Camping World 200 News and Notes

Driver to win the Camping World 200

Carl Edwards +450
Matt Kenseth +450
Kevin Harvick +500
Denny Hamlin +600
Tony Stewart +700
Clint Bowyer +900
Casey Mears +1000
Scott Wimmer +1200
Juan Montoya +2000
Greg Biffle +2500
Bobby Labonte +3000
Reed Sorrenson +3000
Scott Riggs +3000
David Reutimann +3500
Jason Leffler +3500
Dave Blaney +4000
Stephen Leicht +4000
Field +500

@ TheGreek

Busch Series teams make last-minute changes
SCENEDAILY.COM

LOUDON, N.H. - One car has withdrawn and there were a few other last-minute changes to the Camping World 200 Busch Series entry list for the race Saturday at New Hampshire International Speedway.

The No. 00 DDL Motorsports entry for Mike Potter has been withdrawn, leaving 44 drivers vying for the 43 spots.

Among the other changes, Mike Bliss is now listed as the driver of the No. 22 instead of David Stremme.

David Gilliland, who shares the No. 25 Team Rensi Motorsports ride with Richard Johns, is in that car instead of Johns, who was scheduled to drive.

Kelly Bires, as expected, is in the No. 47 Wood Brothers/JTG Racing ride as Jon Wood continues to recuperate from an adverse reaction to prescribed medication.

Randy MacDonald, whose family-owned team has two cars entered, has moved from the No. 71 to the No. 72 in place of D.J. Kennington. Driving the No. 71 will be Busch East driver Eddie MacDonald. Kennington has a NASCAR Canada race on Sunday and did not come to NHIS because he didn't want to risk missing the Canada race, where he is running for the series title.

Harvick wins the pole: #21-Kevin Harvick won the pole for the New England 200 with a speed of 127.967 followed by; #60-Carl Edwards in second, #2-Clint Bowyer in third, #91-Bobby Santos, fourth and #20-Denny Hamlin, fifth. Rounding out the top ten were; #25-David Gilliland, #42-Juan Pablo Montoya, #17-Matt Kenseth, #10-Dave Blaney, and #33-Tony Stewart. All qualifiers are in the race. An accident in practice sent #52-Ian Henderson home as he did not have a backup car and was unable to make repairs. Henderson withdrew from the race.

Three drivers will be sent to the rear of the field for missing the drivers' meeting. Cup drivers Dave Blaney, who drives for Braun Racing on the Busch side, and Ward Burton (Brewco Motorsports) missed the meeting while they practiced. Phoenix Racing's Mike Wallace was late. #66-Steve Wallace spun off turn two while getting up to speed; will change tires and will have to start in the rear as a result. #71-Eddie MacDonald did not make a qualifying run as the car would not start, however, he is expected to start the race

www.jayski.com

Harvick holds off Edwards for Busch victory
June 30, 2007

LOUDON, N.H. (AP) -Kevin Harvick held off a late challenge by Carl Edwards to grab his second NASCAR Busch Series victory of the season Saturday at New Hampshire International Speedway.

The two-time Busch champion, who had not won since the opening weekend of the season when he swept the Busch and Nextel Cup races at Daytona, picked up his 28th career victory in Busch.

Juan Pablo Montoya was running in fifth place when he and Clint Bowyer collided on lap 165 of 200 on the 1.058-mile oval, bringing out the last of six yellow flags in the race.

Matt Kenseth, who wound up third, took the lead with a two-tire stop during the ensuing caution period. Harvick, who led a dominating 166 laps, was second when the race restarted for the last time on lap 172.

But Harvick easily drove into the lead halfway through that lap and stayed out front the rest of the way. Edwards, who has four wins this season and is the runaway points leader, also got past Kenseth on lap 181 and went after the leader.

Edwards got right up to Harvick's rear bumper with two laps to go. He made one final try to duck under the leader on the final lap, but Harvick held Edwards off by 0.284-seconds - about two car lengths.

``We kind of geared up for short runs, hoping it would come down to that kind of run at the end,'' said Harvick, driving a part-time Busch schedule this season. ``I knew he was going to come after me on the bottom, try to get underneath us, and we were able to hold him off.

``Seems like old times, beating the (No.) 60 and winning the race. This team is the same bunch of guys we won the championship with last year,'' added Harvick, who won nine times last year.

Edwards said he was just trying to put pressure on Harvick at the end.

``I thought, `Maybe I can rattle him a little bit and he'll slide up or something,' but that's all I had,'' he said. ``We just ran out of time.''

Harvick, driving the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, was the 21st different driver to win in 21 Busch races at the Loudon track.

