Denny Hamlin wins summer Nationwide race at Daytona.
July 5, 2008
Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart or Joey Logano. It doesn’t matter who’s behind the wheel of the No. 20 Toyota, it always seems to end up in Victory Lane.
Hamlin held off Busch on Friday night at Daytona International Speedway to extend Joe Gibbs Racing’s dominance in the Nationwide Series, driving the No. 20 to its ninth victory of the season.
The car is so stout, third-place finisher Dale Earnhardt Jr. had no idea who was behind the wheel and repeatedly congratulated Stewart on the win.
Stewart, who drove the car to a win last week in New Hampshire, took Friday night off and Earnhardt eventually figured out it was Hamlin who raced to his third series win of the season.
“You can take that several different ways,” Hamlin said of Earnhardt’s mistake. “You could take it as I was driving a lot like Tony, which is a compliment in my eyes. If I was driving like Tony on a superspeedway, that’s pretty dang good, so I’ll take it.”
To get this win, Hamlin knew he’d have to earn it — even with the best car in the field.
“Just because you are in the 20 car at Daytona doesn’t mean it’s an automatic win,” Hamlin said. “The best car rarely wins. It was going to be up to me to make it happen. When you’ve got a car as good as I did, it gives me some options on the racetrack. When you don’t have that, it makes it a lot tougher.”
Hamlin had a comfortable lead over Busch, his JGR teammate, as they headed toward the white flag, but rookie Colin Braun spun to bring out just the third caution of the race.
NASCAR reset the laps to create a two-lap sprint to the finish. Hamlin got a great jump on the restart and Busch couldn’t challenge him as Hamlin drove to his third Nationwide win of the year.
“I’ve got to thank Kyle for sticking with me right there in the end,” Hamlin said. “The only way we were going is if he actually went for the win.”
JGR drivers have dominated the series this season — cars owned by the organization have won 12 times.
Hamlin (3), Busch (4), Logano (1) and Stewart (5) have combined to win 13 of the 18 series races this year. Busch earned one of his wins driving for Braun Racing.
But it’s been the flagship No. 20 that’s dominated this season no matter who is driving it. The car is so good, Busch’s crew has twice this season cut up his race cars in an effort to rebuild them identically to the 20.
“No matter who gets in that thing, they seem to win,” said Busch, who finished second. “That car’s awfully strong, awfully hard to beat every week. It’s been a good ride for that team for sure.”
Hamlin drove the No. 20 for the final time this year. Logano, the 18-year-old JGR protege who won his first career race last month in Kentucky, is taking over the seat but was not approved by NASCAR to run on Daytona’s superspeedway.
But Hamlin’s win kept the No. 20 undefeated at restrictor-plate tracks this season: Stewart won here in February and at Talladega in April.
“I don’t know what we’ve done to deserve it, but we’ll take it,” crew chief Dave Rogers said.
Earnhardt finished third, Clint Bowyer and Brad Keselowski. Kasey Kahne, Scott Wimmer, David Stremme, David Ragan and Mike Bliss rounded out the top 10.
It was a four-car battle in this race, with Carl edwards joining Busch, Earnhardt and Hamlin near the front. But once Hamlin got out front, there was nothing anyone could do to catch him.
Busch tried to work with Earnhardt to create enough momentum to chase down Hamlin, but Earnhardt lagged behind on the re-start and the strategy failed as Busch could only stay in line and follow his teammate across the finish line.
“It was a good night for JGR, that’s for sure,” Busch said. “But I knew there wasn’t going to be much to get around that 20. It was just too much.”
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Tony Stewart wins fifth Nationwide race of 2008 in Loudon.
June 28, 2008
Tony Stewart isn’t running many races in the NASCAR Nationwide Series this series, so he’s making the ones he does drive in count.
The two-time Sprint Cup champion, who hasn’t been having much luck and has no wins in the top stock car series this season, drove away Saturday with his fifth victory in seven Nationwide starts in 2008.
Stewart got track position, restarting third after taking just two tires during his final pit stop on lap 129 of the 200-lap event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He took the lead on lap 136 from fellow Cup star Carl Edwards on lap 136 and led the rest of the way.
Teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch finished second and third.
