Briscoe beats Dixon in Milwaukee
West Allis, WI (Sports Network) - Ryan Briscoe captured Sunday's ABC Supply/AJ Foyt Indy 225 at The Milwaukee Mile. The No.6 Team Penske driver crossed the finish line under caution ahead of Scott Dixon.
The victory was Briscoe's first career win the IndyCar Series.
Tony Kanaan, Dan Wheldon and Helio Castroneves completed the top-five.
Dixon was dominating the race when he led Castroneves, Briscoe, Wheldon and Kanaan to the restart with 85 laps to go.
Dixon had a great restart and a few laps later had a comfortable lead, something he was used up to this point the race. It seemed like it would take a miracle for someone to pass last week's Indianapolis 500 winner.
Then with 65 laps remaining, Briscoe passed his Penske teammate Castroneves to take over second place and started to make things a little interesting. Castroneves lost another spot when Wheldon got past him for third.
Briscoe ran the same or faster lap times then the leader and slowly cut into Dixon's margin. Dixon saw Briscoe pass him on the inside with 49 laps to go. This was going to be a two-man race as they opened up a seven-second gap over third place.
Briscoe started the cycle of green flag stops with 31 laps to go when he made his way down pit road. He needed a great stop, but the opposite happened. He had a slow one due to problems with the left-rear tire. Dixon came down pit road with 21 laps left. The No.9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver didn't have a great stop either, but it was four seconds faster than Briscoe's stop.
It was Briscoe's lucky day as Dixon came off pit road and still settled behind him. Now it was a matter of holding off a charging Dixon.
Once the green flag stops were complete there were 17 laps to go and the margin for Briscoe was 0.6587. Dixon continuously tried to pass Briscoe over the remaining laps, but Briscoe fought back each attempt.
Briscoe finally was able to relax with three laps to go when a multi-car crash involving Ed Carpenter, Vitor Meira, Hideki Mutoh and Marco Andretti brought out the caution flag, allowing Briscoe to cruise to the victory behind the pace car.
Pole winner Andretti had led the 26-car field to the green flag for 225 laps of racing. Andretti led the field through an early caution flag for Oriol Servia. When the race went back to green it was Dixon and Kanaan who made their way past Graham Rahal for second and third, respectively. Castroneves held onto the fifth spot.
The No.26 AGR driver maintained a half-a-second margin until on lap 40 when Dixon made his way around Andretti for the first place. Dixon pulled away to a three-second lead.
Meanwhile, Andretti slowed considerably and fell out of the top-five. Kanaan also fell back as Graham Rahal took over second.
The second caution flag of the race flew on lap 63 for debris. Dixon led Rahal, Castroneves, Wheldon and Kanaan down pit road for their first stops of the afternoon. Castroneves and Rahal switched spots after the stops, this was the only change the top-five.
Dixon had the fastest car and was still dominating the race at the halfway point. The only times Dixon's lead diminished was when he approached lap traffic.
Behind Dixon, the car on the move was Briscoe. After 130 laps, he found himself fourth after starting the afternoon 11th. Wheldon and Kanaan fell back to fifth and sixth as Briscoe continued moving up through the field.
The 19-year-old Rahal made the first big mistake of the race on lap 130 when he got into wall turn four. Rahal was running a solid race third before the crash. The leaders made pit stops during the caution period. It seemed like the race was Dixon's control, but it didn't turn out that way.
Briscoe moved into second place and the race was on. Too bad the race finished under caution flag, it could have been a very exciting finish between the veteran and the young rising star.
The next race the series is set for Saturday, June 7th at the Texas Motor Speedway.
Hamlin dominates Nationwide race in Dover
Dover, DE (Sports Network) - Denny Hamlin led 131 of 200 laps en route to a win in the rain-delayed Heluva Good! 200 Nationwide Series race at the Dover International Speedway. The No.18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota crossed the finish line 1.072 seconds ahead of Carl Edwards.
The victory was Hamlin's second of the season and seventh of his Nationwide career.
Edwards won the pole, but it was Hamlin who led the first 36 laps. Then it was Kyle Busch, the hottest driver in NASCAR, who slid underneath Hamlin on lap 37 for the lead.
Joey Logano, meanwhile, the much-heralded rookie in his first Nationwide start, began ninth and worked his way up to sixth by the first caution flag. Unfortunately, he had a small pit road fender bender and he fell to 28th as the team repaired the damage. Still, he was holding his own and at lap 50 was up to 15th place. By lap 69, Logano cracked the top-10 again.
