The Michigan Mission

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers were in Michigan for the 23rd race of the 36 events on the schedule. The goal was to simply win the Pure Michigan 400!

Dale Earnhardt Jr. came into this race sitting 9th in the standings and just 36 points ahead of Clint Bowyer who arrived at Michigan 11th in the standings. Remember the top ten drivers in the standings at the end of 26 events will be entered into the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship. Followed by the two drivers outside the top 10 in points with the most victories, if drivers are tied with victories the driver in the best points position is chosen. So it's crucial to notice that Earnhardt Jr qualified eighth and Bowyer qualified 35th.

A victory for the pole sitter Greg Biffle would put him in contention with Denny Hamlin and Paul Menard to be one of the two drivers outside the top ten in points allowed into the Chase. However Denny Hamlin would start fourth and Paul Menard would start 11th, so the pressure was certainly on. Either way Jack Roush must have had spectacular confidence. They have been fast all weekend long and his drivers qualified 1st, 2nd, 7th, and 22nd. I was very surprised to see Carl Edwards being the driver who struggled during the qualifying and practice sessions.

There was a point during the Pure Michigan 400 where 4-time Champion Jeff Gordon began to show dominance on the track. An incredible statistic was pointed out while Gordon was leading... he led his 22,000th career lap in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. That in my eyes is a number I never thought a NASCAR driver would reach in terms of career laps led. However it would be debris on the grill that cost Gordon from having a flawless finish, even a small hot dog rapper would cause the #24 car to have a loose handling condition and begin to overheat. He would go on to finish in sixth.

It would be Kyle Busch who would go on to earn the victory at Michigan for his fourth win of the season, which is now the most wins in the series this season. Kyle qualified that #18 Toyota Camry in 17th, but he was second fastest of the 43 cars in the final practice session (after qualifying session). So we all had a hunch "Rowdy" Busch would be quick on race day as always. This is the 100th victory for Toyota in NASCAR. Instead of the Roush drivers earning the wins at Michigan, a Toyota driver has won four of the last five races at Michigan.

Clint Bowyer and that #33 Cheerios Chevrolet team struggled throughout the entire weekend... except when it came to race day. Clint started 35th but there was a bit more confidence in that team's garage area after being 13th fastest in the final practice. After some patience and handling adjustments Bowyer managed to earn an eighth place finish. In his interview during the post-race show Clint explained the standings situation. He is aware that he didn't gain enough points on the driver in the 10th place spot, but he feels he has the ability to earn a few top 10's before the Chase begins. We might see him in the battle for the Championship.

Michigan Results:

1. Kyle Busch

2. Jimmie Johnson

3. Brad Keselowski

4. Mark Martin

5. Ryan Newman

6. Jeff Gordon

7. Kasey Kahne

8. Clint Bowyer

9. Tony Stewart

10. Matt Kenseth

14. Dale Earnhardt Jr

20. Greg Biffle

22. Kevin Harvick

36. Carl Edwards

Images from: http://galleries.nascar.com/gallery/2011_Pure_Michigan_400

Written by: Tyler McMurter

Five To Go!

Things are beginning to get even more exciting in the fast-paced world of NASCAR racing. Now there is only five races remaining on the schedule until the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins. It's starting to become very crucial for drivers outside the top ten in the standings to win a race.

The Chase for the Sprint Cup series championship was introduced about seven years ago in an attempt to create NASCAR's version of the playoffs. Over the years the rules have been slightly adjusted to the liking of the fans and drivers. This season the top ten in the standings will be automatically eligible for the Championship, but there will be two other drivers eligible as well. The two drivers with the most victories that are sitting outside the top ten in the standings will also become Chase contenders.

NASCAR has seen three different drivers win their first career Sprint Cup series victory this season. All three times this happened, it took place on a legendary auto racing circuit. Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500, Regan Smith held off Carl Edwards to win at Darlington, and Paul Menard held off Jeff Gordon to win at Indianapolis. These first-time winners and other unlikely winners have prevented any drivers from dominating when it comes to having the most wins this season.