The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota that Stewart drove has won eight of 17 races this season, including all five by Stewart and one each by Hamlin, Busch and heralded rookie Joey Logano. Busch also has two wins in his No. 18 entry and another in the Braun Racing car already this season.
But this one was special for crew chief Dave Rogers, who grew up in Marshfield, Vt., about 125 miles from here.
It was Rogers who made the two-tire call that Stewart credited with putting him in position to win.
“I look up and they’re all coming,” Rogers said of the last pit stop for the leaders. “It was a parking lot and I knew if we got back in traffic, we would never make it to the front. This is a track position race.”
Stewart gave most of the credit for the victory, his seventh in the series formerly known as Busch, to Rogers, who started with the Gibbs team as an engineer on Stewart’s No. 20 Cup car.
“That last stop is what won the race for us,” Stewart said. “To get track position and be able to stay up front and not have to overdrive the car or abuse the tires was the key to the win.”
Stewart is the 22nd different winner in 22 Nationwide-Busch races on the 1.058-mile New Hampshire oval.
The race ended under caution after Greg Biffle, racing side-by-side with Brad Keselowski for 10th place, appeared to touch the track apron and lose control, sliding hard into the outside wall. Biffle wound up 19th.
Former series champions Kevin Harvick and Edwards finished fourth and fifth, followed by David Ragan, David Reutimann and Mike Bliss.
“It’s pretty spectacular,” Edwards said about the No. 20 car. “Those guys are doing a great job. There are ups and downs in this sport and, right now, they’re on the up side and we’ve just got to look at what they’re doing and emulate them and try to get them by the end of the season.”
Stewart, 11th in the Cup standings, and the rest of the Cup drivers will race on the same track Sunday in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Carl Edwards wins Nationwide series race in Milwaukee.
June 24, 2008
Carl Edwards decided not to do his trademark backflip in victory lane Saturday night, choosing a more subdued celebration because of drag racer Scott Kalitta’s death earlier in the day.
Edwards also said the fact that he wasn’t proud of the way he shoved Clint Bowyer aside to win the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at the Milwaukee Mile contributed to his somber mood.
“Today, what happened to Mr. Kalitta, and the way I passed Clint, I just didn’t feel like doing a backflip,” Edwards said.
While the sentiment honoring Kalitta seemed sincere, Bowyer wasn’t exactly buying Edwards’ expression of remorse for the move that ended up winning the race.
Asked if it mattered that Edwards expressed remorse, Bowyer’s brooding, silent stare said it all: Yeah, right.
“We got up to where we needed to be, and unfortunately it got taken from us,” Bowyer said.
Bowyer made a vague promise of payback, and could get his chance almost immediately: The two drivers were scheduled to fly back to California immediately for Sunday’s Sprint Cup series race.
“As long as Clint’s not too mad and we don’t have to race around him, we’ll be all right,” Edwards said.
Edwards knocked Bowyer sideways with 25 laps to go, then held off young lion Joey Logano for his first Nationwide victory of the season after dominating the series last year. Edwards is having an outstanding season in the Sprint Cup series, but hadn’t won in Nationwide since a race at Nashville last June.
Edwards’ victory also was an immediate payoff for a crew chief swap the Roush Fenway team made this week, moving Drew Blickensderfer to Edwards’ team and Pierre Kuettel to its No. 17 car. Edwards won the series championship with Kuettel last year.
Blickensderfer said he and Edwards talked more on the radio during Saturday’s race than they ever had before the swap.
“I’ve been calling him ‘Drew’ all week because I didn’t want to mess up his name,” Edwards said.
Edwards wasn’t the only driver to draw scrutiny for less-than-tactful driving tactics Saturday, as Logano’s earlier run-in with Brad Keselowski might have been a sign of things to come from the 18-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing ace.
Logano, who became the youngest winner in series history at Kentucky Speedway last weekend, went fender-to-fender with Keselowski to take the lead with 79 laps to go. Logano ended up in the lead, and Keselowski ended up with a bent fender and an eighth-place finish.
“I’d say it was my fault, for sure,” Logano said. “Obviously.”
Logano appeared to be in position to score remarkable back-to-back wins after the aggressive move, but he was shuffled back to fourth on the final round of pit stops to set up a showdown between Bowyer and Edwards.