Up front it was the "Busch and Hamlin Show." Through 100 laps and they had led all but one of them. But Busch was beginning to pull away from Hamlin and held a four-second lead at the halfway point.
Then on lap 101 Brad Coleman slammed the outside wall and sent everyone down pit road for fuel and tires. It was a huge break for some of the cars who were about to make green-flag pit stops.
Hamlin won the race off pit road, while Busch and Brad Keselowski collided leaving the tight pit road. They ended up at the tail end of the lead-lap group, in 16th and 17th place.
Hamlin was now fighting off David Reutimann and Edwards as they crossed the 110-lap mark with Logano up to sixth place. And Busch wasn't giving up and broke into the top-10 on lap 120.
Hamlin was putting up the fastest laps and with 75 laps to go held a three- second lead on Edwards and almost four second on Reutimann. Meanwhile, Logano got around Kasey Kahne for fifth place at lap 135, he was showing he belonged out there.
Busch's march to the front had stalled a bit, he was only up one more spot to ninth with 60 laps remaining. Then Harvick lost a tire with 50 laps to go and he dropped two laps to the leader. That put Logano up to fourth and Busch was up in seventh place.
There was still one pit stop to go before the final run to the checkered flag and it would come when the caution flag flew on lap 153 for a Marcus Ambrose accident.
Hamlin and Edwards were first off pit road, while David Stremme and Greg Biffle used two-tire stops to grab third and fourth, respectively. Logano came out sixth and Busch ninth as they went back to green with just 42 laps to run.
A caution flag on lap 163 slowed the action, but none of the leaders pitted. They restarted with 32 laps to go, but it only stayed green for about five seconds as Busch and Jason Leffler collided and both spun into the wall. Leffler had gotten loose and took out both cars.
Hamlin got off to a good restart with 28 laps remaining, but Edwards stayed right with him. The two quickly put about six lengths between themselves and the field.
Twenty laps to go and Hamlin held a one-second lead on Edwards who scraped the wall, but kept on going. It was still almost a second margin with 10 laps remaining. And that's how it ended, with Hamlin beating Edwards by one second.
Stremme, Reutimann and Biffle completed the top-five and in his first outing, Logano finished a solid sixth. Clint Bowyer finished ninth and will take a 121-point lead over Busch to the next race, set for Saturday, June 7th at the Nashville Superspeedway.
Speed is third straight first-time truck winner
Dover, DE (Sports Network) - Former Formula One driver Scott Speed, in just his sixth Craftsman Truck Series race, won Friday's AAA Insurance 200 at the one-mile Dover International Speedway. Speed joins first-time winners Matt Crafton (Lowe's) and Donny Lia (Mansfield) in Victory Lane. The No.22 Red Bull Toyota crossed the finish line comfortably ahead of runner-up Jack Sprague.
Speed's pit crew used a two-tire stop late in the race to get him track position and he drove around Todd Bodine (no tires) for the lead.
"The truck seemed a little quicker (with just two tires)," said Speed after the race.
From there it was a "simple" matter of holding off a group of former champions in Sprague, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Travis Kvapil for the victory.
All-time pole winning record-holder Mike Skinner led the field to the green flag for 200 laps of racing around the "Monster Mile." But Kyle Busch never likes to follow and as they crossed the start/finish line for the first time, the No.51 Toyota had passed Skinner for the lead.
Busch quickly built the margin to two seconds and we were still less than 10 laps into the race. The other early item of note was last week's winner, Donny Lia, slapping the wall and dropping from eighth on the starting grid to 13th.
Then on lap 13, rookie Ryan Seaman brought out the first caution flag to slow the field.
Again Busch jumped out to a straightaway lead after the caution flag, but behind him Skinner and Johnny Benson were locked in a battle of Bill Davis Racing teammates. Meanwhile, Hornaday Jr. got around Speed for fourth.
Busch's lead was about five seconds on Hornaday Jr. as they approached 50 laps and yet he was "just cruising" according to his crew chief. But another caution flag quickly erased the big lead. Two stops on pit road, for a missing lug nut because of a faulty air hose, put Skinner at the back of the field.
The green flag dropped at lap 58 and off went Busch, at least until lap 63 when Andy Lally spun. Shane Sieg and the lapped car of Brendan Gaughan also got together at the same time.
They restarted on lap 68 and Busch, Benson and Hornaday Jr. all got off to good starts, getting in front of the lapped trucks while Sprague and Matt Crafton fought it out for fourth. But no one was able to stay with Busch and again the lead was 1.5 seconds after just a few laps of green-flag racing.
