Bashas' Supermarkets 200 News and Notes

Driver to win the Bashas Supermarket 200

Kyle Busch +265
Denny Hamlin +385
Clint Bowyer +485
Jeff Burton +545
Kevin Harvick +585
Carl Edwards +755
David Reutimann +1425
Jason Leffler +1855
Jamie McMurray +2025
David Ragan +2250
Field +685

TheGreek

Nationwide race draws from sprint field

Bowyer, Burton and Kyle Busch are three top-tier drivers who will also drive in more than one of NASCAR's major series.

NASCAR's weekend at Phoenix International Raceway includes a Nationwide Series race tonight with a field that, as usual, includes several drivers from NASCAR's top-tier Sprint Cup Series.

One is Clint Bowyer, the defending winner of the Bashas' Supermarkets 200 on the one-mile PIR oval and the current Nationwide points leader.

Jeff Burton, his teammate at Richard Childress Racing and the current Cup points leader, also is scheduled to compete.

So is Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing, who last week extended a rare streak in stock-car racing.

By winning the Nationwide race at Texas Motor Speedway, Busch has won at least one race in all three of NASCAR's major series -- Cup, Nationwide and the Craftsman Truck Series -- in the same season for four consecutive years.

Before Busch first won all three in 2005, it had been done only two other times, by Terry Labonte in 1995 and Kevin Harvick in 2003.

2 Bowyer and other drivers were still talking about the vicious wreck involving rookie Michael McDowell during Cup qualifying at Texas last week, and how he walked away shaken but uninjured.

The accident, in which McDowell's Toyota Camry first slammed head-on into the wall and then barrel-rolled several times, "was scary for everybody," Bowyer said.

"It says a lot about how far our sport has come from the safety aspect of it," Bowyer said. "Let's face it, before Dale Earnhardt's death, that one right there may have killed him."

He was referring to safety advances since Earnhardt, a seven-time Cup champion, was killed in the Daytona 500 in 2001, including safer retaining walls, head-and-neck restraints and NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow, which became mandatory this year.

Part-time driver Randy LaJoie, who also makes racing seats that emphasize safety, had a similar sentiment this week, saying "Dale Earnhardt saved that boy's life."

3 The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach said it expects a field of 20 cars for the race April 20, the largest since 2002.

The event will be the final race for the Champ Car World Series, which is being absorbed into the Indy Racing League's IndyCar Series under an agreement that reunited the two leading U.S. open-wheel racing circuits.

The two series competed as one for the first two races this season. But the Champ Car drivers will be at Long Beach, and the IRL drivers at Motegi, Japan, because of prior commitments with both tracks.

The race on a 1.97-mile street course in Long Beach will include 19-year-old Graham Rahal, who won last week's race; Justin Wilson, his teammate at Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing, and Oriol Servia, who finished second at Long Beach last year. The 2007 race winner, Sebastien Bourdais, now drives in Formula One.

4 The NHRA Powerade Series resumes this weekend at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Brandon Bernstein is the defending winner in the top-fuel class, and Robert Hight and Greg Anderson hope to repeat in funny car and pro stock, respectively.

5 In local racing Saturday night, late-model stock cars will lead the program at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, with kids admitted free. USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series will be featured at Perris Auto Speedway, with Mike Spencer of Temecula holding a five-point lead over Cory Kruseman of Ventura.

latimes.com.

Busch takes top spot for Nationwide race
Fri 11th, April 2008

Phoenix, AZ (Sports Network) - Kyle Busch won the pole for Friday night's Bashas' Supermarkets 200 Nationwide Series race at the Phoenix International Raceway. The No.18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota circled the one-mile oval in 27.15 seconds (132.582 m.p.h.).

The pole was Busch's second of the season and 13th of his Nationwide career.

Starting alongside Busch will be youngster Brad Keselowski who posted a second-best time of 27.32 seconds.

Carl Edwards (27.36) and Jeff Burton (27.36) will start in row two.

Bowyer, starting 10th, and Edwards appear to be in a season-long battle for supremacy. Last year, Edwards built a huge lead (over 700 points) and coasted to the title. It doesn't look as if that strategy will work this time around. Bowyer has become a force both in this series and the Sprint Cup Series.

Bowyer, in the No.2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, enters this week's Nationwide Series race in Phoenix with everything going right. He is the series points leader - by 57 points over Edwards. Bowyer is also the defending champion for this week's race at PIR. And his team has overtaken the No.33 Kevin Harvick Inc. team to lead the owner's points championship.

