No Disappointment at Bristol.
“A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams.” – Unknown
This week 43 of the world’s greatest drivers embarked on a great adventure. This week they found themselves standing at the doors of the last great coliseum of racing. A track that consistently plays host to 160,000 enthusiastic fans. All anxious to see their favorite driver, conquer the 30 degree concrete banks of the jewel of east Tennessee.
This coliseum tests tempers, equipment and the patience of all who run here. But if you are a warrior, if you persist and if the jewel smiles on you – you will join the elite class of champions that have tasted the fine vintage and most sought after of victories in NASCAR. Champions whose names are still synonymous and defining of our sport, names like Rusty Wallace, Dale Earnhardt Sr. Terry Labonte, Darrell Waltrip, to name a few. She is loyal to her chosen champion and he will ultimately earn the title of short track king. Because if you can win here, you have what it takes to win anywhere.
The jewel has yet to pick her new crown prince to replace her favorite son Rusty Wallace. Will it be a veteran driver like, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, or Kyle Busch? Or will it be a new comer like Brad Keselowski or Reed Sorenson? That is a question that only time would answer. The secrets of this jewel are not easily found and they are treasured and guarded once they are. This is what stock car racing is all about. Saturday night, cinch your belts, grab the wheel find your guts and let’s go racing.
You will respect her. You will either give your respect or she will take it. But you will learn to respect the crown jewel of motor sports.
To quote NASCAR’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. “Victory lane at Bristol! It doesn’t get any better than this.” So welcome folks to the crown jewel of East Tennessee. Welcome to Bristol.
Once again, Bristol did not disappoint. With her graduated banking she provided a multi groove race surface that was not only fast but allowed more competitive racing than we have seen anywhere else on the circuit.
As has been the case many times this season, Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson dominated the show. A strong and dominating performance from Jimmie Johnson came up short when on the restart on lap 262 he tangled with Juan Pablo Montoya and found himself in the garage under going repairs to a badly wrecked race car. Returning to the track 26 laps down, Johnson would finish 35th.
Kyle Busch on the other hand was a man on a mission, seeking a three race sweep in a single weekend and avoiding incidental or intentional contact with Brad Keselowski after a slide job gone badly the night before in the Nationwide race. Busch would dominate the race leading the most laps and truly never being challenged for more than a couple of laps on restarts. His dominance gave him a record never before held in NASCAR, the sweep in all 3 national touring series.
This race seemed to bring more questions about the power house teams. What has happened to HMS? One wrecked car. One that would run and could race but couldn’t hold it’s own for a full tire run, one car that continued to struggle bitterly with a driver carrying it on his back to the checkers. And one that just never seemed to be a factor in the competition at all. Although, this is not indicative of the performances we are use to seeing from HMS it appears, at least in the last several races, to be the course for their 2010 season.
RCR, which had shown dominance to this point, was a victim to a fickle Bristol as well, with only Clint Bowyer seeming to find the handle on the concrete princess.
Penske Racing ruled Bristol for 10 years even its flagship car, the Miller Lite Dodge driven by Kurt Busch, could make no headway at Bristol.
Although Kyle Busch was a dominate winner. The same can not be said for the rest of the JGR stable. A struggling Denny Hamlin held on to finish 34th and Joey Logano was a disappointing 18th.
The drama of the 88 and Dale Earnhardt Jr continued with Junior Nation shaking it’s heads in the grandstands over communication or lack there of between the driver and crew chief. After a very successful outing in the Nationwide Series, which saw Earnhardt Jr go a lap down early and then come back for a strong 4th place finish, the 88 Sprint Cup ride struggled the entire day with a loose car. Remembering that listening to scanner communication is literally eves dropping and considering that no one knows the background on the conversations, I am making an observation based strictly on what was heard and it seemed there was friction between driver and crew chief over that performance (Nationwide) when Lance McGrew asked his driver, “Fine, since this is the part of the race when you want to argue with me, What would Pops do?” One has to question at times if Mr. McGrew forgets that Junior Nation is listening and if he is aware that he is not making any fans with those type comments.
I was impressed with the honesty of Chad Knaus after the race when he commented regarding Jimmie Johnson’s problem, that he didn’t know how to set a car up for this track and his driver couldn’t get a handle on this track. Johnson himself stated that the incident with Montoya was “just a product of racing at Bristol. I don’t think it was anything intentional.” Honesty and championship attitude is refreshing. “To admit one’s short coming and build on your strengths is the mark of a championship dynasty.” — Roger Penske.
It had been quite awhile since I had been home. Life has dealt some blows. Some fair some not. Some were of my own making. Some were the result of devious and envious people. There were troubles that were nagging me deeply with questions I couldn’t answer. So when I rounded the bend in the road and saw her sitting there, I was surprised to feel myself sigh deeply. Suddenly there was one word in my heart and in my head. That word was Home. There in front of me. It was close enough to smell it, see it, and I could almost touch it. I was home. And this was Bristol.
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Many Many congratulations to Kyle Busch on his sweep of NASCAR’s weekend in Bristol. He may not be a fan favorite but there is simply no denying the young man’s talent behind the wheel of a race vehicle. Maturity comes with time and life experience. It will be his someday. Congratulations also to Ryan Newman on his victory in NASCAR’s Whalen Modified Series Race on Wednesday. Incredible competition by all 4 series all weekend long.
And finally to all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you had to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.
Busch edges teammate for 37th Nationwide win
JOLIET, Ill.—Kyle Busch won a Nationwide Series race Friday night he thought he had lost and left Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Joey Logano frustrated and dejected.
In a green-white-checkered-flag finish that took the Dollar General 300 three laps past its scheduled distance, Busch beat Logano on a restart on Lap 202 and held the lead until a caution for a wreck on the Chicagoland Speedway tri-oval froze the field and made Busch a winner in the series for the seventh time this year.
Busch got a break when series points leader Brad Keselowski ran out of fuel on the final caution lap before the last, abbreviated green-flag run. Keselowski’s misfortune allowed Busch to move to the front of the outside line, beside his teammate.
Busch was able to pin Logano to the bottom of the track and clear Logano for the win. The race ended under caution because the wreck occurred after Busch took the while flag to begin the final lap.
The victory was Busch’s 37th all time, breaking a tie for second with Kevin Harvick for career wins in the series. Rookie Brian Scott ran third, followed by his Braun Racing teammates David Reutimann and Jason Leffler, as Toyotas swept the top five positions.