Hornaday Jr. got around Benson for second, but he was still a long way behind the No.51 truck. Then just before the halfway point Busch's Toyota began to smoke and it was bad enough to bring out a caution flag. It was a transmission leak and Busch's chance to win went up in the grey fog.
Hornaday Jr. inherited the lead as they went back to green on lap 100, but Crafton was hanging right with him. More caution flags slowed to action and Hornaday Jr. and Crafton were still one-two at lap 130.
On the following caution everyone came in for fuel and tires except Terry Cook, Todd Bodine and Sieg. Speed (two tire change), Ted Musgrave and Sprague beat Hornaday Jr. out and were fourth through seventh as they went back to green.
After the green flag Bodine quickly grabbed the lead with Sieg battling Speed for second place. Speed beat him and took off after Bodine, who appeared to be trying to go the final 78 laps without stopping. Speed, with newer tires, caught him and passed him before lap 150. Hornaday Jr., who had gotten four fresh tires on the last stop, was also closing on Bodine and would make the pass.
Bodine would fall to fifth and then slap the outside wall to end his chance at a victory and set up a 22-lap shootout for the win. Speed got a good restart and the "King of Restarts," Hornaday Jr. made a rare mistake, spinning his tires and fell to third behind Sprague.
Ten laps to go and unless Speed made an error or got an unlucky caution flag, the race was his. His lead was more than two seconds and he had little traffic in front of him. The lead was 3.3 seconds with just three laps to go and in just his sixth truck race, Speed made the extra turn into Victory Lane.
Rick Crawford will take a 20-point lead over Crafton and 24 points over Hornaday Jr. heading to next Friday's race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Busch pit crew helps him win at Dover
Dover, DE (Sports Network) - Kyle Busch's No.18 Joe Gibbs Racing pit crew did the job to get the points leader out front and he took it from there easily winning Sunday afternoon's Best Buy 400 at the Dover International Speedway. The No.18 Combos Toyota driver took the checkered flag 4.224 seconds ahead of Carl Edwards.
The victory was Busch's fourth of the season and eighth of his Sprint Cup career.
On the second-to-last pit stop, a green-flag stop, Busch was running second to Edwards. His team changed four tires and added two cans of fuel and got him out ahead of Edwards. Then on the final stop, another green-flag stop, the team put a stunning 12.7-second time to extend the No.18's lead to a comfortable margin. From there the talented driver took over and no one could catch him.
"The guys on pit road had a phenomenal day, got us out front and kept us out front amd that's what won it for us today," said Busch. "They should enjoy this win, this is their win.
Greg Biffle brought the field to the green flag for 400 laps under the hot Delaware sun. Jimmie Johnson, fastest in both Friday and Saturday practice, quickly showed his strength passing both Kyle and Kurt Busch for second place behind Biffle.
But it was all Biffle early on and his lead over the two-time series champion was three seconds after just 15 laps. Then on lap 17 Elliott Sadler, with help from David Gilliland, started a nine-car crash when he got loose and collected a bunch of championship contenders including Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Kasey Kahne. Some of the damage was light, but Hamlin, Stewart and Sadler received the most serious damage.
"It will look like a dune buggy, but we'll get it out there," said Stewart, who would finish 41st.
The race was halted because of all the sheetmetal, parts and fluid strewn across Turn 2 and the backstretch.
They got back to racing on lap 26 and Biffle took up where he left off. By lap 40, Biffle had a two-second margin on Kyle Busch and his brother. Edwards used a two-tire stop to jump to fourth and Johnson was fifth. Biffle began to lap slower traffic around lap 50 and it helped Kyle Busch cut into his lead. But Biffle was still the class of the field through the first 65 laps.
Another caution flag slowed the field at lap 67 for a Tony Raines spin. Biffle was first off pit road, but a great 12.8-second stop by the No.17 Roush pit crew put Kenseth all the way up to fourth place.
On the next restart, Kyle Busch stayed right with Biffle. It was also starting to look like a good day for Roush Fenway Racing with Edwards in third, Kenseth in fourth and Jamie McMurray in sixth to go along with the race leader.
Through 146 laps and Biffle had led 145 of them when they began green-flag pit stops. Ryan Newman was first in and Biffle was in on the next lap giving Edwards a chance to lead the race and gain five bonus points. Kyle Busch and Johnson also led at least one lap to gain the bonus points.
On the pit stops, Kurt Busch had a fuel filler problem and he went down a lap to the leaders, And Johnson was caught speeding on pit road and he was sent to the back of the lead lap line - 16th overall.
