Aaron’s 312 News and Notes

Driver to win the Aarons 312

601 Dale Earnhardt Jr +285
602 Kevin Harvick +450
603 Tony Stewart +485
604 Martin Truex Jr +750
605 Clint Bowyer +1150
606 Kyle Busch +1325
607 Carl Edwards +1550
608 Greg Biffle +1550
609 Jamie McMurray +1875
610 Casey Mears +1875
611 Dave Blaney +2425
612 Kasey Kahne +2425
613 Bobby Labonte +3225
614 Reed Sorrenson +3225
615 Juan Montoya +3850
616 David Reutimann +4000
617 JJ Yeley +5000

@ThwGreek

Coleman fast at Talladega, wins first Busch Series pole
The Associated Press

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Nineteen-year-old Brad Coleman gave Joe Gibbs Racing its fifth consecutive Busch Series pole at a restrictor-plate track Friday.

The youngster said the first pole of his NASCAR career, coming on the day his paternal grandfather was buried in College Station, Texas, was a blessing.

"It's been tough on my family, particularly my dad," Coleman said. "But I felt a guardian angel out there [Friday] helping push that car from behind."

Coleman joined Gibbs teammates J.J. Yeley (three) and Aric Almirola in winning plate poles in the No. 18 Chevrolet, but Coleman said this 18 is not the same car.

"It's actually a brand-new car," he said shortly after turning a lap of 184.299 mph to beat out veterans Dave Blaney (184.062) and Jason Leffler (183.935) for the top spot Saturday in the Aaron's 312 at Talladega Superspeedway.

"The team didn't know how good it would be here, but it was awesome," added Coleman, who is making only his seventh Busch start overall and fifth this season.

It will be the first time in his career he has started a race higher than 14th and Coleman has yet to finish better than 15th.

Winning the pole was exciting for Coleman, who saw a copy of the qualifying times, with his name on top of the list, on a table in the media center and asked, "Can I have this piece of paper?"

Casey Mears will start third, followed by Ward Burton, last week's Phoenix winner Clint Bowyer, rookie David Ragan, last year's top rookie Danny O'Quinn Jr. and series points leader Carl Edwards.

Looking ahead to the race, with so many experienced drivers behind him, Coleman said, "I hope they do work with me out there. I don't know, being a rookie, if the whole field will go training by me or not."

Last Lap Win for Labonte
RacingOne Staff

Bobby Labonte edged his teammate Tony Stewart at the finish line with a slingshot pass to win the NASCAR Busch Series Aaron's 312 at Talladega Superspeedway.

After pushing Stewart to the lead on a green-white-checkered finish, Labonte was able to charge his overheating car to his first series win (10th overall) since 1998.

"I went to the right side and it just slowed him down," Labonte said. "I went to the right and I'm like, ‘Dude, that was a good move.’"

The 1-2 finish marked the first in the history of Kevin Harvick, Inc.

"I'm so proud of Bobby Labonte," Stewart said. "He pushed me for two solid laps to get us to the lead."

Stewart admitted he didn't see the pass for the win coming.

"He is the one that has taught me everything I know about Cup racing when we were teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing and I'm proud to have him as a teammate at Kevin Harvick, Inc," Stewart said.

The race was sent to overtime after debris was spotted in Turn 2 with three laps-to-go.

Casey Mears, who led the most laps with 52, finished second in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Rookies David Ragan and Kyle Krisiloff rounded out the top five.

"This Busch Series is so tough but it's really cool to be here," said Krisiloff, who started 23rd in the No. 14 Ford. "We ran good today and I’m just so proud for my guys because they’ve tried hard all year and we’ve had some bad luck. Today we ran really strong and it felt good to be up there."

Kevin Harvick, Juan Pablo Montoya, Ward Burton, pole-sitter Brad Coleman and Carl Edwards completed the top-10 finishers.

The “big one” came with six laps-to-go after a multi-car crash, that included the cars of Marcos Ambrose, Steven Wallace, Stephen Leicht, Reed Sorenson and David Reutimann, put the event under the red flag.

"All I've heard is that the No. 41 (Sorenson) car got into the back of the No. 66 car (Wallace) and turned him across the race track. And all I know is the No. 66 turned sharp left in front of me like something along those lines happened," Reutimann said.

The scariest incident on the day came on lap 26 when Kyle Busch went for a wild ride when his No. 5 Chevrolet flipped multiple times before coming to a rest in Turn 3. The melee started when Stewart’s No. 33 made contact with Busch’s car as he looked to the outside of his teammate Mears for the lead.

“The best driver in NASCAR in wrecked me and turned me sideways,” Busch said. “It was just like what happened (in the Cup race) with Vickers (Brian), Johnson (Jimmie) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. last fall.”

Dale Earnhardt, Inc. was denied of their fourth-straight Busch Series win at Talladega after Martin Truex Jr. was taken out on a lap 9 crash and Dale Earnhardt Jr’s No. 8 lost a transmission on lap 109.

The 120-lap race saw 36 lead changes among a Talladega record 20 drivers.

Edwards now leads Harvick by 433 points in the series standings.

The NASCAR Busch Series will now head to Richmond International Raceway on Friday May 4 for the Circuit City 250.

Driver to win the Aarons 312

601 Dale Earnhardt Jr +285
602 Kevin Harvick +450
603 Tony Stewart +485
604 Martin Truex Jr +750
605 Clint Bowyer +1150
606 Kyle Busch +1325
607 Carl Edwards +1550
608 Greg Biffle +1550
609 Jamie McMurray +1875
610 Casey Mears +1875
611 Dave Blaney +2425
612 Kasey Kahne +2425
613 Bobby Labonte +3225 W
614 Reed Sorrenson +3225
615 Juan Montoya +3850
616 David Reutimann +4000
617 JJ Yeley +5000

@ThwGreek

Nice price on Labonte 😉