Brad Keselowski suffered a broken left ankle and damaged his right foot in the process. This happened when Brad was racing on Wednesday August 3rd while test driving a race car, he hit a wall that was not protected with the "safer barrier" material that is used at most NASCAR circuits to prevent injury. However, Keselowski managed to pull off an incredible victory at Pocono this past weekend. Both cars owned my Roger Penske elected to pit under green flag racing conditions before the rain began, knowing the track is too big for them to go a lap down from pitting while everyone is racing. The rest of the drivers pit under the caution for rain which gave the Penske cars amazing track position.

Brad Keselowski managed to take the lead on a restart with just 16 laps to go. The "blue deuce" driven by Keselowski was fast enough to hold off his successful nemesis Kyle Busch for his second victory of the season and third of his career in the Sprint Cup series. Kurt Busch earned an impressive third place finish after trading paint with Jimmie Johnson on the final lap. Johnson claims he didn't cut off Kurt Busch coming out of turn two, but it's clear as day on the replay that's exactly what happened. Both drivers exchanged words after the race on pit road, but pit crew members of the #48 team separated the furious NASCAR warriors.

Watkins Glen is the next track these talented drivers will compete on. It's the second of the two road course events that NASCAR travels to for the Sprint Cup series drivers to race. NASCAR has been coming to Watkins Glen International once every year since 1986. Most auto racing experts know Jeff Gordon is the most successful driver at the road course Infineon Raceway, however Tony Stewart is the master of Watkins Glen. Tony has six victories at "The Glen" and they have all been within the last ten years.


Juan-Pablo Montoya emerged victorious in last season's race at Watkins Glen International, Kyle Busch won the event in 2008, and Jeff Gordon has four wins at this particular road course... any of these three drivers could be the one to take the victory away from Tony Stewart. Kurt Busch won the race at Infineon Raceway earlier this season by using a strategy which involved only pitting on two occasions instead of three. Jeff Gordon finished second, Carl Edwards finished third, Clint Bowyer finished fourth, and Marcos Ambrose finished fifth. Make sure you tune in this Sunday!



Current Standings... ON THE BUBBLE:
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr -79
--------------------------------
11. Denny Hamlin -102
12. Clint Bowyer -120
13. Greg Biffle -123
14. Paul Menard -133
15. Mark Martin -153

Written by: Tyler McMurter

Halfway Home

It's been an eventful first half of the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season. In the first eighteen races we experienced exciting finishes, drama with rivalries, and first-time winners. It is no surprise to me of how popular and respected NASCAR racing truly is. The fans certainly enjoy the boys have at it, the grand stands have been full almost everywhere the drivers travel to compete.

Significant Events

Twenty year old Trevor Bayne made his first Cup start at Daytona and his first Daytona 500 start this year, and Trevor surprisingly would hold off Carl Edwards and David Gilliland for his first Sprint Cup Series victory. It's unbelievable to see someone win the biggest event on the schedule with the little experience that Trevor had heading into this race. In just his second career Cup series start, he walks away victorious. Jeff Gordon did an incredible job at snapping his long winless streak in just the second race of the year. Right after Bayne won the Daytona 500, Jeff Gordon shocks the world by winning his 83rd career race and his second win at Phoenix. It's shocking because before this it was over two seasons since we've seen the 4-time champ earn a victory. Jeff would later win his fifth career race at Pocono Raceway which was his 84th career race. Jeff tied Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison for third on the All-time wins list.

Kevin Harvick won back to back races... events five and six. He won at Fontana and he earned his first career victory at Martinsville the next week. Harvick became the first driver to earn multiple wins in 2011. Kyle Busch finished third in both of these races. Jimmie Johnson won the closest and most exciting race so far in 2011 at Talladega. However it still remains as the only win Jimmie has this season. The new drafting methods at the restrictor plate tracks allow two cars to be faster than a long line of cars. So Earnhardt Jr was pushing Johnson, Mark Martin was pushing Jeff Gordon, and Kevin Harvick was pushing Clint Bowyer. The pack of cars were three-wide at the finish line. Congratulations Jimmie Johnson.