Bowyer slipped past Edwards to take the lead with 39 laps to go. But Edwards got Bowyer back after another restart, getting underneath him in Turn 2 and knocking him sideways to take the lead with 25 to go.
Bowyer recovered but slipped to third as Logano drove past him. Logano went on to finish second and seemed disappointed about it.
“I’d like to be in victory lane again, but I guess we’ll have to take it,” Logano said.
Keselowski dominated the first half of the race and appeared to be on his way to his second victory in the space of three weeks.
But after a restart with 82 laps to go, Logano went side-by-side with Keselowski for several laps before diving underneath him in Turns 3 and 4, wiggling slightly, then sliding up into Keselowski’s fender.
Logano went to the lead, and Keselowski went backward. He is second in the series points standings, trailing Bowyer by 188.
After winning the pole earlier Saturday, he hoped to continue a recent run of success for owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose JR Motorsports team has been thriving since partnering with team owner Rick Hendrick, Earnhardt’s boss in the Sprint Cup series.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Brad Keselowski earns first Nationwide victory in Nashville.
June 8, 2008
Brad Keselowski raced to his first Nationwide Series victory Saturday night, passing Clint Bowyer with six laps to go and easily holding off his closest rivals at Nashville Superspeedway.
Kyle Busch, racing in the second of three NASCAR races in a historic weekend triple, finished 20th, three laps down. A green flag pit stop with 52 laps to go bounced him from the top five to two laps down.
Keselowski, driving for Dale Earnhardt Jr., became the seventh first-time winner in 15 Nationwide races at Nashville Superspeedway. David Stremme rallied to finish second, followed by David Reutimann and Bowyer.
“I heard Dale’s satellite went out with 10 laps to go so he must be crying,” said Keselowski.
Busch’s setback came 24 hours after his second-place finish in the Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
By starting Sunday at Pocono, the Sprint Cup Series leader will become the first driver to compete in all of NASCAR’s top three series at different tracks on the same weekend. Busch will start in a backup car at the tail of the field, the result of a crash earlier Saturday that destroyed his primary car during practice.
Just as he did at Pocono, Busch bolted from his hauler and left the speedway without talking to reporters.
“He said the car drove really good and we were easily among the top five cars,” said Trent Owens, Busch’s crew chief. “After the first pit stop we had a car that could contend for the win.
“Performance-wise, Kyle was very happy with coming in and qualifying fifth without practicing the car and running amongst the top five.”
Busch ran into problems when he got into a scrape with pole-sitter Joey Logano on Lap 88. Making only his second career start, Logano led 64 laps before touching off the altercation when he got out of shape in four-wide traffic.
Busch cycled back into the top five late in the race before the green flag stop.
“The fender gave way just from being weak,” Owens said. “We beat it back out but it got back on the tire and rubbed a hole in the side wall. It’s unfortunate luck. (Logano) ran into the side of us, messed up the front end alignment and the aerodynamics. We lost some speed and just never got it back.”
Logano, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, has tested Cup cars at Nashville Superspeedway but this was his first time over the track in a Nationwide car. Logano qualified with a lap of 159.944 mph over the 1.3-mile concrete oval and had led a race-high 64 laps at the time of the accident.
“It’s definitely cool to get my first pole in the second try,” Logano said. “But it’s what I expect of myself. I expect to win. This thing here doesn’t excite me too much. It’s just a pole.”
Keselowski started second and was never lower than seventh in the running order.
“When the race started we were a little tighter than we wanted to be,” said Keselowski’s crew chief, Tony Eury Sr. “We worked on it every stop, made some adjustments and it worked out.”
A caution with 12 laps to run played into Keselowski’s hands.
“We just caught up to Clint there when yellow came out (for Brad Teauge) and it’s what we needed to catch back up. We were gaining but we wouldn’t have had a chance without the caution,” Keselowski said.
“We had a strong car, there’s now doubt about that. It came down to strategy. We pitted with about 40 laps to go. We were digging and passing one at a time. It seemed like we were taking forever.
When racing resumed, it only took Keselowski three laps to take the lead.
“That’s what it takes to win these races,” Keselowski said. “The shoe’s been on the other foot before.”
A year ago, Keselowski left Nashville unemployed as his previous team folded. He was picked up by Earnhardt shortly thereafter.