In the 2007 race, Bowyer was in the lead with seven laps to go. On the final restart he pulled away from Matt Kenseth. Burton, in third place, began to challenge Kenseth for second and while the two fought it out for the runner-up spot, Bowyer cruised to the victory.

In the last three years (six races at PIR) 13 RCR cars have been entered and they have come away with 11 top-fives. Besides Bowyer and Burton (No.29), youngster Stephen Leicht will drive the No.21 RCR Chevrolet.

The race is schedule to drop the green flag tonight at 9:45 p.m. (et).

Busch pit crew key to second straight Nationwide win

Phoenix, AZ (Sports Network) - Kyle Busch's pit crew got him out first on the final pit stop and the Joe Gibbs Racing star took it from there winning Friday night's Bashas' Supermarkets 200 Nationwide Series race at the Phoenix International Raceway. The No.18 Toyota driver took the checkered flag 0.241 seconds ahead of Carl Edwards.

The victory was Busch's second of the season and 13th of his Nationwide career.

Busch won the pole, but his car started out too loose once the race got underway and Brad Keselowski grabbed the lead midway through the first lap. He led six laps before Busch got the handle of his car and drove it underneath the youngster for the lead on lap seven.

Slowly, Keselowski began to fall through the top-10. First Denny Hamlin got past him. Then Kevin Harvick passed him as did Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer and Edwards - all NASCAR stars.

Up front, Busch's lead was almost three seconds on Hamlin after 33 laps when the first caution flag of the day appeared. The first pit stop cost Busch two positions as Burton and Harvick beat him out.

He didn't stay there long. Busch jumped outside of Harvick in Turn 2 of the first green-flag lap and got Burton on the outside of Turn 4 to regain the lead.

A debris caution flag on lap 63 wiped out another Busch two-second lead. He stayed out, but most of the other leaders came in for fuel and tires. By lap 74, Edwards caught and passed Busch showing just how much new tires were worth.

Harvick and Keselowski brought out the next caution flag on lap 79 when the veteran got into the left-rear corner of the Keselowski to send him spinning. When they went back to green, Hamlin worked the outside line to get around Edwards for the lead.

Burton slammed the outside wall in Turn 2 damaging the right-side and ending his chances for a win. But the yellow didn't come out and the leaders kept on digging. Hamlin and Edwards exchanged the lead a couple more times before the field reached the mid-point of the race with Hamlin in the lead.

Steven Wallace brought out a caution flag with 96 laps remaining which was a huge break for Busch now very low on fuel after bypassing the last pit opportunity.

Finally with new tires, Busch charged to the front where he and Edwards fought it out. By lap 111, Busch completed the pass of Edwards. But the No.60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford didn't go away. Using the bottom of the track to his advantage, Edwards stayed right on Busch's rear bumper.

But Edwards just couldn't keep up with Busch's pace, he was too loose, and by lap 140 the margin was one second. Then Busch ran into lapped traffic and it slowed him up just enough for Edwards to stay near, while hoping for a caution flag to adjust his Ford for the final run to the checkered flag. The two leaders were four seconds ahead of third-place Hamlin, so without a yellow, it appeared to be a two-man race.

Forty-two laps to go and Edwards slid to the bottom of the track and past Busch for the 13th lead change of the evening - a record for this race. Suddenly, Edwards was a lot better than Busch and with 35 laps to go the margin was 1.444 seconds. Thirty laps remaining and the gap was 2.168 seconds.

Then a debris caution with 23 laps to go set up the final stop drama. All the leaders pitted and Busch's crew got him out in front of Edwards with Hamlin in third place and Harvick fourth. They all got four tires, so no car had and advantage over the other as they prepared for the 14-lap shootout. But a couple of caution flags on restarts left the race with just five laps to determine a winner.

Busch got off to a great restart, opening up a two-length lead, but Edwards fought back and with four laps to go stuck his nose in front of Busch. The No.18 didn't let up and using the outside line took back the lead just as one final caution flag waved. The spin meant a green-white-checker finish.

Again Busch got the jump on Edwards and he held it all the way to the checkered flag for his second consecutive win.

"Our car was good on the two lap jumps, but he had us there from five to 15 laps," said Busch. Luckily, we kept getting those cautions."

"It's too bad somebody had to lose a race like that," said Edwards. "That's fun out there. Kyle did a great job."

Hamlin, Harvick and David Ragan completed the top-five. Bowyer, the points leader, finished eighth and had his lead over Edwards cut to 24 points (1,189 - 1.165).

The next race in the Nationwide Series is set for Sunday, April 20th in Mexico City, Mexico.