Regan Smith won his first career Sprint Cup series race at a very historic and prestigious track... Darlington. Regan managed to hold off Carl Edwards in a two lap shootout to the finish. These were some of Regan's words with tears of joy in victory lane; "I'm not supposed to win this race, legends are supposed to win this race". Matt Kenseth wins his second race of 2011 at Dover. His first win of the season came at Texas, a track Matt and his teammates at Roush Racing are very good at. In fact Edwards finished third and Biffle finished fourth in the Texas race. Expect Kenseth and Edwards to be contenders in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Brad Keselowski won his second career Sprint Cup series race at Kansas Speedway. Brad held off drivers who were fast like Dale Earnhardt Jr, Denny Hamlin, and Jeff Gordon. That blue deuce has been near the front of the pack lots for the final laps. Denny Hamlin won the most Sprint Cup series events last year in 2010, but it took him 16 races to win his first of the year in 2011. Hamlin tallied eight wins last season, so far this year his only win came at Michigan. That #11 team could be a factor if they make the Chase for the Sprint Cup, after all they almost won at Richmond and Kansas Speedway. It will be interesting to see how successful Denny will be in the final 18 races.

Kurt Busch displayed dominance and a flawless pit stradegy going on to easily win the race at Infineon. Jeff Gordon struggled all race long, but he would improve his car slowly throughout the race to finish second. If there were another ten laps Kurt Busch would have had the #24 car challenging him for the race lead. This would be marked as the first road course victory for Kurt in NASCAR competition. Carl Edwards finished third, Clint Bowyer finished fourth, and Marcos Ambrose finished in fifth. Both events at Daytona have ended with two first time winners! David Ragan won the Coke Zero 400 event. However unlike the incredible accomplishments Trevor Bayne accomplished with his win... it took David over 160 races to finally win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. Roush Racing teammate Matt Kenseth pushed Ragan's #6 UPS Ford to the finish line for the victory.

*Facts and Stats*

Marcos Ambrose has really shown us this year how impressive he can be on these oval circuits. He finished third at Dover, fourth at Las Vegas, and fifth at the road course Infineon. Not a bad first half for Marcos. It's strange to see Marcos racing well and Jeff Burton struggling worse than he ever has. Burton has no top 5 or top 10 finishes in 2011 so far. Burton must realize by now while he sits in the twenties in the standings that it's a little too late to attempt to squeeze into the Chase.

Dale Earnhardt Jr and Ryan Newman both started off 2011 displaying spectacular skill behind the wheel. Earnhardt Jr was sitting in the top five in the Standings for several weeks trying to remain consistent, and Newman earned three top 5 finishes in the first five events of the season. However both drivers slowly faded as the season continued. Now they find themselves 8th and 9th in the standings. Over the last 13 races Ryan Newman has earned only two top 5 finishes. Earnhardt Jr came so close to having a victory this season at Charlotte, but he ran out of fuel on the final turn of the final lap to surrender the lead to Kevin Harvick. Harvick would win his third race of the year.

Clint Bowyer remains winless in 2011. Which has surprised me and millions of fans around the world after seeing him have the potential to win every now and then. Clint finished fourth at Infineon, second at Talladega, and second at Texas. I predict he will end off 2011 with one solo win, but I will be shocked if he improves his consistency and makes the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Keep in mind Bowyer might win this upcoming weekend at Loudon, New Hampshire. He has won at Loudon two times, including last year's second of two races here at Loudon. That #33 Chevrolet just might be in victory lane this Sunday.

Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch each have ten top 5 finishes in the first half of the 2011 season. No other driver comes close to that number, in fact four drivers have six top 5 finishes this season. Edwards was the points leader until Kevin Harvick passed him after the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. Now at the halfway point Kyle Busch is the points leader and Carl Edwards sits second just four points behind Busch. Maybe Kyle's number of victories just eventually overtook Edwards for the points lead, despite both of their consistency. "Rowdy" Busch won at Bristol, Richmond, and last week's race at Kentucky. Carl Edwards has only one win and it came early in the season at Las Vegas. It will be interesting to see who continues to win and show consistency.

I talked about this towards the start of the season... Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin needed to start earning consistent finishes to get safely inside the top 10 in the standings. Now you will find Jeff Gordon 7th in the standings 26 points ahead of the driver 11th in the standings. Denny Hamlin sits 10th in the standings just two points ahead of the driver behind him... Tony Stewart. Denny doesn't have as many top 5 or top 10 finishes as Jeff Gordon does, so it's time for him to step it up a notch. After all there is only eight races until the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins!

Conclusion
I predict that Carl Edwards will win his second race this season before the Chase begins. If this does happen I feel like it will boost up Carl's confidence and allow him to make bold gambles to win more races. Whether this happens or not it will be either Edwards, Kyle Busch, or Harvick that wins the 2011 Sprint Cup Series Championship. Keep in mind Jeff Gordon or Kurt Busch could surprise the world by winning the Championship. It's absolutely still possible when you consider how strong both these teams have been performing over the last six races. If drivers like Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman or Greg Biffle make the Chase they will struggle compared to the other Chase contenders.

Thank you for reading, enjoy this Sunday's race!

Written by: Tyler McMurter

Rowdy in Kentucky

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series made it's way to the Kentucky Speedway for race 18 of the 2011 season, which means after this race the season is officially 50% in the history books. Kyle Busch would be on the pole for the event with Juan-Pablo Montoya on the outside of the front row. Older brother Kurt Busch lines up on the inside of row two... right behind Kyle.

Kyle Busch would fail to lead any of the first 31 laps after his brother Kurt passed Kyle and Montoya to assume the race lead on the opening lap. A caution on lap 31 is how Kurt Busch in that #22 car lost the lead. After the restart on lap 36 Kasey Kahne would lead one single lap before Rowdy Busch made the clean pass for the lead. After this short green flag run it was easy to notice that Montoya, Gordon, Burton, Bowyer, Hamlin, and Smith were struggling with the handling on their race cars. I guarantee they were ecstatic about the caution coming out so they could make the adjustments necessary to improve their cars.

Throughout the first half of the race it was David Reutimann who was making the most progress on track position. David started in the 17th position and found himself running in 4th place on lap 87 of 267. At this point Kasey Kahne and the Busch brothers have been in the top five positions all race long. Jimmie Johnson would once again crack the top 5 by passing Reutimann around lap 111. While these respectful drivers compete for respectful positions, Kyle Busch is increasing his race lead with every green flag lap. Experts like myself automatically know that nobody can beat that #18 Toyota, unless further handling adjustments are made to the rest of the drivers.

Long periods of time while under green-flag racing conditions at a 1.5 mile oval can cause large amounts of cars to be put one or more laps down. 4-time Champion Jeff Gordon was running in 23rd place on lap 107 when Kyle Busch put him a lap down. Jamie McMurray struggled all race long, he would fall a lap down to the leader on lap 114. After green flag pit stops (which began around lap 118) concluded, a couple more drivers like Ryan Newman and Martin Truex Jr found themselves a lap down as well. For a while it looked like a lot of drivers had a long race ahead of them.

The second caution of the day came out on lap 140. I was surprised to see both Busch brothers elect to take fuel only on their pit stops despite them running 1st and 2nd. I always thought that the tires were much more important than that. All of the drivers I named in the previous paragraph that went a lap down during green-flag racing took the "Wave Around" rule to get back on the lead lap. The "Wave Around" rule gives the drivers one lap down a choice... pit to get required service or elect not to pit to be placed back on the lead lap. Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart both elected not to pit so they would lead the field to the green flag for the restart on lap 147. Although they don't have fresh tires Keselowski keeps the lead and Stewart only slips back to 3rd place.