“It was about as bad as you could get,” Keselowski said. “We came here with a road course car. We broke down about five times and it made me question why I was doing this.
“They folded up right after that and I was out of a job until I got with Dale.”
Keselowski became the first Nationwide driver this season to take his first victory in the series.
Bowyer held on to the points lead but Reutimann passed Busch to move into second, 166 points behind the leader. It’s another 22 points back to Busch in third. In addition to Busch, Bowyer and Reutimann, three other Sprint Cup regulars were in the lineup. David Ragan finished fifth, Greg Biffle was 10th and Carl Edwards finished 13th.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Denny Hamlin wins Nationwide spring race at Dover.
June 1, 2008
Joey Logano wanted a top-five. The 18-year-old rookie had to settle for sixth.
“It ain’t much on my book,” he said.
Don’t worry, kid. There’s plenty of time to drive your way into Victory Lane.
The next NASCAR star has arrived and Logano delivered in his national-level debut with the kind of finish that showed why he was one of the most hyped prospects in years.
But it was another Joe Gibbs Racing driver that claimed the win.
Denny Hamlin made it a whopping nine victories for JGR in the Nationwide Series this season, leading all but 69 laps to crush the field and win Saturday night in the 200-mile race at Dover International Speedway.
“Fairly uneventful,” Hamlin said.
About the only suspense for Hamlin came at the end, when he peeked at the scoreboard to see if Logano would score a top-seven finish. Hamlin made a pair of side bets with Kyle Busch and Michael Waltrip that Logano could finish that high in his Nationwide debut. He won $200 off his fellow drivers to go along with the trophy.
“By the finish, it looked like he did great,” Hamlin said.
Logano shook off a pit stop fender bender early that dropped him to 28th to run near the front with veterans such as Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and JGR teammate Hamlin. Logano had few nerves and described his demeanor as his “normal, goofy self,” during an extended wait for the green flag because of a three-hour rain delay.
“I never really worried about it too much,” he said.
Logano drove the No. 20 Toyota that entered leading the Nationwide Series in owner points and has won seven races in 14 starts this season with Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Tony Stewart behind the wheel.
“He proved he’s worth the hype that’s been given him,” Hamlin said. “It’s just going to be a matter of time before that 20 team is back in Victory Lane with the fourth driver.”
Edwards, who started on the pole, was second. David Stremme was third and David Reutimann fourth. Clint Bowyer kept his points lead and was ninth.
Logano was eligible to drive once he turned 18 last week, and JGR immediately put him to work. He’s scheduled to run about 18 Nationwide races this year and might be positioned to make the move to the Sprint Cup Series if JGR expands to a four-car team as early as next season.
Logano expected better than sixth in his Nationwide debut.
“I’m not going to be happy unless I win,” he said.
The Heluva Good! 200 looked like a replay of last September’s race on the 1-mile concrete track when Hamlin dominated in that win. He led in the No. 18 Toyota for 131 laps, including the last 95 on the Monster Mile.
He earned his second Nationwide win this season.
“It definitely means a lot to come here in different cars,” Hamlin said.
Veteran Mark Martin raved about Logano years ago and stated “he can be one of the greatest that ever raced in NASCAR.”
Logano has been on the fast track ever since, winning races at every level and beating some of NASCAR’s top developmental drivers along the way. His nickname around the garage is “Sliced Bread,” as in, “the greatest thing since …” Logano said he tries to ignore the hype and just concentrate on winning races.
“Everyone’s going to be here for the same reason,” Logano said.
No one has won more this season than Busch, who has dominated in Nationwide, Craftsman Trucks and is the points leader in the Sprint Cup Series. But he was knocked out in a late-race collision with Braun Racing teammate Jason Leffler. Leffler got loose in the No. 38 Toyota and blindsided Busch from behind. Both drivers were fighting for top-10 finishes, but they spun and smacked into the wall and their race was over.
“I just have a teammate that can’t stand to be No. 2,” Busch said. “I don’t know what Leffler was thinking there.”
Leffler apologized for the accident and for owner Todd Braun now needing repairs on two cars.
Dario Franchitti finished 15th in his first race since breaking his left ankle in a race last month. He’ll return to the Cup series next week at Pocono Raceway.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Crew chief Eury Sr., two others penalized for altercation at LMS.