Biffle cycled through and returned to the top spot as they went back to green on lap 158. But Edwards swept underneath him on lap 171 for the first green- flag pass of the afternoon.
Biffle was slowing and his pit crew reported he had "low voltage." The team told Biffle to shut off some electrical systems and they went to the backup ignition system.
By lap 175 Edwards' lead over Biffle was one second and Biffle was falling into the grasp of Kyle Busch. Busch got him on lap 187.
As they reached the halfway point, it was the two winningest drivers in 2008 holding down the top-two spots - Edwards (three wins) and Kyle Busch (three). Biffle, Kenseth and Jeff Gordon made up the top-five. There were just 16 cars remaining on the lead lap. Johnson was also working his way back from his pit road penalty. He was 12th and very close to Travis Kvapil for the 11th position.
Edwards was still setting a fast pace and put David Ragan, Juan Pablo Montoya and Paul Menard one lap down as they reached the 225-lap mark.
Another round of green-flag pit stops began with Newman and Martin Truex Jr. in first. Edwards came in on lap 233, no problems and off he went. Kyle Busch came in a lap later and that's when his team went to work. Busch beat Edwards to the start/finish line on his return to the track.
Kyle Busch jumped out quickly and built a one-second lead on the three Roush cars led by Edwards. But the man on the move was Johnson, who passed Jeff Burton and Blaney, and slid into sixth place.
With 100 laps to go it was Busch's Toyota leading three Roush Ford and two Hendrick Chevrolets.
Edwards had fallen back more than one second behind Busch, but now he closed the gap to just three lengths. Then it was two lengths as he challenged Busch for the lead while they worked their way through lapped traffic. But Busch held the lead and was still out front as the readied for the next and final round of pit stops.
Edwards came in on lap 317 and Kyle Busch one lap later. A 12.7-second stop for Busch kept him comfortably ahead of Edwards. The remainder of the lead lap cars came in by lap 326 and everyone was set for the run to the checkered flag.
It was Kyle Busch, Edwards, Kenseth, Gordon, Biffle, Johnson and Truex Jr. as the only cars on the lead lap with 70 laps to run. Busch was putting up the fastest laps and built the lead to three-and-a-half seconds with 60 laps to go. It appeared that as long as he had enough fuel and didn't make any mistakes, the race was his to win.
"I was just riding, taking car of it and running 90-percent, trying not to do anything stupid," said Busch.
The No.18 JGR Toyota's lead was six seconds with 55 laps to go. The lead had grown to more than seven seconds when Busch seemed to relax a little with 40 laps to go. Edwards chopped the lead to six seconds with 35 to go and 5.587 with 30 remaining.
But it was still Kyle Busch's race. He passed Johnson leaving just six cars on the lead lap and from there he cruised to the finish line without incident.
Biffle, Kenseth and Gordon completed the top-five.
With the win, Kyle Busch expanded his points lead to 142 over Burton, who finished eighth. Earnhardt Jr., who ended up with a 35th-place finish, is 271 points back in third place.
The next race on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Pocono 500 set for Sunday, June 8th.
Tracking the Trucks : AAA Insurance 200
Beth Lunkenheimer
In a Nutshell: Scott Speed took the checkered flag 3.379 seconds ahead of Jack Sprague to win the AAA Insurance 200 Friday night at Dover International Raceway. A two tire pit stop with just 67 laps remaining helped Speed gain valuable track position and ultimately the win. Ron Hornaday, Jr, Travis Kvapil and Matt Crafton rounded out the Top 5.
Who Should Have Won: Kyle Busch. Busch led the first 96 laps before smoke forced him to take the No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts Toyota to the garage. It took his team just 19 laps to change his transmission. Once back on the track, Busch managed to gain two of his laps back but was left to finish 17th, 17 laps down.
Questions You Should Be Asking After the Race:
1. Will Erik Darnell ever be able to run well at Dover?
Erik Darnell has never started or finished better than 18th at Dover International Raceway. In 2006, Darnell started 24th and finished 25th, four laps down, but managed to improve upon that in 2007—he started 21st and finished 18th. This year wasn’t much different. Darnell struggled with the No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford right off of the truck, running 18th and 19th in practice before qualifying 18th.
Darnell’s truck was extremely tight to start the race and had dropped back to 23rd within two laps of the green flag flying. With 86 laps remaining, Todd Bodine hit the inside of the No. 99 and sent it towards the wall. Amazingly, Darnell was able to keep his truck off of the wall, but he ended up with four flat tires. He ended up finishing 25th, five laps down.
