, it’s doable.”

Hornaday, in fifth place and 42 points behind leader Austin Dillon, led the most laps in the Kentucky 225. He edged the onrushing Dillon, who had earlier won his fifth Keystone Light Pole of the season, by 0.438 seconds. “He’s the new up-and-coming star and I can say at the age of 53 I beat him,” said Hornaday. Nearly a third of Hornaday‘s wins, 15, have come since the Palmdale, Calif.-competitor turned 50.

Hornaday’s victory was the fifth of the year for crew chief Bruce Cook. Cook, previously a winner with Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer, observed of Hornaday, “It’s insane how he does things sometimes. He’s just that good.”

Cook is the 13th different crew chief to visit Victory Lane with Hornaday. He’s won championships with three: Rick Ren twice and Doug Williams and Fred Graves.

Hornaday’s thoughts on win No. 50? “It’s going to mean a lot when I hang my helmet up and I’m in my rocking chair on the front porch with my grandchildren,” he said.

NCWTS Leader Dillon Makes NASCAR Sprint Cup Debut In Kansas

Sunday will be a coming-out party for the Dillon family for the second consecutive weekend.

Austin Dillon is due to make his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. He’ll drive a No. 98 Chevrolet prepared by his grandfather’s Richard Childress Racing with ownership by former California Lt. Gov. Mike Curb. The team will be led by Danny Stockman, Dillon’s NCWTS crew chief.

Dillon’s younger brother, 19-year-old Ty Dillon, participated in his first NASCAR national series race at Kentucky Speedway. He finished 18th but ran in the top five with Austin during portions of the Kentucky 225.

Two other NASCAR Camping World Truck title contenders will be busy during this off weekend. James Buescher, who trails Dillon by three points in the standings, will drive a Turner Motorsports entry in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Kansas Lottery 300. Buescher, who finished third in Kentucky, will work out with Major League Soccer’s Sporting Kansas City on Thursday and host several team members during Saturday’s race.

Johnny Sauter travels to his native Wisconsin for a pair of Late Model races during the Oct. 8-9 Oktoberfest at LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway. Sauter is third in NCWTS standings trailing Dillon by 19 points after finishing 14th at Kentucky Speedway.

Armstrong Nabs Top-10 Finish In Prep For Rookie Campaign

Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender-to-be Dakoda Armstrong didn’t want to start the 2012 season cold, and his strategy – get experience at as many different tracks as possible this year – has begun paying dividends.

The 20-year-old Indiana agriculturalist had no finish higher than 20th in four starts before logging a ninth-place performance at Kentucky Speedway.

“Really it has just been important to get laps and experience because the trucks are so different compared to everything else I've run,” said Armstrong, who made his NASCAR Camping World Truck debut at Iowa Speedway in July and also competed at Lucas Oil Raceway, Michigan International Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “It's important for us as a team to keep getting better as well, and the more we run together the better we'll get.”

Armstrong competed fulltime in ARCA a year ago, winning twice (including Talladega) and finishing seventh in points. He joined ThorSport Racing as a teammate to Sauter and Matt Crafton to compete in trucks.

“The biggest thing for me is getting comfortable with the truck and the team and being able to tell them what I need,” said Armstrong. “With each race we run I feel more confident in knowing what the truck is going to do and how to adjust to make it better.”

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Etc.

Next on the schedule is the season’s final stand-alone race Oct. 15 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. … The Smith’s 350 is the season’s fourth and final time behind the wheel of the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 18 Toyota for Brian Ickler. He scored the year’s second top-five finish in Kentucky, his eighth top 10 with KBM over two seasons. … Winfield Motorsports LLC has announced the hiring of Dennis Connor as director of competition. Connor won three NCWTS championships with Jack Sprague and is No. 2 all time in crew chief victories with 26. The No. 27 team expects to announce its 2012 driver shortly. … Sunoco rookie Nelson Piquet Jr. led 40 laps and finished fourth at Kentucky but continues to trail Joey Coulter and Cole Whitt in freshman standings. Twelve points cover the trio.

Hornaday triumphs at Kentucky for 50th truck win

2011-10-02T08:41:00.000-04:00

Hornaday triumphs at Kentucky for 50th truck win

By Al Stilley
Special to the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(October 1, 2011)

SPARTA, Ky.—Ron Hornaday Jr. scored a milestone 50th NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win Saturday in the Kentucky 225 on a cold night of racing at Kentucky Speedway.

Hornaday held off the late-race charges of runner-up and polesitter Austin Dillon during the final 10 laps. Dillon, who protected his lead in the series points standings, pulled to within two-tenths of a second of Hornaday but could get no closer.

The air temperature at the start of the race was 48 degrees, and the track temperature was 53 degrees.

Hornaday led the final 11 of 150 laps on the 1.5-mile speedway after leader Todd Bodine pitted. The key to Hornaday’s win came on his last pit stop for four tires and fuel. Hornaday led four times for 42 laps.

Hornaday talked more about his 50 wins than his late-race duel with Dillon, a 21-year-old in his second full season in the series.

“It will mean a lot when I sit on the front porch in the rocking chair with my grandkids and I can tell them that I won 50 races,” Hornaday said. “Austin is an up-and-coming star, and at age 53, I beat him.”