May 30, 2008
Three members of Brad Keselowski’s team, including crew chief Tony Eury Sr., were penalized Wednesday for participating in a post-race altercation with Denny Hamlin’s crew on pit road at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Crew members from both teams scuffled after late race contact between the two drivers in Saturday night’s Nationwide Series event. Keselowski ran into the back of Hamlin under caution, and Hamlin retaliated by hitting him back.
The drivers finished second and third in the race, and their crews had to be separated in the impound area.
Eury Sr. was fined $1,000 and placed on probation until June 25.
Michael Sandlin, a team member for JR Motorsports, was suspended one race, fined $1,500 and placed on probation until Oct. 15. NASCAR said Sandlin failed to follow a directive from a NASCAR official and had inappropriate contact with a NASCAR official during the post-race altercation.
Jordan Allen, another JR Motorsports crew member, was fined $1,500 and placed on probation until Oct. 15 for failing to follow a directive from a NASCAR official and inappropriate contact with a NASCAR official.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Kyle Busch wins Nationwide race on Memorial Day weekend.
May 25, 2008
Joe Gibbs Racing’s hold on the Nationwide Series finally has been snapped — by one of its drivers.
JGR superstar Kyle Busch drove a Toyota fielded by Braun Racing to victory Saturday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, snapping a six-race winning streak for Gibbs’ cars in the Nationwide Series.
But in stretching a tank of gas the final 68 laps, Busch still ensured a JGR driver celebrated in Victory Lane for a seventh consecutive race. He was visited during the celebration by team president J.D. Gibbs.
“That JGR team has been pretty stout this year and I’ve been fortunate to drive their cars a couple times and it’s really been nice to see how fast those things are,” Busch said. “But we had our Braun Racing car really fast tonight, too. It’s tough that we brought the streak to an end, but I guess we still have our JGR-driver streak.
“We’ll see how it goes and hopefully Toyota can keep their run going here in the Nationwide Series.”
It was Busch’s fourth Nationwide victory this season and ninth overall spanning NASCAR’s top three series, and he starts on the pole Sunday for the Coca-Cola 600. It was also Toyota’s ninth win in 13 Nationwide events this season.
As Busch celebrated his win on the frontstretch with his trademark sarcastic bow to the crowd, the crews for Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski scuffled on pit road over contact the drivers had on track. NASCAR officials needed several minutes to control the scene, and Hamlin and Keselowski initially watched from inside their cars.
When they finally climbed out, they were prevented from joining the fracas by a throng of NASCAR officials working feverishly to regain control.
The action started under caution with three laps to go when Hamlin and Keselowski trailed Busch as they weaved back and forth to keep their tires warm. Hamlin, frustrated over what he described as poor racing etiquette by Keselowski over the full 200 laps, ran into the side of Keselowski and damaged his front fender.
Hamlin said he had initially planned only to talk to Keselowski after the race, but retaliated when Keselowski first ran into the back of him.
“You throw a rock, I’m going to throw a concrete block back,” Hamlin said.
Keselowski was unapologetic.
“We raced hard and that’s what racing is,” Keselowski said. “He doesn’t like when guys race him hard? Well, that’s the sport and that’s what I do.”
The two then spent a tense several minutes seated next to each other during the post-race news conference, which was attended by a NASCAR official waiting to escort both drivers to a meeting with the sanctioning body when they were done.
Also in attendance was Hamlin’s team owner, Joe Gibbs, who scowled as if he’d just lost a game against the Dallas Cowboys, and Marshall Carlson, general manager for Hendrick Motorsports, which co-owns Keselowski’s car.
The earlier contact between Hamlin and Keselowski gave Busch the breathing room he needed to stretch his gas to the end. He knew he’d be cutting it close, and a flurry of late cautions allowed him to conserve under every yellow.
“I was concerned a little bit, but every caution we had there I was fortunate I could just shut the motor off and make a whole lap around under caution without the motor running,” Busch said. “That gained us probably about two laps right there, you know, doing that every time the caution came out and then I just rode around in fourth gear chugging along behind the pace truck and fortunately for us there was enough gas in this gas tank and we were able to make it.”
And with Hamlin and Keselowski so tied up with each other — and the damage created by their contact — neither had a chance to run Busch down.