“We were tight the whole race. Our Northern Tool + Equipment Ford F-150 wasn’t very good,” Darnell said. “The 30 truck [Bodine] just got into the corner a
little too hard and ran into us, spun us out and backed us into the wall a little bit. I thought we had a broken track bar; it looked like it, it felt like it, it looked like it from up top. We brought it into the garage and it wasn’t broken. We lost a couple of laps. It’s just unfortunate.”
Aside from being involved in two wrecks this season and finishing 25th Friday, Erik Darnell hasn’t finished outside the Top 12. The Monster Mile can be so unpredictable, but the team is on the right track. It’ll just take some time before Darnell and his team can run well. Though he dropped three positions in the points standings this week, don’t expect for this disappointing 25-place finish to hurt him too much in the long run.
2. Where’s Mike Skinner this season?
At this point in the 2007 season, Mike Skinner had scored six poles, three wins and eight Top 10 finishes in just eight races. In addition, the driver of the No. 5 found himself in a highly contested points battle with Ron Hornaday, Jr. that ended at Homestead-Miami Speedway when a broken tire hub left Skinner 54 points short.
In the first eight races this season, Skinner has just one pole—this week at Dover—six Top 10 finishes and no wins. While six Top 10’s in eight races is impressive, it’s not what fans were accustomed to seeing last season. Most weeks you could expect to see Skinner qualify well, lead multiple laps and win or finish within the Top 5. So what has happened so far this season?
Every team has their time to shine, and 2007 was certainly that time for Mike Skinner and No. 5 Bill Davis Racing team. An early accident and a 29th-place finish at Daytona started Skinner in the hole for the season, and while he’s still running somewhat competitively, the shine the team had last season seems to have dulled.
Slowly the No. 5 team has been improving, and Skinner has worked his way up to seventh in the points standings. While his year has been far less than impressive, especially compared to 2007, Mike Skinner is headed back to the top of his game after scoring his first pole of the season on Friday.
Truck Rookie Report
2008 Rookie of the Year Candidates:
Colin Braun (No. 6)
Andy Lally (No. 7)
Donny Lia (No. 71)
Justin Marks (No. 9)
Marc Mitchell (No. 15)
Phillip McGilton (No. 22—replaced by Scott Speed at Kansas)
Brian Scott (No. 16)
No. of Rookies in the Race: 6
No. of Rookies to Finish in the Top 10: 2; Scott Speed and Colin Braun, finished 8th
Rookie Of The Race: Scott Speed
Worth Noting / Points Shuffle:
Scott Speed’s 3.379 second margin of victory is the largest so far this season. Previously, Kyle Busch beat Todd Bodine by 1.415 seconds at Fontana in the second race of the season. It also breaks the record for the greatest margin of victory—3.052 seconds—set June 2, 2006.
Scott Speed marks the Truck Series’ third consecutive first time winner, and he did it in only six races. Matt Crafton scored his first career win at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, and Donny Lia took his first trip to victory lane last weekend at Mansfield Motorsports Park. Speed’s win was also the first for Toyota at Dover International Raceway.
Scott Speed got a pedicure and had his toes painted before Friday’s race and told crew chief Doug Wolcott he “would have better throttle control.” The move also earned Speed the nickname of “Toenail” during the race.
Development driver Michael Annett plans to run seven races this season for Bill Davis Racing. He will share the No. 22 with Scott Speed while Speed works to win the ARCA / REMAX Series championship.
After three weeks in the number two spot and a ninth place finish Friday night, Rick Crawford moved up one spot and now leads Matt Crafton, who also moved up one spot, by 20 points. Ron Hornaday, Jr. moved up two spots and sits 24 points out of first. Todd Bodine and Johnny Benson round out the Top 5.
Jack Sprague’s second place finish moved him up five spots to sixth. Mike Skinner and David Starr remain in seventh and eighth. Terry Cook dropped three spots to ninth, and Chad McCumbee rounds out the Top 10.