Carl Edwards, second in the standings, came home sixth and trimmed Keselowski’s series lead from 277 points to 227. Keselowski finished 21st, one lap down.
Danica Patrick finished a career-best 24th in her fifth Nationwide start.
Busch said he likely would have finished second at best, had Keselowski not run out of fuel.
“I don’t think I would have had a shot to win the race,” Busch said. “It was going to take too much to get alongside of Joey, had the restart gone with Keselowski in place. … I couldn’t make the third lane work around the outside.
“I probably could have run second, legitimately. But the way it turned out, I didn’t have to deal with the 22 (Keselowski). Apparently, those Dodges make good horsepower, but they suck a lot of fuel.”
Logano, who won last year’s Nationwide race in his first start at the track, said he would have chosen the inside lane whether it was Keselowski or Busch lining up beside him.
“He did what he was supposed to do,” Logano said. “He drove down in the turn and got me loose. He beat me. I’m embarrassed more than anything else.”
Busch, who led a race-high 110 laps, took the lead for the first time on Lap 10 and dominated the race—despite a pit-road speeding call that required a pass-through penalty under green—until NASCAR threw a caution for debris in Turn 2 on Lap 141.
Logano took the lead on the subsequent restart on Lap 148 and remained out front in clean air.
“It’s over,” Busch moaned on Lap 172, trailing Logano by nearly a second. “There ain’t going to be another caution. The freakin’ race is over.”
As it turned out, Busch was wrong. NASCAR called a caution for debris on Lap 185, and Busch pitted for four tires and a track bar adjustment designed to loosen the handling of his Toyota. He got his chance to win the race when Trevor Bayne slammed the Turn 1 wall on Lap 196.
Joey Logano Reaches NASCAR Puberty While the Harvick’s Have a Meltdown
Keeping in mind that each one of the drivers spends more time in the garage area and they easily see and hear more than you or I, you have to wonder if the statement from Joe Gibbs driver Joey Logano could merit some sort of validity.
“His wife wears the firesuit in the family and tells him what to do. It’s probably not his fault,” said Logano during a post-race interview.
Logano who was clearly upset with Richard Childress driver Kevin Harvick for once again dumping him for no reason, stepped up to the plate and stood his ground while shedding his little boy image.
No sooner did Logano finish speaking his peace, and the NASCAR boards lit up with praise for the 20-year-old for finally standing up to a driver who has a reputation for dumping others just to gain a spot or two.
Along with the praise came the comments from the fans, saying that Logano’s statement was an insult to Harvick’s wife DeLana.
Now if indeed he insulted her, why didn’t her husband step up to defend her?
How many of you would sit back and let your loved one be insulted in front of not just a few people, but in front of millions of fans?
DeLana could have easily stayed above the fray, but instead she fired back by printing up “I wear the firesuit in the family” t-shirts for sale on her husband’s website—her way of lowering herself to Logano’s standards, especially after she tweeted, “with age comes wisdom & respect… Enough said.”
DeLana claims that a bell went off that led to the printing of the t-shirts, but the only bell that went off was the one Logano rung with his comment.
Don’t think for a second that these shirts were made as a playful gesture, they were made out of spite. She became a very angry person, especially since the shirts were only printed up in women’s sizes.
Instead of being the bigger person and letting it go, she fell hook, line, and sinker for one of the oldest tricks in the book and Logano has every right to pat himself on the back for getting a reaction out of her.
Not only did she react out of spite with her gesture, but she’s put herself out there by attacking a driver, and now she can be considered “one of the boys” which means she is fair game for other drivers to take aim.
When looking back to Sunday’s incident, Harvick could have easily avoided the contact; instead he dumped Logano in the same fashion as he did earlier in the season at Bristol during a Nationwide race.
How quickly one forgets that in order to gain respect, there comes a time when you have to act like a veteran and show the younger drivers the meaning of the word.
Instead he comes out with this comment, while forgetting that he was at one time in Logano’s shoes.
“He just races without giving people any respect and not much room,” Harvick said after Sunday’s race.
“So we just wound up getting together. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it goes.”
While Harvick thought he was teaching Logano the meaning of respect, his actions actually sent a message of hypocritical double standards that exist on the track.
Harvick’s frustration with Logano can almost be traced to his own shortcomings which began last season, when he told his boss Richard Childress that he wanted out of his contract.
Harvick had his future all mapped out thinking he was going to take his long time sponsor Shell/Pennzoil over to Stewart Haas Racing, without first checking to make sure they were all on the same page.
Childress made it clear that Harvick was going nowhere, and he would have to honor the last year of his contract.
At about the same time Harvick was trying to get out of his final year at RCR, Richard Petty Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne was venting his desire to leave the team and do some searching of his own for greener pastures.
With Harvick and Kahne both seeking free agency after the 2010 season, the consensus floating around the sport was which driver would be the bigger commodity once the bidding war started.
Well the war never got started, but instead Shell/Pennzoil announced that it no longer wanted the services of Harvick, which instantly dropped his value to the point that he had no other choice but to take whatever RCR was willing to offer.
In the meantime, Kahne became the big winner when Rick Hendrick almost immediately signed Kahne to a multi-year contract, once he found out RPM would allow him to sign with another team.
Of course this couldn’t have sat too well with Harvick, who not only had to eat his words by resigning with a team he wanted nothing to do with last season, but he also lost a sponsor in the process.
While Logano’s popularity is heading north, stock in Harvick is rapidly moving south, and it’s no wonder there were no rumors floating around last season that teams were inquiring of his services.
Instead, he started his own thinking that Stewart Haas Racing would be knocking down his door trying to get at him, but he ended up right back where he started at RCR while Kahne moved on to greener pastures.
In Sunday’s race, Logano had Harvick beat, which once again didn’t sit too well with him as was the case at Bristol when Harvick used the same line as he did on Sunday. “He kept chopping down on me, and it just worked out the way it did,” Harvick said after his fifth-place finish at Bristol.
Harvick finished it off with his infamous, “I don’t feel like he gave me any room.”
Whatever problem Harvick has with Logano is becoming more and more apparent, especially when he waits for the last lap to dump him.
“It was for fifth place, so I don’t know what he was doing,” said Logano after being dumped by Harvick for the second time this season.
Logano also added that, “It wasn’t for the win. We ran together clean for almost the whole race and then he dumps me on the last lap. I don’t understand what he was thinking.”
