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

-------------------------------

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

5-Hour Energy 500 at Pocono

The NASCAR drivers either love Pocono Raceway or just simply hate it. It's a tricky 2.5 mile triangular shaped circuit. It has three turns that are completely different from each other so it's difficult to setup your race car to handle perfectly at all ends of the track.

Congratulations to Jeff Gordon on his second win of 2011 and his fifth career Cup series win at Pocono Raceway. He is now tied with Bill Elliott for the most victories at Pocono. On lap 256 a caution came out for debris. While under yellow flag conditions the cars made pit stops and Jeff Gordon's crew was able to get the #24 car in the lead. Then later on lap 177 while racing under green flag conditions the #24 team had another incredible pit stop to maintain the lead. Jeff knew if he could remain the leader nobody would pass them unless the #24 car experienced a mechanical problem. After snapping a long winless streak this year at Phoenix and now winning here at Pocono, many experts are beginning to believe Gordon is one of the top contenders for the Sprint Cup Series Championship this season.

Jeff Gordon's victory this Sunday gives Hendrick Motorsports it's 197th career win and 12th at Pocono Raceway (most all time). Speaking of Hendrick Motorsports... Dale Earnhardt Jr. has finished 14th or better in 12 of the first 14 races in 2011, very impressive. This victory for Jeff Gordon was very special, he ties Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison for third on the all-time wins list with 84 wins. If Gordon was going to hit this milestone this season I am not surprised it happened at Pocono, he loves this circuit. In his last six starts at Pocono he has finished in the top 10 five of those starts.

Kurt Busch won his second consecutive Coor's Light Pole Award for Sunday's race in that #22 car. He also managed to earn his best finish of the 2011 season so far (second). Kurt had to expect to have his hands full with a couple drivers also qualifying at the front who are very successful at this race track. Jeff Gordon started 3rd, Denny Hamlin started 4th, and points leader Carl Edwards started 6th. Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick both qualified outside the top 30 so there would be no pressure from them until later in the event.

In the early stages of the race Kurt Busch would lose the lead to Denny Hamlin, that #11 car was a rocket all race long. Carl Edwards suffered an engine failure just 58 laps into the 200 lap event. This caused Carl to finish 37th which leaves him with a slim six point lead over Jimmie Johnson who sits second in the standings. Dale Earnhardt Jr sits third in the standings and he is only ten points behind Edwards. Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch were the two drivers who had the speed that could have prevented Jeff from winning. The 4-time Pocono winner Denny Hamlin led 76 laps, but a broken valve stem caused him to pit twice in one sequence around lap 156. Hamlin would end up finishing in 19th.

Images from: http://www.nascar.com/news/110612/jgordon-win-pocono/index.html
Written by: Tyler McMurter

STP 400 at Kansas Speedway

It was another exciting race to add to the history books of NASCAR racing and for the second race in a row there was a tremendous amount of strategy used. The victories, the points, and the success are so crucial at this point in the season in order for race teams to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship.

With 67 laps to go green flag pit stops began. Juan Montoya, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, Jamie McMurray, and Brad Keselowski attempted to stretch their fuel some extra laps. Eventually these drivers made their pit stops when they felt they could make it to the end of the event without making another pit stop. While these competitors were on the track waiting to pit they were losing time to the rest of the competition who were already making good use of those fresh Goodyear tires. If the race stayed under green flag conditions these drivers would earn a fantastic finish, but if a caution came out these drivers would be immediately passed on the restart.

I agree with Darrell Waltrip when he says "I like to see drivers gamble, it's exciting for us, the fans and it shows just bad these drivers want to win".

The leaders list with 44 laps to go:

(* indicates drivers who aimed to make it to the end)

1. Kurt Busch

2. Jeff Gordon

3. Carl Edwards

4. Jimmie Johnson

5. Tony Stewart*

6. Matt Kenseth

7. Kevin Harvick

8. Brad Keselowski*

9. Kyle Busch

10. Greg Biffle

16. Denny Hamlin*

22. Dale Earnhardt Jr*

In the end it would be Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Tony Stewart that would make it the distance to earn top 10 finishes. Jeff Gordon was the highest finishing driver that elected to not attempt a gamble for the victory. Penske Racing gets it's first victory since Kurt Busch won the Coca Cola 600 race at Charlotte Motor Speedway last season in that #2 car. This year there is a new driver in the legendary "blue deuce", the 2010 Nationwide Series Champion Brad Keselowski. Brad might be struggling in the standings, but I guarantee he is happy to have won his second career Cup series win at Kansas Speedway. Kurt Busch led a total of 152 laps as he was strong all race long. It's good to see how much Kurt has matured, a few years ago if he had the dominant car all race and he finished in 9th place... he would have thrown his helmet after the event.