Quotable:
“[Friday] we had a good strategy and an awesome truck, and we got everything we could out of it. The learning curve I’ve had has been amazing. Every time I go out on the track, I feel I come away with a lot of knowledge. I’m just having an awesome time trying to learn this sport.” Scott Speed
“I could barely outrun [Hornaday] with a sour motor. After the green [on Lap 179], I got tight again. Dammit! I want to win.” Jack Sprague
“He’s [Scott Speed] a winner in the Craftsman Truck Series now, so he’ll fit right in.” Ron Hornaday, Jr, finished 3rd
Up Next:
The Craftsman Truck Series heads south to Texas Motor Speedway for the Sam’s Town 400 next Friday night. Last season Todd Bodine beat Mike Skinner to the checkered flag to score his first of two wins in 2007. Coverage begins at 8:30 pm EST on SPEED; the race can also be heard on your local MRN affiliate.
frontstretch.com
Nationwide Series Breakdown: Heluva! Good 200
Bryan Davis Keith
In a Nutshell: I might as well write a template for this portion of the Nationwide Series Breakdown. This Saturday Joe Gibbs Racing dominated the NASCAR Nationwide Series X (Heluva! Good 200). Driver X (Denny Hamlin) smoked the field, leading X (131) of X laps (200). Joe Gibbs Racing has now won X (9) of X (14) races in the Nationwide Series this season.
Hamlin was, unlike last weekend’s post-race interview, far from provocative in Victory Lane, thanking JGR for taking a chance on him as a development driver four years ago and also thanking the fans that stuck out a three hour rain delay to watch the race.
“We’ve got the greatest fans [here] in NASCAR” said Hamlin, as if attempting to quash the angst many fans have demonstrated towards him following his conflict with Brad Keselowski last week at Charlotte.
The only driver who seemed to have anything for Hamlin was Kyle Busch, who led 68 laps early in his No. 32 Toyota, before damage in a pit road collision forced him back in traffic. Mired in the pack, Busch was moving to the front late in the race before being collected in Braun Racing teammate Jason Leffler’s accident. Busch’s wreck allowed Clint Bowyer to retain the series’ points lead.
Also of note was Joey Logano’s much anticipated debut in the Nationwide Series. Logano ran in the Top10 nearly all day and came home sixth without any damage to his car.
Who Should Have Won: Denny Hamlin As has happened so many times in the Nationwide Series this season when Joe Gibbs Racing has been at the front of the pack, the fastest car won the race on Saturday. Though Kyle Busch was able to challenge Hamlin before his car was damaged on pit road, Hamlin set the tone of the race from Lap one, passing pole-sitter Carl Edwards to lead the first lap. It’s hard to dispute the simple fact that Hamlin had the best car all race long.
Worth Noting:
Joey Logano is the real deal if Saturday’s race was any indication. Logano stepped into the No. 20 car, the hottest ride on the Nationwide tour, and it never missed a beat. Logano qualified ninth, and ran in the Top 10 for the vast majority of the race; passing cars both on the high and low side of the track while keeping his nose clean. Minus a ding from slight pit road contact, Logano’s car came home without a scratch on it. Though he was disappointed with himself for bringing his Toyota home sixth, Logano definitely lived up to his hype in his NASCAR debut, and will likely be a threat to win when the series tackles Nashville next week.
David Stremme may be the veteran driver at Rusty Wallace Incorporated, but he’s a first-time Nationwide Series winner waiting to happen. Stremme finished a strong third at Dover despite taking only two tires late in the going, and may have had something for race leaders Hamlin and Edwards had he gotten four tires. Nonetheless, Stremme’s run was noteworthy as it was sixth consecutive Top 15 in the No. 64 car, and also marked the first time in seven Nationwide Series starts at Dover that he ever cracked the Top 15 (his previous best finish was 16th in 2004). Stremme also cracked the Top 10 in Nationwide Series points with the run.
Mike Wallace has had a somewhat disappointing season this year when compared to the success that Germain Racing has had in the Truck Series, but that didn’t show on Saturday. Wallace was a Top 10 car as soon as his team unloaded off the hauler, and he ran with the leaders all weekend; ultimately finishing eighth for his second Top 10 of the season. Wallace’s team was reported to have found something in the body work of their race cars’ front-end that had improved on-track performance…this may be a team to keep an eye on in the coming weeks.
Better Luck Next Time:
Landon Cassill ran strong in the Truck race on Friday at Dover, and picked up where he left off in the Nationwide Series race on Saturday. After qualifying seventh, Cassill began a march to the front of the field. That is, until Cassill became the latest JR Motorsports development driver to get in the crosshairs of an impatient Sprint Cup regular. Greg Biffle ran over Cassill entering Turn three early in the going, causing significant damage to the rear-end of Cassill’s No. 5 car. Cassill struggled to a 25th place finish, yet another race in which this promising prospect was denied a good finish.