Could you imagine if you were competing in the Sprint Cup Series, your in the race lead, but you're having major communication problems with your crew chief and spotter. While under caution on lap 152 NASCAR listened in on Brad Keselowski's radio communications. You can hear all three of them talking, but Brad cannot hear anything either of them says. If I was in this situation I would assume the spotter can still communicate with my crew chief. The next opportunity I have I would make a pit stop and trust him to notify my crew chief and my crew that i'm coming down pit road. While i'm on pit road I would let them know certain hand signals to be more accurate with adjustments. I would also have to watch the mirrors more often since I have nobody warning me of potential contact.

After a long race full of struggles for Jamie McMurray he brings out the fourth caution of the race on lap 200 with an engine failure. When this took place the field was in the middle of a green-flag pit stops sequence. David Ragan, Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr, and Jeff Gordon were the only four drivers on the lead lap that didn't pit before the incident occured. These drivers had to surrender the top four spots to pit for fuel and tires. Drivers like Reutimann, Edwards, Biffle, Ambrose, Harvick, Menard, Burton, Smith, Logano, Earnhardt Jr, Kahne, and Martin had made pit stops but were pinned a lap down from the caution. They would all take advantage of the "Wave Around" rule.

Just when you think it's all over there was still one final set of pit stops that these drivers had to complete. Once again a caution would interrupt the cycle of pit stops. Dale Earnhardt Jr would cut a tire down not even a complete lap after changing four tires during his pit stop. This happened on lap 254... 14 laps to go. This time it was Reutimann, Kyle Busch, Johnson, Keselowski, Kenseth, and Kurt Busch that were yet to pit, and over 13 drivers had to again take advantage of the "wave around" rule to once again be on the lead lap. This was certainly an event where nobody knew where their driver would finish on the "Results" paper.

In the end, Kyle Busch would hold off a hard-charging David Reutimann to win his 22nd career Sprint Cup series race. That #18 M&M's Toyota was the class of the competition in the Quaker State 400. He led 125 laps in the Quaker State 400, Keselowski led 79 laps. "Rowdy" Busch has passed Kevin Harvick as the new points leader and now sits four points ahead of Carl Edwards. David Reutimann (2nd) and Ryan Newman (4th) both earned their best finishes of 2011. After seeing Reutimann be so strong at Kentucky on Saturday night, it's surprising to know he only has two top 10 finishes in the 18 races completed this year.

Quaker State 400 Results:

1. Kyle Busch

2. David Reutimann

3. Jimmie Johnson

4. Ryan Newman

5. Carl Edwards

6. Matt Kenseth

7. Brad Keselowski

8. David Ragan

9. Kurt Busch
10. Jeff Gordon
12. Tony Stewart
13. Kasey Kahne
16. Kevin Harvick

Images from: http://www.nascar.com/news/110709/kybusch-win-kentucky/index.html
Written by: Tyler McMurter

Shocking Daytona Winners

Trevor Bayne made history by winning this year's Daytona 500. Trevor was just 19 years old, it was his first Daytona 500 start, and only his second Sprint Cup Series race. No other driver in NASCAR history can say they accomplished that.

Now five months later the NASCAR warriors head back to Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero 400, scheduled to be a 160 lap event instead of the Daytona 500's 200 laps. Now the world is talking about how David Ragan winning his first career Sprint Cup series race and first win at Daytona. People are saying David won one of the most exciting NASCAR races at Daytona. He led on four different occasions for 15 laps, including the final two laps. However he didn't accomlish near what Mr. Bayne did. This was Ragan's 163rd career Cup series start, and this was the Coke Zero 400... not the great american race. That #6 UPS Ford has been impressive lately, David was due for a victory to join the others who have won their first race this year.