Words along with actions can sometimes be taken as a misconstrued notion, but in this case you have to wonder how much truth there is since actions do speak louder words.
Logano only reacted to Harvick’s actions, and it could very well be Harvick hasn’t accepted the fact there is a new breed of younger drivers who are hungry to carry the torch.
With the attention being shifted to the younger drivers such as Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, along with Kasey Kahne, maybe as a friendly gesture Logano could take some time to thank Harvick for helping him become one of the boys.
Logano stays perfect at Kentucky
SPARTA, Ky.—A blown call by an umpire cost Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a shot at perfection earlier this month. Nothing, however, could stop Joey Logano in his pursuit of perfection at Kentucky Speedway.
Logano won the Meijer 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race from the pole Saturday night, giving him three wins from the pole in his three starts at the 1.5-mile track.
“I would never have thought 2-for-2,” Logano said. “3-for-3, poles and wins, it’s impressive. I’m pretty stoked about that right now.”
Logano led five times for a race-high 106 laps, but the victory was in doubt in the latter stages. Twice Logano lost the lead on restarts, and then Carl Edwards closed on Logano’s back bumper during the final green-flag run.
But Logano held on to win, beating Edwards and thunderstorms that closed in on the Northern Kentucky area. Nationwide Series points leader Brad Keselowski was third, followed by Brendan Gaughan and Reed Sorenson.
“Cool. I guess hard work pays off,” Logano said. “I used to come here about once every three weeks when we went testing (Sprint Cup cars) all the time. I had a million laps around this place. I said, ‘Man, if I ever get to race here, I’m going to be pretty good.’ One day I got to race here. It worked out pretty good for me so far.”
Steve Wallace, Scott Wimmer, Justin Allgaier, Scott Riggs and Colin Braun rounded out the top 10.
Crew chief Kevin Kidd predicted a victory earlier this week, not feeling the pressure that comes from working for a two-time defending race champion.
“I told him we were going to win the race. I had no doubt in my mind,” Kidd said. “This guy, he knows how to get around this place. When you come into that situation as a crew chief, knowing that as long as we do our job the way we should every week, we’re going to have a shot at it. That’s not really pressure. That’s knowing that, ‘Hey, if you take care of business, you’re going to be in good shape.”
Logano was in good shape for most of the race until yellow fever struck with six cautions in the final 66 laps.
The first time Logano lost the lead was with 44 laps to go on a restart when Mike Bliss took the top spot. But after an extended caution period, Logano got back out front on Lap 169 of 200.
The second came when Brendan Gaughan charged around the outside after a restart on Lap 175, but Gaughan slipped off Turn 4 a lap later, and Logano again regained the lead. Logano then held off the late charge from Edwards.
Notebook: Kahne to the No. 5? It happened Wednesday
BROOKLYN, Mich.—Those who bet that Kasey Kahne would be in the No. 5 car before the 2012 season, step up to the pay window.
No, not THAT No. 5 car. Kahne said Wednesday before the Prelude to the Dream that his plans for the Sprint Cup Series still aren’t set.
But when Kahne had engine trouble with the No. 9 dirt late model he was driving in Tony Stewart’s charity race at Eldora Speedway, the backup car he was given for the main event was decaled with the No. 5.
Kahne recently signed to drive the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet starting in 2012, when Mark Martin vacates the car. Team owner Rick Hendrick is obligated to find a suitable ride for Kahne next year, but that hasn’t happened yet.
“It keeps getting a little bit later in the year, so I’d imagine it’s coming soon,” Kahne said before the race. “But whenever we find out what it is, I’ll be happy with it and be ready to start working on it for next year and making sure it’s strong when we start the season.”
Given that the Kahne-to-Hendrick deal leaked before the Texas race in mid-April, Kahne said he is surprised something for 2011 has yet to materialize.
“But at the same time, Mr. Hendrick has a lot of patience, and he does things the right way, and he’s just trying to make sure he puts me in the best possible spot that he can,” Kahne said.
“To me, it’s exciting to know that he’s waiting and making sure he does it right. There are so many things with teams and people and drivers and sponsors. There’s just a lot that goes with the whole deal. I think he’ll get it. It’ll be good.”
Kahne took a second look when he saw the No. 5 car he was to drive in the Prelude’s main event.
“I thought it was really ironic, but it is what it is,” Kahne said after the race. “That’s what they pulled out. I had an engine problem in the other one, and that’s what they pulled out. I didn’t mind driving it. That’s the truth.”
Father knows best?
In the aftermath of last week’s fracas at Pocono between Kevin Harvick and 20-year-old Joey Logano, it’s understandable that the drivers don’t see eye to eye.
Apparently, neither do Harvick and Mark Martin, when it comes to a father’s role at the racetrack.
Logano’s father, Tom Logano, was front and center after the race ended at Pocono, where contact between the cars of Harvick and Logano sent Logano spinning and forced the race to overtime. Tom Logano was called to a meeting with NASCAR president Mike Helton after pushing a TV reporter and a crewman out of the way.
Martin, who recognized Joey Logano’s talent more than six years ago, defended Tom Logano on Friday at Michigan International Speedway.
“I loved seeing Tom Logano’s reaction—and I’m a dad,” Martin said. “And anybody who would criticize that, a lot of them aren’t dads. I have a son that competed, not only in racing, but in hockey, too. Heck, I stood up one day, yelled at him, ‘Hit him with your stick,’ when he was playing hockey. And the kid’s dad was standing next to me, and I didn’t care. So, I’m a dad, and I am a Tom Logano fan as well.”
Harvick, on the other hand, believes a father should have no role in a dispute between drivers.
“His father has no place in this,” Harvick said Friday afternoon. “His father needs to stick back and act like all of the rest of the dads and be happy that his kid’s here. This isn’t Little League baseball anymore. He just needs to stay away and act like a 50-year-old man, or however old he is.
“You’ve got to figure Mark Martin—him and the Loganos are buddies—so he’s on whoever’s side that’s most convenient this week.”
Matt Kenseth, who has two children, agreed that fathers should keep their distance.
“Once you’re 18 and an adult, if you are out there racing with adults, you have to be able to take care of your own situations and your own problems.”
Hamlin not sold on spoiler as difference-maker
It’s easy—and accurate—to point out that Denny Hamlin has been a prolific winner in the Cup series since NASCAR returned to the spoiler. It’s equally accurate to point out that Jimmie Johnson hasn’t won since the change was made before the late March race at Martinsville.