Official Results:

1. Brad Keselowski*

2. Dale Earnhardt Jr*

3. Denny Hamlin*

4. Jeff Gordon

5. Carl Edwards

6. Matt Kenseth

7. Jimmie Johnson

8. Tony Stewart

9. Kurt Busch

10. Greg Biffle

11. Kevin Harvick

12. Kyle Busch

13. David Ragan

14. Kasey Kahne

15. Ryan Newman*

18. Clint Bowyer

24. Regan Smith

25. Jeff Burton

Images from: http://galleries.nascar.com/gallery/2011_STP_400

Written by: Tyler McMurter

O'Reilly Auto Parts 250

The fans were set for a 250 mile race at Kansas Speedway featuring the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Two full-time Sprint Cup Series drivers were participating in this exciting event, though they will only be racing for a personal accomplishment... not points towards the series standings.

Clint Bowyer led five times for a total of 124 laps led to win his third career Camping World Truck Series race. The final 46 laps were led by Bowyer in that #2 Chevrolet for him to win the race in just his first career Truck series start at Kansas. Just when you think the accolades were concluded there is one more stat... it was Bowyer's third Truck series victory in just his 11th career start. I will admit I had my doubts knowing it was Clint's first time racing a truck at Kansas Speedway. Not only did he win but he led an incredible amount of laps, especially considering all the facts I have mentioned. This victory gives Chevrolet its fifth career Truck series win at Kansas Speedway, the most among the manufacturers in NASCAR. Congratulations to Clint Bowyer and his race team.

Johnny Sauter earned an impressive runner-up finish, with that being said he is now the new Camping World Truck Series points leader. The rookie Cole Whitt finished in the 15th position which dropped Cole to second in the standings just 12 points out of the lead. Austin Dillon in that #3 Chevrolet advances a spot in the standings to third place. Austin takes the third spot from Matt Crafton who earned an unfortunate 18th place finish. James Buescher finished in fourth to cap his sixth top 10 finish in his last seven races. A huge story for Saturday's O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 was seeing the rookie Joey Coulter earn his best career finish in his eighth career start. The young man finished in fifth place which moves him up five spots in the standings to 11th. I was amazed to see him recover from a pit road speeding penalty on lap 112. This rookie continues to be talked about by NASCAR experts regarding his racing talents.

* - Indicates Rookie in the Camping World Truck Series

Results

1. Clint Bowyer

2. Johnny Sauter
3. Todd Bodine
4. James Buescher
5. Joey Coulter*
6. Kyle Busch
7. Brendan Gaughan
10. Travis Kvapil
12. Austin Dillon
15. Cole Whitt*
18. Matt Crafton
30. Ron Hornaday

Images from: http://www.nascar.com/news/110604/cbowyer-wins-kansas-truck-series/index.html
Written by: Tyler McMurter

NASCAR Legends

NASCAR drivers do a great job showing respect for a legend after accomplishing more than they did. I noticed in the NASCAR history books that the torch (figure of speech) has been passed from the best driver to the next best driver, and it kept continuing. Richard Petty won his 7th Cup Championship in 1979 and a year later Dale Earnhardt won his very first Cup Championship. Dale Earnhardt would win his 7th Cup Championship in 1994, and a year later Jeff Gordon won his first Cup Championship. In my opinion the two best NASCAR drivers today are Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson. Five years in a row that #48 team has won the Sprint Cup, this year either Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, or Carl Edwards will knock Jimmie off his throne. Kyle Busch is with the right organization, has the incredible racing ability, and an efficient pit crew to win the Championship on multiple occasions throughout his career.

There was a night race at Phoenix in 2007 called the "Subway Fresh Fit 500". Tony Stewart was leading the race until Jeff Gordon made a risky, but clean pass on Tony to take the lead with about 12 laps to go. The 4 time champion would go on to win his 76th career Sprint Cup Series race. I thought it was amazing to see Jeff Gordon do a lap around the Phoenix circuit with a #3 Earnhardt flag instead of the checkered flag tradition. It truly showed how much respect and admiration Jeff has for the Intimidator, the 7 time champion. Gordon was honored to tie Earnhardt on the all-time wins list with 76 victories, after all Gordon dedicated his 2001 Sprint Cup Series Championship to Dale Earnhardt. It was the 2001 Daytona 500 where Earnhardt unfortunately passed away.

My Top 10 NASCAR Drivers List & Reasons:

1. Richard Petty (7 Championships/200 wins/7 Daytona 500 wins)

2. Dale Earnhardt (7 Championships/76 wins)

3. Jeff Gordon* (4 Championships/83 wins/3 Daytona 500 wins)

4. David Pearson (3 Championships/105 wins)

5. Cale Yarborough (3 Championships in 3 years in a row/83 wins)

6. Darrell Waltrip (3 Championships/84 wins/1 Daytona 500 win)

7. Jimmie Johnson* (5 Championships in a row/54 wins)

8. Lee Petty (3 Championships/54 wins/won first Daytona 500 in 1959)

9. Bobby Allison (1 Championship/84 wins/3 Daytona 500 wins)

10. Rusty Wallace (1 Championship/55 wins)
*Active NASCAR drivers

Written by: Tyler McMurter