Brad Coleman had easily the biggest smile of all drivers on his face in the Nationwide Series garage, coming in with a boatload of confidence after his first Sprint Cup test at Pocono earlier this week. Coleman also qualified sixth, his best effort of the season. However, Coleman’s No. 27 began back-paddling as soon as the green flag dropped, leading his team to take no tires on an early pit stop to gain track position. The wear and tear on Coleman’s old tires proved too much, failing and putting Coleman’s car into the wall and ending his day early. Coleman finished 32nd and remained 17th in the series’ standings.
Jason Leffler was running in the Top 10 again, when disaster struck, again. On a late restart, Leffler got loose in Turn two, spinning himself and of all people, his teammate, Kyle Busch. The incident robbed both Braun Racing entries of a good finish, and gave the Braun crews their second and third cars to repair in two weeks (Leffler wrecked at Charlotte last week). Leffler was upfront in his interviews, claiming full responsibility for the incident.
Underdog Performer of the Race:
Kenny Wallace brought Jay Robinson Racing’s No. 28 car home in 20th, his fifth Top 25 finish in nine races with his new team. This same No. 28 team scored only six Top 25 finishes in the entire 2007 season. The results haven’t been flashy, but the hiring of Kenny Wallace is paying dividends for JRR. When asked about being a big-name driver driving for an under-funded team, Wallace remarked that being with JRR was bringing out the best in him. Apparently he’s doing the same thing to the No. 28 team.
Quotables:
“I told everyone he’d finish in the top seven. He proved me right, so I guess I won a little money.” – Denny Hamlin in victory lane, talking about his teammate Joey Lagano more than his victory
“I gained confidence by doing all that [qualifying and running well]. I also gained confidence that I pissed him [Greg Biffle] off enough that he had to wreck me. He tried multiple times to get up to my bumper and couldn’t do it and so he finally decided he needed to wreck me.” – Landon Cassill on his wreck with Greg Biffle
“It ain’t much in my book.” – Joey Logano on his sixth place finish in his Nationwide Series debut
Up Next: The NASCAR Nationwide Series heads to the Nashville Superspeedway next Saturday, June 7, for the Federated Auto Parts 300. Coverage from the Music City begins at 7 PM on ESPN2 and 730 PM on MRN.
frontstretch.com
Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: Best Buy 400 Edition
Matt McLaughlin
The Key Moment: Kyle Busch emerged from the pits with the lead after a green flag sequence of stops and drove off into the sunset.
In a Nutshell: The day started out in the Hollywood Hotel and ended with Kyle Busch checking out.
Dramatic Moment: In a day where there were damn few of them, I guess the nods goes to the lap 18 melee Elliott Sadler triggered.
What They’ll Be Talking About Around the Water Cooler This Week
This is Dover. This is Dover with the new car. Any more questions? (Visulize a frying egg here.)
Does that new suite area that stretches over the track block drivers’ vision of what’s going on ahead of them at corner exit leading to a mess like the big wreck?
Kyle Busch’s quote of the week after being asked a question he found stupid, “Duh.” Did he pick up that one at charm school or in the second grade?
Still think that Dale Earnhardt Jr. isn’t the most popular driver in the sport? Did you notice the mass exodus out of the grandstands when the 88 car was taken to the garage?
To be consistent, I have to give NASCAR credit. At least on Sunday they didn’t attempt to resuscitate a moribund race with an artificial “debris” caution at the end.
It appears some of my fellow pundits missed the biting sarcasm in Tony Stewart’s post-wreck comments. No, Stewart didn’t apologize and admit fault for the wreck. He sarcastically noted that running within a half lap of Elliott Sadler puts a driver in the danger zone. He was clearly blaming Sadler for the wreck.
Speaking of debris, I noticed a few beverage cans being tossed onto the track late in Saturday’s race. And here’s the weird part. Kyle Busch was already out of the race by then.
Yeah, the weather forecast was grim, but even at that the crowd in the grandstands Saturday was just embarrassingly small. You gotta wonder if there’s a growing number of people not willing to burn a tank of gas going to a Nationwide race to see another Joe Gibbs Toyota stomp the rest of the field.
Speaking of Joey Lagono, is he really that talented or could just about anyone run up front in a JGR car right now? My guess is it’s some combination of the two. The kid did drove a clean smart race and caught a sideways car coming down the front straight to the checkers. My suggestion is he not take anymore suggestions for surviving the first twenty laps of a race from Denny Hamlin.
When you’ve been around as long as I have you tend to think you’ve seen it all at a race track, but admittedly I’d never seen a jet dryer blow a portion of pit road into the air like that.