To Hamlin, though, it’s not necessarily accurate to assume there’s a correlation.
“It’s tough to say, really,” said Hamlin, who has won four times since the switch. “It’s maybe changed a little bit, but for us, we’re winning with similar setups that we had last year with the wing, and they’ve performed well. It’s tough for me to justify that there’s much difference between the two.”
Harvick Has 20/20 Vision For Logano
Clichés’ earn that designation for a reason. Yes, they might be tired and hackneyed, but they’re also mostly true, which is why they are pulled out, dusted off and shoved up in people’s faces time and again. The final laps of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono served to vividly illustrate that point.
Most of us played the game “Musical Chairs” when we were kids, so we know from experience that two bodies cannot physically occupy the same space at the same time. This also applies to stock cars.
While going for the same line at Pocono, the cars driven by Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series made contact. When that happens, ‘something’s gotta give.’
In this case, it was the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota. Both drivers were running near the front of the field at the time, but the incident spun Logano out. He ended up in 13th, while Harvick went on to finish fourth.
Some call it karma, while others refer to it as the Golden Rule, but whatever name you give it, it is a principle that repeatedly proves its veracity. We’re combining a couple of clichés this time, but most folks agree that ‘you need to give as good as you get,’ because ‘what goes around, comes around.’
Kevin Harvick certainly is having a good year. The driver of the No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet took over the lead in the driver standings at Richmond on May 1. A winner at Talladega in April, Harvick has posted five top five and 10 top 10 finishes and sits just 19 points ahead of second-place Kyle Busch headed into Michigan. Since his first season in the Cup Series in 2001, he has won a respectable 12 races.
Harvick and his wife DeLana have also enjoyed success in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, winning a couple of championships with their Kevin Harvick Inc. team. It is pretty safe to call Harvick a NASCAR veteran at this point in his career.
Until now, Joey Logano’s primary claim to fame was his age. Relative to other drivers in the Cup Series, he’s young. In fact, last year he became the youngest driver in history ever to win a race in NASCAR’s premier series. Now 20 years old, he has nine top 10 Cup Series finishes to his credit, and was the series’ 2009 Raybestos Rookie of the year.
With an aw-shucks, boy-next-door kind of vibe working, Logano has earned a reputation for being a nice, easy-going young man, one who is slow to anger and usually ‘turns the other cheek.’
But following the incident at Pocono, neither cheek was turned. Logano pulled his car onto pit road and came after Harvick full-face and straight on, looking ‘mad as a wet hen.’ At least I guess that’s what he looked like, having never seen a wet hen. Alive.
The result was something a lot of fans don’t care for; a melee ensued. Instead of allowing two drivers to settle their disputes mano a mano, crew members often get in between them, there’s a lot of pushing and shoving and yelling, and nothing gets accomplished.
“You get out of the car, you want to talk to the guy and see what’s going on. And there’s 6,000 crew members around him … I don’t know how you’re supposed to settle something when you can’t even talk to the guy,” Logano said after the race.
Well, ‘with age comes wisdom.’ Harvick’s take on the incident was, “That’s just racing. Hate that it happened and we’ll just go on and keep at it. … You can’t talk to him. He’s 20.”
At 34, Harvick is hardly ready for the front-porch rocker, but in all fairness, Logano did take a shot at DeLana, saying, “His wife wears the firesuit in the family and tells him what to do, so it’s probably not his fault.”
Feisty — and business-savvy — Mrs. Harvick promptly responded by having merchandise produced bearing the phrase “I wear the firesuit in this family,” sure to be a big seller with female race fans. Apparently, ‘when the going gets tough, the tough sell T-shirts.’ I’m paraphrasing that one a little bit, but it was too good to pass up.
Although unfortunate, the entire Harvick/Logano mini-feud has been awfully entertaining, and in the end was chalked up simply as ‘one of those racing deals.’ The Harvicks earned a few bucks at the souvenir hauler, and Logano earned some respect for standing his ground and speaking his mind. ‘It’s a dog-eat-dog world’ out there on the racetrack, and a guy can’t just ‘roll over and play dead.’
Cute little puppies can grow up to become big, fierce dogs, remember. And sometimes, they do bite back.
Perfection is on Logano’s mind at Kentucky
There aren’t many drivers who can say they are perfect at a given racetrack. Joey Logano is one of the few.
In two Nationwide Series races at Kentucky Speedway, Logano has visited victory lane twice. Heck, he’s even won the pole both times.
This weekend, the Sprint Cup Series regular will make a detour from his duties at Michigan International Speedway to drive Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Nationwide Toyota in Saturday night’s Meijer 300 at Kentucky. That’s how much Logano likes the 1.5-mile Kentucky track.
“I think Kentucky, for me at least, I’ve been there a lot,” Logano said. “I’ve got a lot of laps around the place. I got to do a lot of testing there when we were able to test there with the Sprint Cup cars. I think that is something that really helped us a lot.
“Kentucky is cool. It holds a special place in my heart because that is where I got my first Nationwide Series win. That was a big deal to me. We are going to go up there and try to keep the perfect record going.”
Two years ago, Logano was an upstart 18-year-old who Gibbs stuck in a Nationwide car. Logano had a lot of promise but not much real-world experience.
But in his third Nationwide race, at Kentucky in June 2008, Logano caught and passed teammate Kyle Busch late in the race, then watched Busch crash trying to catch him. That victory helped propel Logano to a part-time Cup ride later that year and a full-time Cup deal for 2009.
“In that same year, I went to the Sprint Cup Series,” Logano said. “I feel like winning at Kentucky really helped open eyes and give me the chance to get into the Home Depot Toyota that I’m in now. That place gives you a good opportunity to win because not all of the Cup drivers are there. Because you have to travel back and forth, not everyone does that. That makes it a little bit easier to win, but it is still tough. I think it gives a lot of guys a chance to win and give them their breakthrough win.”
Fast facts
What: Meijer 300
Where: Kentucky Speedway; Sparta, Ky.
When: Saturday, 8 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN, 7:30 p.m. ET
Radio: PRN/Sirius Satellite Ch. 128
Track layout: 1.5-mile oval
Race distance: 200 laps/300 miles
Qualifying: Saturday, 4:05 p.m. ET
2009 winner: Joey Logano
2009 polesitter: Joey Logano
Points leaders: 1. Brad Keselowski, 2,141; 2. Kyle Busch, 1,945; 3. Carl Edwards, 1,864; 4. Kevin Harvick, 1,852; 5. Justin Allgaier, 1,846; 6. Paul Menard, 1,678; 7. Jason Leffler, 1,411; 8. Joey Logano, 1,398; 9. Steve Wallace, 1,386; 10. Greg Biffle, 1,368.
Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Coca-Cola 600
The weekend immediately following the Sprint All-Star Race, the Coca-Cola 600 is one of the crown jewels of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series. Designed to compete with the Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day weekend, it joins the Daytona 500, Southern 500, and Brickyard 400 as one of the series’ most important and prestigious races.
Last year’s rain-shortened event was taken on a dreary Monday by David Reutimann. He added his name to a long list of first-time winners at the track, including all-time greats David Pearson and Jeff Gordon, by opting not to pit during the final caution of the event while many other cars did. The 600 often produces a surprise winner, as many of the big races do, but to suggest it happens every time would be to ignore many drivers who have won it during the peak of their careers, from Gordon to Dale Earnhardt to Jimmie Johnson.
So I’m going to go out on a limb (except not at all) and make Johnson my lead pick. Without the Lowe’s sponsorship, Johnson doesn’t have that extra sort of motivation to dominate at the track, but I see no reason why he can’t keep up a torrid pace of 6 wins and 13 top-10s in 17 starts. The only race in which he has failed to lead a lap was his track debut. His average finish of 8.6 is by far the best of drivers with at least five starts at the track. This is a gimme if you can take it.
Kurt Busch qualifies as a bit of a dark horse at Charlotte, despite the fact that he won last weekend’s All-Star Race. Busch only has three top-5s and a dismal 20.9 average finish in 19 career points-paying starts. If he can win the 600, however, he’d be the seventh driver in 25 years of Charlotte-based all-star events that a driver won both races; Kasey Kahne was the last to do it in 2008.
Some other drivers of merit in the longest race of the NASCAR season:
Joey Logano has only four starts at Charlotte, counting his All-Star travails, but has never disappointed. He converted last year’s Fan Vote into an eighth place run, and finished ninth and fifth in the two races that counted last year. This year, he wound up third in the all-star event. Remember that Jeff Gordon also won the 600 in his sophomore year of NASCAR competition – we could very well see shades of the last great young driver on Sunday night.
Kasey Kahne has also been on a torrid pace at Charlotte over the past two years. In four points-paying starts, he has three podium finishes and a worst placing of seventh. His 11.6 career Charlotte average finish is one of the best on the circuit, and it appears that his worst years at the track are long behind him. Kahne has scored the most points in the last three Charlotte races, and in every amount up through the last nine. usually goes big or goes home – he has three wins and five top-5s, but four finishes of 23rd or worse.
Finally, Jeff Burton has been a highly consistent driver at Charlotte as of late. For his career, he has 32 starts with three wins and 15 top-10s, as well as a win in the 2002 all-star shootout. Burton has scored the third most points at Charlotte over the past five years, second only to Johnson and Kahne; these ten races have been buoyed by a win in October 2008, five top-10s, and only three finishes outside the top 20.
Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Crown Royal 400
After last week’s exciting race at Talladega, the Sprint Cup Series moves to the bullring that is the Richmond International Raceway for this weekend’s Crown Royal 400. Kyle Busch won this race last year for his first Richmond victory in Cup, and will look to repeat this weekend.
Talladega certainly set a high bar for the racing at Richmond, with record amounts of leaders and lead changes alike. If you were making fantasy picks, I hope you guessed correctly – I generally didn’t. Jeff Burton and Joey Logano were involved in late-race wrecks, for one. Worst of all, I guessed correctly on Jamie McMurray, but Kevin Harvick managed to sneak by him for the victory. Oh well.
I’m going to bet the farm on Kyle Busch this weekend, if only because the pick seems too good to be true. He has eight top-fives in 10 Richmond starts. Yes, that’s right, top-fives. His average finish is a Jimmie Johnson-esque 6.0.
As for a dark horse, I’m going to stick in the Joe Gibbs Racing camp and select Joey Logano. He’s got an average finish of 16.5 in two Cup races at Richmond, with no top-10s, but he doesn’t fall off the lead lap. He’s also got a solid 6.5 average finish at the track in Nationwide, with one pole.
Three more for the road:
Denny Hamlin’s average finish is nearly as good as his Gibbs teammate Busch’s, a solid 8.5. Hamlin also has one Richmond win to go with four top-fives and five top-10s. He’s also won this season on a short track (Martinsville) already. And hey, with the other two Gibbs drivers already on this list, it’d be incomplete without Denny.
Sticking with the Gibbs trend, ex-Gibbs team leader Tony Stewart won three races at Richmond for the team, including his first career victory late in the 1999 season. Stewart has nine top-fives and 15 top-10s at the track, including a runner-up finish in this event last year, and led at least one lap in exactly half of his Richmond starts.
Finally, Stewart’s teammate and employee Ryan Newman has never DNFed at Richmond, although I’m sure I’ve jinxed him by saying that. (Sorry, Ryan.) His only Richmond win came in the fall of 2003; since then, he’s had two top five finishes and eight top-10s in 12 starts. He’s not quite as torrid as he was in his first two seasons at the track, leading at least 24 laps in his first four Richmond starts with the win and two runner-up finishes, but he’s consistent, and he did lead 45 laps in this race last year.
Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Aaron’s 499
The Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway will mark the ninth race of this year’s Sprint Cup Series season, and one of the most difficult to predict in fantasy racing. Anybody who’s ever seen a superspeedway race knows that the “big one” is lurking around every corner, and can knock out many good cars in less time than it takes to change four tires and refuel.
Last year, Brad Keselowski turned Carl Edwards in the tri-oval on the final lap to secure his first career victory. It was a scary moment for Edwards, as his car wound up touching the catchfence in mid-air, injuring eight fans, and he hasn’t won since. Despite the safety improvements made to the cars, these sorts of wrecks are always possible, and are more common at the big tracks than anywhere else.
In other words, this weekend is a fantasy crapshoot. To that end, let’s have some fun.
Joey Logano is my pick for this weekend’s race. Keep in mind that we had a surprise winner in Keselowski last year, a definition that Logano would certainly fit. He led laps in both Talladega races last year, finishing 9th in the spring and 3rd in the fall. His team has also gotten it together this year, and they’re legitimate Chase contenders. Hey, it’s worth a shot.