Hornaday has three wins at Kentucky Speedway. His first career truck win came at Tucson (Ariz.) Raceway Park on April 8, 1995—the same month Dillon turned 5.

Dillon tried to catch Hornaday over the final 15 miles but finished 0.438 seconds back.

“We gave ’em hell at the end, but the old man whipped my tail,” Dillon said. “I gave it everything I had on those last laps.”

Dillon extended his lead in the standings to three points over third-place finisher James Buescher with five races remaining.

“We took on right-side tires on the last two green-flag stops, but it wasn’t good enough to hold off 2 (Hornaday) and 3 (Dillon),” Buescher said. “It was a good points night.”

There were a track-record 18 lead changes among 11 drivers.

Rookie Nelson Piquet Jr. and Brian Ickler in Kyle Busch’s Toyota rounded out the top five.

Ty Dillon, Austin’s younger brother, finished 18th in his first NASCAR national series race.

“It was awesome, a blast,” Ty Dillon said. “We actually ran out of gas twice. We came here to learn, and I felt like they all knew we were here.”

Rounding out the top 10 were Ricky Carmichael, Bodine, rookie Cole Whitt, Dakoda Armstrong and David Starr.

The next race in the series is Oct. 15 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, also a 1.5-mile track.

Carl Edwards cruises to Nationwide win at Dover

2011-10-01T18:04:00.002-04:00

Carl Edwards cruises to Nationwide win at Dover

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(October 1, 2011)

DOVER, Del.—Carl Edwards pulled away from Brad Keselowski and Clint Bowyer after a restart on Lap 168 of 200 to win Saturday’s One Main Financial 200 Nationwide Series race at Dover International Speedway.

The victory was Edwards’ seventh of the year and the 36th of his career. Keselowski held off Bowyer in the closing laps to claim the runner-up position, with Bowyer running third.

Kasey Kahne finished fourth, one spot ahead of series leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who extended his margin to 22 points over polesitter Elliott Sadler, who ran 14th. There are five races left in the season.

Edwards and Bowyer were putting on a two-car show when the fourth caution interrupted the action on Lap 159 during a round of green-flag pit stops. Edwards and Bowyer were on pit road when Brian Scott clobbered the sand barrels at the entrance to pit road to bring out the yellow.

Edwards had led 141 laps to that point, and after Keselowski, Kahne, Bowyer and Stenhouse stopped under caution on Lap 163, Edwards regained the top spot. Sadler had made a green-flag stop before Scott locked his brakes and slid into the barrels.

Trapped two laps down by the untimely caution, Sadler took a wave-around before the Lap 168 restart but took the green flag in 17th place, one lap down.

OneMain Financial 200 Pole Winner: Elliott Sadler

2011-10-01T13:12:00.000-04:00

Qualifying Fast Facts
Dover International Speedway
26th Annual OneMain Financial 200
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sat, October 01, 2011 @ 12:58 PM Eastern
Coors Light Pole Winner: Elliott Sadler
Age: 36
Team : No. 2 - OneMain Financial Chevrolet
Owner: Delana Harvick
Crew Chief: Ernie Cope
Elliott Sadler won the Coors Light Pole Award for the

26th Annual OneMain Financial 200 with a lap of 23.417 seconds, 153.734 mph.
This is his 10th pole in 159 NASCAR Nationwide Series races.
This is his fourth pole and 22nd top-10 start in 2011.
This is his first pole in eight races at Dover International Speedway.
Carl Edwards(i) (second) posted his 26th top-10 start of

2011 and his 13th in 14 races at Dover International Speedway.
Joey Logano(i) (third) posted his fifth top-10 start at

Dover International Speedway.  It is his 14th in 17 races this season.
 Ryan Truex (fifth) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

NASCAR K&N East Champion Max Gresham

2011-10-01T10:22:00.000-04:00

DOVER, Del. – Max Gresham wrapped up his first championship in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East with a third-place finish in the Dover 150 at Dover International Speedway on Friday.
While the 18-year-old Gresham was securing the title, Darrell Wallace Jr., 17, scored his third win of the season and fifth of his career with a victory on the high-banked, one-mile concrete oval.
It marked Wallace's first win at the Monster Mile and coupled with a 21st-place finish for the other title contender Brett Moffitt, moved him into second in the final standings. Wallace won the race's pole award in Thursday's qualifying.
Gresham, from Griffin, Ga., was in his second season driving the No. 18 Live Oak Plantation Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. He took the championship by 63 points over Wallace and 83 over Moffitt. It marks the second series title for JGR, following Joey Logano's in 2007.
Moffitt cut a tire and hit the wall while leading with four laps remaining in a quest for his third straight win at Dover. At the time, Gresham was running third and nursing a six-point lead over Moffitt in the championship standings. Moffitt's accident prompted a green-white-checkered finish that stretched the race to 152 laps.
Eddie MacDonald and rookie Andrew Smith rounded out the top five. Benny Gordon was sixth, followed by Ryan Gifford, Brandon McReynolds, Dylan Presnell and Jeff Anton. Alex Bowman finished 23rd but was able to unofficially clinch the Sunoco Rookie of the Year.

Darrell Wallace Jr. earns the win at the Monster Mile

2011-09-30T21:09:00.002-04:00

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.”