It was a quiet race with no accidents for most of the event which allowed the drivers to swap the lead lots throughout the race. There was an event-record 57 lead changes and a track-record of 25 different leaders. Once the race was coming to an end the drivers began to make more aggressive passes which caused multiple wrecks. On lap 159 Jeff Gordon got spun out after attempting to dodge Kasey Kahne's car, the #4 car got loose and he had to correct it before he created an even bigger crash than what happened. Mark Martin right away knew someone was going to spin out, so he "backed off" the rear bumper of Jeff Gordon to make sure he wasn't the reason for the #24 car spinning. This caution caused the event to go into extra laps, there was a total of ten extra laps. Jeff Gordon managed to race his way to a sixth place finish after drafting with Kyle Busch for the final ten laps.

As the pack of race cars thundered their way towards the finish line on the final lap there was a wreck in turn 3. Landon Cassill in his #51 car makes contact with the rear bumper of Marcos Ambrose in the #9 car causing him to spin out. Both cars received further damage when they tangled up Brian Vickers and David Reutimann seconds later. Tony Stewart did an excellent job at escaping the scene with no damage. It's simply hard racing since all drivers know that it is the final lap, something is bound to happen when driving 200 mph three wide.

On the same lap another wreck ocurred that was even larger. Kevin Harvick and Paul Menard lost momentum and were slower than the other drafting partners on the outside lane in turn 4. This caused Jamie McMurray to turn his car left into the right side of Dale Earnhardt Jr's car. The #88 National Guard chevrolet came up the track back into McMurray's #1 McDonald's chevrolet. After that cars began crashing everywhere. McMurray came back up the track and hit Montoya, Ryan Newman spun Jeff Burton into Jimmie Johnson, and AJ Allmendinger spun Newman's #39 car.

"The Dinger" was fortunate to receive minimum damage from the incident and was able to drive through the remaining wreckage to a 10th place finish. Tony Stewart was far behind when the collisions happened in turn 4 so it was easy for him to hit the brakes and dodge the wrecked race cars, "Smoke" finished 11th. Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon were lucky to be ahead of the incident when it took place, those drivers finished 5th and 6th. Kevin Harvick and Paul Menard sneaked by on the outside lane before being clipped by McMurray's #1 car. Juan-Pablo Montoya somehow drove his badly damaged race car all the way around the wall to salvage a 9th place finish. There was mayhem throughout the second half of the final lap at Daytona. Kevin Harvick is now your new points standings leader by five points over former leader Carl Edwards. Carl got tangled up with Roush Racing teammate Greg Biffle on lap 23 while coming off of turn 4. However Edwards managed to lead lap 19 for a bonus point.

Coke Zero 400 Results

1. David Ragan

2. Matt Kenseth

3. Joey Logano

4. Kasey Kahne

5. Kyle Busch

6. Jeff Gordon

7. Kevin Harvick

8. Paul Menard

9. Juan Montoya

10. AJ Allmendinger

11. Tony Stewart

12. Brian Vickers

13. Denny Hamlin

14. Kurt Busch

19. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

20. Jimmie Johnson

23. Ryan Newman

24. Regan Smith

33. Mark Martin

37. Carl Edwards

41. Trevor Bayne

Images from: http://www.nascar.com/news/110702/dragan-wins-daytona-redemption/index.html

For updates on my blogs with links visit: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tyler-McMurters-Journalism/221265104557143

Written by: Tyler McMurter

Kurt Busch Wins Infineon Event

Anybody who was watching the Toyota/Save Mart 350 from Infineon Raceway knew Kurt Busch had the dominant race car. Kurt qualified 11th and he somehow managed to driver that #22 car to the lead in just 13 laps! This season Kurt has been known for his incredible qualifying not his race results, after all before this event he qualified 1st for three consecutive races. Congratulations Kurt Busch on your impressive victory.

Kurt Busch and his crew chief Steve Addington made the call to not come to pit road until Kurt had run an extra 10 laps on the first fuel cycle. This allowed the #22 car to only have to pit for 4 tires and fuel twice throughout the event. I am surprised to hear that Kurt still had three laps worth of fuel in his car after the race knowing he only pit twice. How did he manage to save enough fuel while he was racing aggressively as the race leader all afternoon? Kurt led 76 of the 110 laps at Infineon Raceway. It's been a long time since I have seen someone dominate a road course race the way Busch did.