Hamlin finished second, Keselowski was third and Dale Earnhardt Jr., Keselowski’s co-owner, was fourth. He was annoyed with Hamlin for the retaliation against Keselowski, and showed it by hitting Hamlin’s car under the caution.
“Brad bumped him in the back just a little bit under caution, and Denny knocked the fender off his car,” Earnhardt said. “I’m not happy about that, but it hurt Brad’s chances of having a good run. It just tore his fender up. I mean, it wasn’t no excuse in it.”
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Stewart wins for first time at Darlington in Nationwide race.
May 10, 2008
All it took was his first Darlington Raceway victory to bring out Tony Stewart’s softer side.
Only two months ago, Stewart angrily blasted Goodyear after the Atlanta race, saying the company had given him “the most pathetic racing tire I’ve ever been on in my professional career.”
But it was a joyful, smiling Stewart who praised Goodyear for its research and hard work in delivering tires that helped the Joe Gibbs Racing star to his first win Friday night on NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway.
“I really want to give Goodyear a pat on the back,” he said. The company made two trips since March to test tires on Darlington’s slick, new surface, repaved at a cost of $7 million for the first time since 1995.
The results were absolutely perfect for Stewart.
“I’m the first one to tell them when they screw up and I want to be the first one to tell them when they do a good job, too,” Stewart said.
The two-time Sprint Cup champ had never won here in 19 previous starts, four of them Nationwide events, dating to 1996.
Stewart entered the season wanting to conquer the four tracks he hadn’t — California Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway and here.
He’d previously won in California and Talladega. The Darlington victory, though, may have meant the most to Stewart.
“This is one of those tracks where history goes as deep as NASCAR, and it’s a great honor,” he said.
Stewart led 90 of 147 laps for his fourth Nationwide victory this year and JGR’s sixth straight. It was the sixth win for his No. 20 Toyota — JGR teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch have also won in the machine — and the eighth for Gibbs’ racers.
In this one, though, Stewart was about the only one who got away unscathed, with Sprint Cup stars Carl Edwards, Busch, Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin all wrecking.
“We had an awesome race car today,” Stewart said. “I’m telling you, this thing was head-and-shoulders better than it was” in practices.
Stewart made it through eight cautions, two off the Nationwide’s Darlington record, and a green-white-checkered finish.
Only 23 of 43 starters were still running at the end.
After David Ragan’s hard crash on the backstretch, Stewart easily moved forward on the restart three laps from the end. Right behind, though, was chaos as Martin’s second-place machine failed to get up to speed.
The stall collected five other cars and brought out the race’s second stoppage, as it took more than 15 minutes to clean up.
“We didn’t have enough gas there,” said Martin, the series’ career leader with 48 victories. “I apologize to everybody who got in that wreck. It’s a really bad deal when a car up front doesn’t take off.”
None of it affected Stewart. He grabbed the lead for good with 27 laps to go when leader Kenseth pitted with a flat.
Stewart broke away from Clint Bowyer to take the checkered flag.
David Reutimann finished third, followed by Todd Bodine and Steve Wallace.
Kenseth was involved in the one of the night’s ugliest accidents, slamming into the inside retaining wall. But the former Sprint Cup champion climbed out of the broken car and waved to the large crowd he was OK.
The hard crash stopped the race for about seven minutes to clean up fuel, oil and debris.
Kenseth said the crash came from him aggressively trying to get back the lap he lost earlier. “It’s very frustrating. We let one get away,” he said.
Kenseth wasn’t the only Sprint Cup star who had trouble.
Hamlin had won the past two Nationwide races here and was a strong bet to make it three in a row. Besides winning from the pole in 2006 and 2007, Hamlin’s Toyota was the quickest in practice on Darlington’s fast, new blacktop.
Maybe a bit too fast, though, as Hamlin scraped the wall during afternoon qualifying and didn’t make the race.
Then pole-sitter Carl Edwards’ night ended after hitting the wall twice his first three laps.
Perhaps, Edwards overthought the effect of the fresh surface. He swapped starting positions with No. 2 qualifier Bowyer, moving closer to the wall. Edwards figured he’d get loose, he said, and didn’t want to wreck down low amidst grid traffic.