My dark horse pick for the weekend is none other than Michael Waltrip. Competing in only his second race of the season, this will mark the first time in months that Prism Motorsports looks to actually complete the full race with one of its cars, the No. 55 Aaron’s Toyota. Waltrip drives for the race sponsor and has won at the track before. Again, it’s worth a shot, isn’t it?
Three more, all of whom will probably fall victim to bad luck because I picked them:
Hey, remember when Dale Earnhardt Jr. won four Talladega races in a row? He’s led laps in 18 of his 20 career Talladega starts, too. He was pretty strong at Daytona at the beginning of the year, and he’s pretty overdue for a win. His Talladega luck is also pretty good – of his five DNFs at the track, three were due to engine failures, and those were DEI powerplants, not the Hendrick ones he currently receives.
Picking at Talladega is all about luck. Jeff Burton seems to have some of that at Talladega. He’s led at least one lap in six of the past seven Talladega events, including in each of the past four, a span in which he has finished no worse than 12th. Burton has the patience to let the race come to him and the luck to avoid wrecks; only two of his five DNFs were due to accidents, and they came in 2005 and his 1994 track debut.
Finally, Jamie McMurray is currently one of the best restrictor-plate drivers on the circuit, winning the past two races under the format. Jamie Mac has led in six of his past nine Talladega starts. He does, however, have some poor luck at the track, crashing out in three of the past eight events. Choose wisely.
Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Subway Fresh Fit 600k
We’re now six races into the Sprint Cup Series season, as the circuit heads to Phoenix International Raceway for the Subway Fresh Fit 600k. Last year, Mark Martin won this race, his first victory at Phoenix in 16 years, and first of five over the course of the season.
Am I the only one who’s found the two early-season off weeks incredibly disjointing? I’ve nearly lost track of who’s where in points. It doesn’t help that I’ve had a few busy weeks, too, but let’s spread some of these off-weeks out for when we really need them!
With that in mind, I’m not going to pick Phoenix based on momentum. The choppy early season kills that a little. Denny Hamlin, the winner two weeks ago, just had his knee worked on, so there’s not much we should expect out of him yet anyway. Jimmie Johnson is Jimmie Johnson – momentum doesn’t matter, he’s going to perform no matter what. So let’s just look at the numbers and pick five, shall we?
I’m going to go with Martin this weekend, partially because it seems about time that he kick it into gear. He was fourth in points exiting Las Vegas, only to plummet to 17th in the last three weeks. You also have to keep in mind that Martin is to Phoenix what Johnson is to Martinsville, albeit without quite as many wins. His average finish of 8.3 in 26 starts is incredible. Unlike a driver with a shorter career like Johnson, with fewer opportunities to make a mistake, Martin has finished every Phoenix race he’s started since 1989.
My dark horse is Joey Logano. Call it a hunch, because it is. He’s finished 21st in both Cup starts at Phoenix. But he’s been solid in the two Nationwide races, and the poise that he’s shown thus far this season proves that he’s a much different driver than he was one year ago. I wouldn’t call it momentum that he’s got going into the weekend – confidence seems like a better term.
Three more, because I always do:
Johnson has won four of the past five Phoenix races. Yup. I should probably take him overall but it feels like cheating because it’s so darned obvious.
Jeff Burton is an interesting pick, as the combination of his resurgence thus far this year and a Phoenix record that includes two wins and an average finish of 10.8 in 21 starts suggest good things for the Virginia native. He did work his way up from a 36th place starting spot to finish second in the fall race last year. Dominating wins in 2000 and 2001 show that he knows how to get it done.
Finally, Carl Edwards is way overdue for some good luck. He’s never won in a Cup car at Phoenix, but seven top-10s in 11 starts suggest he can. He had a great shot in the fall of 2007, leading 85 laps, until a blown engine stuck him 42nd in the final rundown. Other than that anomaly, and his debut at the track, he’s been generally pretty consistent.
Hamlin bulls way to 2nd straight Martinsville win
MARTINSVILLE, Va.—Mr. Martinsville is dead.
Long live Mr. Martinsville!
Denny Hamlin plowed through traffic after a green-white-checkered-flag restart Monday to post his second straight victory at Martinsville Speedway, wresting the title “Mr. Martinsville”—at least temporarily—from Jimmie Johnson, who rode a nondescript ninth-place finish to the NASCAR Sprint Cup points lead.
On fresh tires, thanks to a pit stop under caution on Lap 493, Hamlin powered past Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon on Lap 507 of 508 after Kenseth and Gordon traded shots earlier on the same lap.
Hamlin cleared Gordon’s Chevrolet through Turns 3 and 4 and finished the race on a cut tire, .670 seconds ahead of teammate Joey Logano, who weaved his way through the melee to give Joe Gibbs Racing a 1-2 finish at the .526-mile short track.
“Whose house is this?” Hamlin radioed after taking the checkered flag.
“Denny Hamlin’s house,” spotter Curtis Markham answered.
Gordon finished third after leading the field to the Lap 507 restart. Newman ran fourth and Martin Truex Jr. fifth.
The race was delayed by one day because of rain. So was Hamlin’s surgery, originally scheduled for Monday, to repair a torn ACL in his left knee, the result of a pickup basketball injury two months ago.
Though Hamlin is eager to get the operation behind him, he savored Monday’s victory, the ninth of his career.
“This is probably the most gratifying win I’ve had, simply because we came through adversity so many times, whether it be because of pit road (dropping the jack too soon on an early pit stop) or that dash at the end,” said Hamlin, 29. “We just flat out drove through ’em at the end and got the win. I’m not sure we’ve gotten a win like this before.”
A late call for four tires put that win in jeopardy. Hamlin, who led a race-high 172 laps, had a lead of 2.7 seconds when Jeff Burton blew a tire on Lap 491 and caused the 12th caution of the race. Hamlin and teammate Kyle Busch, who was running second, came to the pits for tires, handing the lead to Gordon.
Hamlin restarted ninth on Lap 497 and quickly made his way toward the front, knocking off two cars with a harrowing three-wide pass in Turn 1. Hamlin was fourth when Busch spun in Turn 3 after contact with Paul Menard’s Ford on Lap 499 and brought out the final caution, with Gordon tantalizingly close to the start-finish line and his first victory since April 2009 at Texas.
If NASCAR calls a caution after the leader takes the white flag—which signals the final lap—the field is frozen as it runs. Gordon was within 30 yards of the flag when caution flew for Busch’s wreck.