I am shocked it took Jeff Gordon about 100 of the 110 laps to figure out the handling balance on the race car. The 4-time champ was running about 20th for the entire race. I expected that #24 Dupont Chevrolet to quickly pass the competition in the opening laps to a top 5 spot, instead he slipped back about five positions. After unintentionally spinning out three drivers in this event last year, I was happy to see him race everyone clean on Sunday. It's unfortunate to see him finally become faster than Kurt Busch when it was too little too late... with just four laps to go. It would have been great to see Jeff Gordon win his 85th career race, his third of the 2011 season, and his sixth at Infineon Raceway.

It's very difficult to race on a road course with 42 other race cars surrounding the circuit. Mistakes are bound to take place at Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen International. Tony Stewart couldn't slow his #14 Office Depot Chevrolet down enough to avoid spinning out Brian Vickers heading into the tight turn 11. Later on in the race Vickers allowed Stewart to pass him while both cars were entering the same turn, the next thing you know Vickers runs into the back of Stewart's car and sends him into the wall. Despite qualifying 20th Tony Stewart was one of the favourites to win the Toyota/Save Mart 350. After the race Brian Vickers commented in his interview that it was not intentional, but Tony Stewart in his interview stated that he knows it was payback.

Tony also made this comment, "If everyone is just going to block all year then that's how I'm going to race".

Martin Truex Jr has the worst luck of any driver at Infineon Raceway. He has the skill and most of the time the cars to be successful on the road course, but he's often in the wrong place at the wrong time. Last year in this event he was spun out by Jeff Gordon in turn 11, this year he was spun in turn 11 as well. No matter how many times he gets turned around at Infineon, he seems to bounce back and begin passing cars instantly. Truex Jr raced his #56 Napa Auto Parts Toyota to an 8th place finish on Sunday. Joey Logano won his second career pole for the race and managed to earn a 6th place finish.

Results:

1. Kurt Busch

2. Jeff Gordon

3. Carl Edwards
4. Clint Bowyer

5. Marcos Ambrose

6. Joey Logano

7. Jimmie Johnson

8. Martin Truex Jr.

9. Kevin Harvick

10. Brad Keselowski

11. Kyle Busch

22. Juan-Pablo Montoya

Images from: http://galleries.nascar.com/gallery/Toyota%2FSave_Mart_350

Written by: Tyler McMurter

Infineon Info

Jeff Gordon knew he would just simply have to survive at Michigan Internation Speedway with a consistent finish, knowing that the race after is the road course known as Infineon Raceway. No driver is more successful at Infineon than the 4-time champion Jeff Gordon. He has 5 victories at the road course. The drivers listed below Jeff on the "Infineon wins list" are Tony Stewart, Ricky Rudd, and Rusty Wallace... all with just 2 wins. The only negative fact about Jeff Gordon's success at Infineon Raceway is that his last victory at the road course came in 2006.

Now after winning his 84th career race at Pocono and then struggling his way to a 17th place finish at Michigan, Jeff looks to pass Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison on the All-time Wins list at Infineon Raceway. However the #24 team could also use a third victory of 2011 to get Gordon inside the top 10 in the standings. He sits 12th in the standings just 17 points behind Clint Bowyer who sits 10th in the standings. So far this season is different from the most recent seasons NASCAR has had... many first time winners, Jimmie Johnson only has one win, and Jeff Gordon is showing he is a contender for the Sprint Cup Championship.

There will be a couple teams that can challenge Jeff Gordon's team for the victory at Infineon:

Tony Stewart has two wins at Infineon, but when it comes to his road course success he is best known for his 6 wins at Watkins Glen International. Tony is great on road courses and he might be the one sitting in victory lane at the end of the event. Juan-Pablo Montoya has learned lots over the past five years about how to race with a stock car on a road course. Montoya won the 2007 Infineon race and won last year's race at Watkins Glen. You could see that #42 chevrolet racing with the leaders all day long.