Instead, Edwards slid against the outside wall soon after the start, cutting down a tire that failed completely two laps later.
Edwards blamed himself. “They dropped the green and I was ready to race,” he said. But “I got loose and hit the wall.”
Busch ran among the leaders the first two thirds of the race. But Busch, who’s found his share of trouble in NASCAR this season, spun into the wall after colliding with Brad Keselowski.
An angered Busch afterward called the accident the product of “racing idiots” and vowed to act the same way in future situations.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Denny Hamlin wins Nationwide race in hometown Richmond.
May 3, 2008
Local favorite Denny Hamlin used a late pit stop for tires to foil the strategy of fellow NASCAR stars Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards, blowing by them to win the Nationwide Series race at Richmond International Raceway on Friday night.
Harvick and Edwards dominated the race all night, but when the sixth caution flew with 22 laps to go, Hamlin gave up his fourth-place position to head to pit road for tires. When everyone behind him followed, leaving Harvick, Edwards and No. 3 Mike Bliss as the only cars still out on the track, Hamlin emerged still running fourth and with brand new traction.
He didn’t waste any time, blowing by Bliss and then Edwards on lap 241, the first after another restart, and then ducking underneath Harvick at the start-finish line on lap 242.
Hamlin quickly built a huge lead, but when another caution came out with three laps left, it allowed Kyle Busch to get right up on Hamlin’s bumper for a two-lap dash to the finish.
It didn’t matter, and the resident of nearby Chesterfield again pulled away with ease for his sixth career victory in the series and his first at the track 15 miles from his home.
“It’s unbelievable,” Hamlin said after climbing from his Toyota in a storm of confetti in Victory Lane. “This is my biggest win, Cup, anything. It doesn’t matter. This is my biggest win by far. It means a lot to finally break through in Richmond.”
Earlier Friday, Hamlin also won the pole for Saturday night’s Sprint Cup Series race and said winning the pole at his home track was like winning a race anywhere else.
The victory was also the third in a row in the series for the No. 20 car fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing, and Hamlin was the third different driver to win in the Camry. Kyle Busch won in the car in Mexico, and Tony Stewart won in it last week at Talladega.
Harvick wound up second, followed by Busch, David Ragan and Steve Wallace.
Series points leader Clint Bowyer was never a factor in the race, finishing ninth, and saw Edwards close to within nine in the standings. Busch is third, just 12 off the pace.
Busch and Wallace had words after Wallace nudged Busch out of the way on the last lap and then went wide as Busch passed him back. They exchanged sharp barbs when it was over.
“I basically told him if you mess with a bull, you’re going to get the horns, and then he wanted to grab my helmet, which is pretty childish,” Busch said of his confrontation with Wallace at Wallace’s car. “If he wants to play those games, he’s going to get hurt.”
Wallace said he didn’t know what Busch was saying during their confrontation.
“He’s just a little girl about it. I don’t know. I think it’s pretty bad when they call driver introductions and everybody in the grandstand boos you. He’s a sore loser,” he said.
For most of the night, it looked like a two-car race.
Harvick edged Edwards off pit road with 107 laps to go and was dominant until the sixth of eight cautions came with 22 laps to go, and he, Edwards and Bliss stayed out.
“I’ve been caught on both sides of that,” he said of the strategy call. “I figured more would stay out, and it only wound up being three or four.”
Edwards, the defending series champ, wound up seventh, just behind David Stremme.
“They had like 10 cars between us and the guy behind us, so they all got time to think about what they were going to do,” Edwards said of the decision to pit. “By watching the leaders stay out, it’s an easy decision then. I should have pitted. It’s just a mistake.”
Pole-sitter Kasey Kahne led the first 17 laps before Edwards, who started second, passed for the top spot. He kept it until the leaders headed for the pits after a spin in the second turn, seeing a lead of more than 2.6 seconds over Harvick evaporate in a cloud of smoke.
Shortly thereafter, Harvick grabbed the lead by beating Edwards off pit road.
Kahne, meanwhile, was running in the top 10 when he spun with 84 laps to go.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Stewart wins for first time at Talladega in Nationwide race.
April 26, 2008
Tony Stewart held off Dale Earnhardt Jr. last-lap charge to win the Nationwide Series race Saturday for his first career victory at Talladega Superspeedway.