And on a brighter note, FOX’s reign of terror covering the 08 Cup series is over. Fans will likely feel like they’ve gone deaf with Darrell Waltrip out of the booth. Trailer park residents reporting seeing space aliens after drinking a thirty pack will take over mangling the English language from Larry McReynolds. Among the things I’d like to see FOX leave home when they come back next year are the Hollywood Hotel and its residents, the Digger cam and graphics, most of the pre-race show and that annoying little ditty they’ve opened every broadcast with. It’s so bad even FOX stopped promoting it.
Speaking of FOX, it seemed even the boys of the booth seemed to be lapsing into a coma and struggling to find anything to say as the Busch runaway wore down to its conclusion.
The Hindenburg Award For Foul Fortune
You had to feel for Tony Stewart. He drove his severely wounded race car around the track for hours and didn’t make up even a single position.
A valid point could be made that the 42 drivers who weren’t Kyle Busch had a long afternoon on Sunday.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. seemed to have his car whoaed up enough to miss the big wreck when he got plowed into from behind.
Everyone is always arguing over whether drivers who compete in the Nationwide series on Saturday learn anything that’s to their advantage for Sunday’s race. Despite winning the Saturday race, Denny Hamlin apparently never figured out the brake pedal is the one in the middle on both cars.
The “Seven Come Fore Eleven” Award For Fine Fortune
Hopefully Kyle Busch will savor this victory because it’s only once in a great while even a great driver can spank the field like that.
Despite his evident frustration, Carl Edwards did have a decent weekend in Dover, finishing second on both Saturday and Sunday.
Joe Gibbs had an excellent weekend at Dover, winning both the Saturday and Sunday races.
Jack Roush had four of his drivers finish in the Top 10. (Edwards, second, Biffle, third, Kenseth, fourth, and McMurray, 10th.)
Jeff Burton weaved his way expertly through the lap 18 carnage en route to yet another Top 10 finish.
Worth Noting
* The win was Kyle Busch’s fourth of the 13 race Cup season to date. He hasn’t finished worse than third in the last five races and he’s won three of them. It’s Kyle Busch’s world. We just live there.
* Carl Edwards (second) scored his fourth straight Top 10 finish.
* Matt Kenseth (fourth) managed just his second Top 5 finish of the 2008 Cup season.
* Jeff Gordon (fifth) has finished inside the Top 10 in the last four Cup races. Yeah, he took a bad handling car to a fourth place finish in the 600 last week, but when you hear hoofbeats think horses not zebras.
* Jimmie Johnson drove to his first Top 10 finish since he won at Phoenix.
* Jeff Burton didn’t finish on the lead lap for the first time this season. Then again, only six drivers finished on the lead lap at Dover on Sunday.
* Dave Blaney (ninth) pulled off his second Top 10 finish in the last three points races.
* Jamie McMurray (10th) scored his best finish since Martinsville and only his second Top 10 of the season.
* Travis Kvapil (11th) has finished 11th or better in three of the last five points races. Will somebody please sponsor this team?
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. (35th) struggled with his second worst result of the season.
* The Top 10 finishers at Dover drove two Toyotas, four Fords and four Chevys. Juan Pablo Montoya in twelfth was the best finishing Dodge pilot.
* Sam Hornish (18th) was the top finishing rookie at Dover.
What’s the Points?
Hey, guess what? Kyle Busch is still leading the points. (As he might add, “Duh) Jeff Burton remains second in the points but is now 142 markers behind Busch. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is still third in the standings but is a sobering 271 points out of the lead. Everyone from fourth place Carl Edwards on back is at least two full races worth of points behind Busch.
The early wreck did scramble up the middle portion of the Top 12 in the points standings. Greg Biffle moved up a whopping six positions to find himself fifth in the standings while Jeff Gordon moved up four spots to take over sixth. Carl Edwards moved up three spots to fourth.
Denny Hamlin tumbled five spots to ninth in the standings. RCR teammates Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick both fell three spots. They are now eighth and tenth in the standings respectively. Tony Stewart fell three spots to 11th and is only 35 points ahead of David Ragan in 13th.
That 150 point owners’ point penalty is coming back to haunt the 66 team. They’ve now fallen out of the Top 35 in owners points and will have to make the field at Pocono on speed.
Overall Rating (On a scale of one to six beer cans with one being a stinker and a six pack an instant classic) We’ll give this race one can of lukewarm Natty-Bo. It was definitely unpalatable.
Next Up: The circuit heads north to Pocono. The combination of the oddly shaped track and the even more oddly shaped new cars ought to make for an interesting weekend.
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