Kyle Busch swept the road courses in 2008 by winning both events. "Rowdy" Busch might be leading them to the finish line on the final lap. Kasey Kahne has shown us time and time again this season that he has what it takes to win, but Kasey has often experienced bad luck or handling issues which have prevented him from having a chance to win. Kasey won the 2009 Infineon race, could he possibly race that #4 Red Bull Toyota to victory?

*I would like to personally explain that Robby Gordon will not be a factor to winning the race. Although the road courses are his specialty Robby doesn't have the car and equipment to out-perform the other favorites to win. He might finish in the top 10, but no better. His days with racing in the #31 Chevrolet with Childress Racing are long over. Now we rarely see Robby get through half of a race, he earns lots of DNF's. However great job by Robby Gordon to win both road course events in the year 2003!

Questions:
1. Who do you think will win at Infineon Raceway? Or if that's too difficult then tell me of some drivers that will earn an impressive finish in the event.

2. Do you see Jimmie Johnson contending for the win? After all he won this event at Infineon last year, but it was his first road course victory in NASCAR.

Written by: Tyler McMurter

Michigan International Speedway

Kurt Busch has proven to be a rocket over the past three weeks during the Qualifying session. Kurt has earned three consecutive Coor's Light Pole Awards and now leads all drivers this season with three poles won. We all knew that Kurt Busch could have the car to win this event. Back in August of 2007 Kurt won here at Michigan. However former Michigan winners like Brian Vickers, Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, and Matt Kenseth qualified inside the top 10 to challenge for the top spot early in the event.

We have seen how important it is this season to pull off a quick, flawless pit stop and gain track position. In fact many of our victorious drivers in 2011 took the lead in the closing laps of the race which would lead them to the win. On lap 192 of 200 there were "yellow flag" pit stops and Denny Hamlin's pit crew got him off pit road as the new race leader. After the #11 crew did their job it was all up to the driver behind the wheel now. Denny Hamlin did an incredible job holding off a fast #17 Ford driven by Matt Kenseth to earn his first victory of 2011. That #17 car was certainly one of the fastest cars on the circuit all race long. Kenseth was looking to put himself in victory lane for the third time this season. Kevin Harvick remains the driver with the most victories so far with three (Fontana, Martinsville, and Charlotte). I am surprised it was this late in the season when we saw Hamlin win his first of the season. However I am not surprised it happened at Michigan International Speedway. Denny Hamlin loves this track, he has finished first or second in his last three starts at Michigan. In fact Denny raced his way to victory in this same event here last season.

NASCAR is approaching the halfway point in the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season, yet there are 10 different winners in the first 15 events. No particular driver has been able to dominate the wins column yet. Keep in mind we have had plenty of surprises this year which shed some light on this topic. Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500, Regan Smith won at Darlington, and Brad Keselowski won at Kansas. These are three drivers that nobody believed would earn a victory in 2011. It's also quite a surprise to see Jeff Gordon win two events this season, especially after seeing him go through that long winless streak. These shocking results have caused the drivers who win on a regular basis to not have as many wins as they could have at this point.

With this victory Denny Hamlin cracks the top 10 in the standings since the third race of the season (Las Vegas - won by Carl Edwards). Jimmie Johnson drops from second to fifth in the standings after his terrible 27th place finish at Michigan. If you don't believe me that consistency is the key to success in the standings then read this... Carl Edwards has 11 top 10 finishes in 15 races, that's why he is the points leader! Congratulations to Landon Cassill for finishing 12th at Michigan... his best career finish.

Standings

9. Hamlin -77

10. Bowyer -77

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11. Stewart -78

12. J. Gordon -94

13. Biffle -107

14. Martin -114

Question:

Who will be the next driver to win their first race of 2011? Do you have a guess of what circuit it would take place on?

Images from: http://galleries.nascar.com/gallery/Heluva_Good!_400
Written by: Tyler McMurter