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

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Written by: Tyler McMurter