“We were a hundred feet away from getting that white flag, getting the victory,” Gordon said. “So that’s frustrating. But I shouldn’t be too upset. We were a third-place car before that, and we finished third.
“I’m not exactly sure what happened on that last restart. I got an OK restart. Spun the tires a little bit, got going. I looked at my mirror, (and the) 17 (Kenseth) was pretty far behind me. … Next thing I know, I got nailed. I don’t know who got into me. I thought it was the 17. If it wasn’t, I apologize to him. I made sure he didn’t win the race down the straightaway.”
In fact, after Kenseth bumped Gordon’s Chevrolet in the corner, Gordon rubbed Kenseth’s Ford down the backstretch and sent him high into Turn 3. Kenseth finished 18th after most of the lead-lap cars streamed past him.
Notes: Kevin Harvick finished 35th, thanks to a broken brake caliper, and fell from first to fourth in the Cup standings, 61 points behind Johnson. Roush Fenway Racing teammates Greg Biffle and Kenseth are second and third, 14 and 16 points behind Johnson, respectively. … Biffle finished 10th, his second top 10 in 15 starts at Martinsville. … Johnson, who had won five of the previous seven races at the track, failed to lead a lap, breaking a streak of eight straight races in which he had run up front. … Brain Vickers finished sixth, his best result this year and moved into 12th in the Cup standings.
Logano makes history as youngest pole winner
BRISTOL, Tenn.—Streaking around .533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway in 15.396 seconds (124.630 mph) Friday, Joey Logano won the first pole of his NASCAR Sprint Cup, becoming the youngest driver to win a top qualifying spot in NASCAR’s top series—by one day.
Technically, Logano won the 21 Means 21 Pole Award since he’s under the legal drinking age. Drivers who are 21 and older win the Coors Light Pole Award.
Logano edged Kurt Busch (123.857 mph) for the top starting spot. Dave Blaney (123.849 mph) qualified third, followed by four-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson (123.818 mph) and Jeff Gordon (123.698 mph).
Logano won his first pole at 19 years, nine months, 23 days—one day quicker than Kyle Busch, who qualified first at Auto Club Speedway (Fontana, Calif.) on Feb. 26, 2005. To his surprise, Logano accomplished the feat at a track that has given him fits in both his Cup starts.
“It’s definitely really cool to get your first pole, but I never thought it would come here,” said Logano, who finished 38th and 34th at Bristol last year. “I’ve always been fast here, and I’ve always had good racecars. I’ve been coming here since ’06 in a Pro Cup car.
“I’ve always been fast, but I’ve always been caught up in a wreck or knocked the fender in and blew a tire or stubbed the nose and blew a motor. … I walked into this racetrack today, and I said, ‘I want an uneventful race.”
Busch said new crew chief Steve Addington, who guided his brother Kyle to two victories at Bristol last season, made some last-minute changes that produced a surprising qualifying effort.
“We have our setups, and Steve Addington has his setups, and we’re realizing that there’s two ways to skin this cat,” Busch said. “So we’re trying to balance the best ideas from what we’re used to in the past at Penske Racing and what Steve Addington’s used to.
“We’re surprised today by the lap that we ran. Second overall—it was Steve throwing a couple of things at the car last-minute that he was comfortable with, and they worked out.”
Juan Pablo Montoya, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Marcos Ambrose and David Reutimann earned the sixth through 10th starting positions, respectively.
Notes: Cup points lead Kevin Harvick will start 33rd. … Bobby Labonte will start 43rd on a past champion’s provisional, the first he has used this year. … Casey Mears (34th) and Terry Cook (40th) each made the Cup starting field for the first time this season. … Mike Bliss and Max Papis failed to qualify for the 43-car field.
Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Kobalt Tools 500
Three races into the season, and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to the Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Kobalt Tools 500. Jimmie Johnson, sponsored by Kobalt Tools in his Cup efforts, will attempt to win his third consecutive race this weekend… and with the old formalities down, let me tell everybody that it’s my midterm week here at school, and combined with reading too many sarcastic IndyCar blogs in preparation for that season, I’m going to be a little more bitingly sarcastic than usual. Strap in, folks.
Speaking of winning, guess who picked the winner last week? That’s right. I called him an easy pick, but sometimes it’s worth it to take the easy money (and the gift win)… especially when the rest of your picks were relative duds. Jeff Burton wound up 11th, Kyle Busch was 15th, and Denny Hamlin finished 19th, while my dark horse, Bobby Labonte, was 51 laps down in 38th.
I would love to pick Johnson again this weekend, but my conscience tells me to be a little more interesting. Fair enough. How about Jeff Gordon? 23 top-fives in 35 Atlanta starts, with four wins, and a dominant car last weekend in Vegas suggest that the DuPont team may be a force both this weekend and beyond.
(For the record, if Johnson wins this week, I will attempt to write some revisionist history by suggesting I picked the 48 this week and the 24 last week, all in the name of sounding smart. This is what happens when you write a fantasy racing column for too long and want to finally sound smart.)
As for a dark horse, how about A.J. Allmendinger? Last weekend was a struggle for sure, but the ‘Dinger heads to the best track on which he has started more than two races. He’s been consistent, if nothing else, with all four of his finishes between 14th and 20th. And while that’s not “race-winning dark horse” material, it does seem like a gimme for a solid, reasonable finish, and I’ll take what I can get. Perhaps we simply have varying definitions of “dark horse.”
Three more for all you skeptics:
Jimmie Johnson. There. I said it. It’s 1 AM and I’m very tired. Next.
In what is sure to raise a cheer from the majority of people who read this column, my next pick is none other than Dale Earnhardt Jr., the second best active driver at Atlanta (behind his superhuman teammate, of course). Yes, he hasn’t been the same driver the past two weekends as he was at Daytona, but come on, the curse of the last Hendrick car can’t apply every weekend. Even Casey Mears won in a fourth Hendrick vehicle, and Casey Mears hasn’t accomplished half of what Dale Jr. has.
For my final pick, I’m going to go with Joey Logano. This has nothing to do with his Atlanta track record in Cup, which is pretty abysmal. It has everything to do, however, with the fact that eighth in points is the highest he’s ever been in Cup. Sliced Bread is finally starting to really get things together with the No. 20 team, and he could do what David Ragan almost did in 2008 by making the Chase in his sophomore year.
Logano Captures Second NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown Victory
(NASCAR PR)
IRWINDALE, Calif.—Joey Logano got his second NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown trophy and Sergio Pena nearly made a historic debut on the national stage.