“This is not like winning a regular Nationwide race,” he said. “To me this is the biggest one I’ve had. To finally win at Talladega, it’s more than I can put into words.”
Stewart started from the pole, led 81 of the 117 laps, and sat comfortably out front in the waning laps with Earnhardt on his rear bumper just biding his time to make a move. Caution came out with five laps to go for debris, setting up a two-lap sprint to the finish.
They raced nose-to-tail for the first lap, then Earnhardt pulled out of line to make his charge. But Earnhardt didn’t have enough momentum and didn’t get the help he needed to race past Stewart. It allowed Stewart to go virtually unchallenged for the final lap, as Earnhardt faded to sixth.
“Me and Tony worked great together the entire race and if I could help it, I wanted it to come down between me and him because we worked together the whole race and it was down to the last lap,” Earnhardt said. “I backed off trying to get the rear bumper to (Greg Biffle) and some of the others to get a run. I thought we had it timed good, but our run wasn’t as good as it could have been, and Tony’s car was just that strong.”
It was Stewart’s first win in any series at Talladega, where he has finished second in six Cup Series races. His previous best finish in a Nationwide race at the track was second last year. That race was just the first time he’d made it to the finish line in five starts, with four DNFs before it.
And even though he dominated the race, he wasn’t comfortable as the leader on the final restart.
“With the momentum of these cars, I knew I probably needed to get back to (Earnhardt) and not get too far out front,” he said. “You don’t know what to do. I didn’t think leading was the place to be, and I still don’t think that, even after winning the race, that being the leader with two laps to go was the right place to be.
“He did what he had to do, they just got spread out behind us and we got a push that we needed.”
David Stremme finished second, his best result since he finished second in Milwaukee in 2004. Bobby Hamilton Jr. was third, and both agreed nobody had a car strong enough to challenge Stewart or Earnhardt.
“They were in their own deal,” Stremme said. “The rest of us were just trying to run together and make our own moves.”
Stewart celebrated in Victory Lane with a young girl from the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and dedicated the win to her. He said he told her before the race he’d try to win for her so she could celebrate after the race.
“I told her we’d try extra hard to get her in Victory Lane today, and I’m glad we got you here,” he told her. “Now we’re going to have to take her on the road the rest of the year.”
The race was slowed by eight cautions for 27 laps, including a 12-car accident that brought a red flag stoppage of 25 minutes.
The accident happened when Kevin Lepage pitted for a loose wheel under green and blended back onto the track right ahead of the field as the pack headed into the first turn. He wasn’t at the same speed, and the cars couldn’t avoid running over him.
Carl edwards was the first to hit Lepage, with contact that lifted Edward’s car off the track.
“In my mind it just looks like somebody just pulled up right in front of the field,” Edwards said as he watched the replay. “I’m driving around, minding my own business, and good afternoon. I’m just glad I didn’t get hurt there.”
But Lepage was adamant he did nothing wrong, and said he followed NASCAR’s rules for returning to the track when he blended back in. He also fiercely defended his spotter, wife Donna.
“As I was leaving pit road, the spotter says ‘Pack coming’ and I stayed down until I got in turn 1. The first half a dozen cars or so passed me, and the next thing you know I got rear-ended,” Lepage said. “Everybody is mad at me for pulling up onto the race track, but you go to the driver meeting and they say stay low until you get to turn 1 and then pull up on the race track.
“My spotter has been spotting for me for a number of years and I think she did a great job. There’s 40 other guys out there trying to spot these things, and if they couldn’t see me coming out of the pits, then maybe they need to get new spotters.”
The first wreck occurred 10 laps into the race when Dario Franchitti lost his right rear tire, hit the wall and spiraled down the track. He was down on the apron when his car was T-boned by Larry Gunselman. Both drivers were transported to a hospital for observation, and X-rays showed Franchitti broke his left ankle.
It was unclear whether Franchitti, the reigning IndyCar Series champion and Indianapolis 500 winner, would race in the Sprint Cup Series on Sunday. Stremme, who drove the car for two seasons before Franchitti replaced him this year, said Chip Ganassi Racing had approached him about filling in for Franchitti but he wasn’t sure he was contractually allowed.
Hookscenter.com wire report.