Tony Stewart, driving a car owned by Harvick and his wife, Delana, wound up fourth, followed by Denny Hamlin, Bowyer and Greg Biffle. Cup drivers, who will race here Sunday, swept the top 10 places. Montoya wound up 34th.

Busch Breakdown – Camping World 200 Presented by RVs.com

In a Nutshell: The Camping World 200 started off more like a demolition derby than a Busch Series race. There were three cautions for wrecks in the first 42 laps of the race. A multitude of crew chiefs seemed to believe that trend would continue and made a fuel gamble based on the belief that they would be able to receive 30 laps of caution in the last half of the race. However, the second half of the race was much cleaner than the first half, so the teams had to adjust on the fly and come in for fuel when the caution flew with 38 to go. While Matt Kenseth tried a two tire stop to get to the front at that point in time, his car was just not good enough to hold off Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards.

Who Should Have Won: Kevin Harvick had the car to beat all day long in the race. He led the most laps (166) and was easily able to make it back to the front when he fell behind due to pit strategy. Although his car did seem to fall off in the final 10 laps, he had just enough of a lead to hold off Edwards, and come home as the 21st different driver to win in 21 Busch races at New Hampshire.

Three questions you should be asking after the race this weekend.

1) Did ESPN actually listen to the fans?

Early on in the new tenure of ESPN covering NASCAR, there was quite a bit of criticism about the fact that ESPN had forgotten their racing roots and was buying into the formula that the new broadcast partners had been using instead of giving back to the fans what they had been asking for. At least one thing seems to have changed: The commercials, for the most part, seem to be ending before the green flag flies. When a caution was coming to an end this weekend, the majority of the time, the green flag flying was seen on TV, not on replay.

2) Who does Delana Harvick REALLY root for?

Delana Harvick is a legitimate car owner in the Busch series. She is not just a paper owner, she is very hands on and knows the ins and outs of running a racing organization. However, she also has a husband who drives for a different owner in the series. She never admits who she roots for, but can she honestly not pull for her husband to win the race?

3). What are the odds that 21 different races at a track would produce 21 different winners?

Obviously, when the Busch series was a developmental series, there weren’t many drivers who came to the same track more than two or three times in their career. But with the influx of Buschwhackers over the last few years, and the stable of drivers who have run Busch full time for years, it would seem like at SOME point in time there would have been a repeat winner. There have to be some statisticians in the Frontstretch fandom that would be kind enough to let us know what the odds are that 21 straight races at a track would be won by 21 different drivers.

Worth noting/points shuffle:

With the series back at a track as a companion event with the Cup series, the Buschwhackers were out in full force. With the entire top 10 being comprised of Cup regulars, it was a big point weekend for a large group of Buschwhackers. Harvick, Greg Biffle, Denny Hamlin and Bobby Labonte moved up two positions, Kenseth vaulted up three, Clint Bowyer, Casey Mears, Juan Pablo Montoya and Ward Burton jumped up one, Tony Stewart surged up four, and Scott Riggs powered up 11 positions.

Edwards has a 809 point lead over second place David Reutimann. Harvick gained two spots back up to third in the standings 868 points behind. David Ragan slipped one spot to fourth 912 points behind and Jason Leffler moved up one position to round out the top five 966 markers back.

Buschwhacker watch:

Buschwhackers in the race: 17
Starting spots taken by Buschwhackers YTD: 327 of 727
Buschwhackers finishing in the top 10: 10
Buschwhackers finishing in the top 10 YTD: 133 of 180
Races won by Buschwhackers YTD: 16 of 18
Buschwhackers ranked in the top 10 in Busch Series points standings: 6

Quoteable:

“We had a top five car at best the way we were running, so we had to try something. At worst we’ll finish fifth and we may be able to end up a little better by being out front with clean air. I think it was a great call.” Matt Kenseth, as the in race reporter, on the decision to take two tires on the final pit stop.

“When we came in the last time, we didn’t make any changes and I probably should have loosened the car up a little bit. We got pretty tight there at the end. I just had to protect the bottom. I knew he’d dive in there, but I got through the center just fast enough, and he must have pushed the front tires.” Kevin Harvick on the end of the race.

“It was exciting for me, I hope it was for the fans. I did a lunge for life in there on the last corner, and I thought I might be able to get to his bumper, but I was a little too hot and had to lift, and Kevin did just what he had to do to get it done.” Carl Edwards on the last lap.

Next up:

The Busch heads back to restrictor plate racing with the Winn Dixie 250 presented by Pepsico at Daytona International Speedway. The race will be next Friday, July 6th at 7:30 and will be available on ESPN2 and MRN.

www.frontstretch.com