Logano, 19, held off the 16-year-old Pena and two-time race winner Matt Kobyluck for the victory in the 225-lap race Saturday before a sold-out crowd at the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
It was Pena’s first career race in NASCAR’s top developmental series and it came in the non-points, postseason event, which has earned the moniker the “Daytona 500 of short-track racing.”
Logano made his mark by winning as a 17-year-old rookie in the 2007 edition; Pena, who only has one year of Late Model racing on his resume, nearly out-did that.
Logano and Pena waged a race-long battle for the lead from drop of the green. For most of the race it was the Pena in heated pursuit of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year. Pena was able to grab the lead on several occasions. Logano, however, got the best of two late-race restarts to pull away for the victory.
Kobyluck got by Pena briefly on Lap 218, and by the time Pena got back to second four laps later he didn’t have enough time to track Logano back down.
It’s been a whirlwind weekend for the Winchester, Va., native.
Pena, driving for Revolution Racing and Drive For Diversity, beat out three teammates Thursday in a race-off for a chance to qualify for the Showdown. He easily did that, earning the pole in Friday’s qualifying.
The win was a vindication – of sorts – for Logano, who crossed the line first in last year’s NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown, but was penalized to last place for aggressive driving on the last lap.
Logano led three times for a race-high 171 laps while Pena led three times for 54 laps.
Following Logano, Pena and Kobyluck across the line was Matt DiBenedetto and Andrew Myers. Eric Holmes, David Mayhew, Eddie MacDonald, Paulie Harraka and Steve Park rounded out the top 10.
Reigning NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Champion Jason Bowles finished 11th while K&N Pro Series East 2009 titlist Ryan Truex was relegated to 26th after a late-race accident.
NASCAR TOYOTA ALL-STAR SHOWDOWN-NASCAR TOYOTA ALL-STAR SHOWDOWN
Unofficial Results
Saturday
At Toyota Speedway at Irwindale
Irwindale, CA
Lap length: 0.5 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (2) Joey Logano, Middletown, Conn., Toyota, 225 laps, 54.253 mph, $31,000.
2. (1) Sergio Pena, Winchester, Va., Chevrolet, 225, $23,000.
3. (14) Matt Kobyluck, Uncasville, Conn., Chevrolet, 225, $22,550.
4. (11) Matt DiBenedetto, Grass Valley, Calif., Toyota, 225, $20,000.
5. (13) Andrew Myers, Newport Beach, Calif., Toyota, 225, $13,000.
6. (4) Eric Holmes, Escalon, Calif., Toyota, 225, $11,550.
7. (24) David Mayhew, Atascadero, Calif., Chevrolet, 225, $10,000.
8. (17) Eddie MacDonald, Rowley, Mass., Chevrolet, 225, $14,500.
9. (16) Paulie Harraka, Wayne, N.J., Toyota, 225, $9,850.
10. (23) Steve Park, East Northport, N.Y., Chevrolet, 225, $13,750.
11. (10) Jason Bowles, Ontario, Calif., Ford, 225, $8,500.
12. (22) Jim Inglebright, Fairfield, Calif., Chevrolet, 225, $8,250.
13. (6) Jeff Barkshire, Auburn, Wash., Dodge, 225, $6,500.
14. (36) Nick Joanides, Woodland Hills, Calif., Ford, 225, $10,250.
15. (26) Andrew Ranger, Roxton Pond, Quebec, Chevrolet, 225, $12,000.
16. (3) Greg Pursley, Newhall, Calif., Ford, 225, $6,800.
17. (30) Jason Patison, Corona, Calif., Chevrolet, 225, $11,700.
18. (39) Troy Ermish, Fremont, Calif., Chevrolet, 225, $6,600.
19. (38) Kyle Kelley, Huntington Beach, Calif., Chevrolet, 225, $7,550.
20. (40) Justin Philpott, Tracy, Calif., Toyota, 225, $6,500.
21. (20) Brennan Newberry, Bakersfield, Calif., Chevrolet, 225, $5,400.
22. (29) Jack Sellers, Sacramento, Calif., Chevrolet, 225, $6,300.
23. (35) Michael Self, Park City, Utah, Chevrolet, 214, accident, $6,250.
24. (37) Candace Muzny, Oklahoma City, Okla., Chevrolet, 208, suspension, $6,200.
25. (34) Daryl Harr, Edmonton AB, Chevrolet, 207, $6,150.
26. (9) Ryan Truex, Mayetta, N.J., Toyota, 205, accident, $11,100.
27. (19) Jamie Dick, Albuquerque, N.M., Chevrolet, 204, accident, $6,100.
28. (8) Josh Combs, Sacramento, Calif., Ford, 200, $5,100.
29. (27) John Salemi, Nashua, N.H., Chevrolet, 195, rear end, $11,100.
30. (28) Moses Smith, Tempe, Ariz., Toyota, 186, accident, $6,100.
31. (33) Jonathon Gomez, Twin Falls, Idaho, Chevrolet, 185, accident, $6,100.
32. (12) Auggie Vidovich, Lakeside, Calif., Chevrolet, 177, accident, $5,000.
33. (31) Derek Ramstrom, W Boylston, Mass., Chevrolet, 144, accident, $11,000.
34. (18) Brett Thompson, Jerome, Idaho, Chevrolet, 144, accident, $6,000.
35. (21) Blake Koch, West Palm Beach, Fla., Chevrolet, 144, accident, $6,000.
36. (15) Brian Johnson, Jr., Machensey Park, Ill., Chevrolet, 144, oil leak, $5,000.
37. (5) Sean Caisse, Pelham, N.H., Chevrolet, 128, drive shaft, $5,000.
38. (7) David Gilliland, Riverside, Calif., Toyota, 99, electrical, $5,000.
39. (25) George Brunnhoelzl, III, W Babylon, N.Y., Chevrolet, 93, accident, $11,000.
40. (32) Johnathan Hale, Rio Linda, Calif., Chevrolet, 39, rear end, $6,000.
Race Statistics
Time of Race: 2 hours 4 minutes 25 seconds
Margin of Victory: .584 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: S.Pena (97.879 mph, 18.39 seconds)
Caution Flags: 15 for 72 laps.
Lead Changes: 5 among 2 drivers.
Lap Leaders: S. Pena 1; J. Logano 2-105; S. Pena 106-133; J. Logano 134-177; S. Pena
