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

Coca Cola 600

NASCAR's longest event on the calendar was an eventful race full of shocking moments. Carl Edwards did a fantastic job at picking up from where he left off after dominating the All-Star race. The fastest cars all day were Edwards, Kyle Busch, Kenseth, Kahne, Ambrose, and Ragan. Jack Roush Racing brought their "A" game to Charlotte Motor Speedway as that organization alone led over 140 laps in the first 200 laps of the event. It would have been outstanding to see David Ragan win his first career Sprint Cup Series race. Many members of the Ragan family over the past several generations has had some success in NASCAR racing, but no Ragan family members has ever won a Cup race. There have been a couple occasions where a Ragan family member has been close to a win, but it just never happened. I know that I am not the only NASCAR fan that has faith in the young man driving that #6 UPS Ford.

The Busch Brothers

The inconsistency of cautions throughout the race kept surprising the fans and experts. There wasn't much action in terms of car accidents or any reasons for caution in the first half of the race, it felt like nobody could avoid trouble in the second half. On lap 160 Kurt Busch complained of a loose tire and after a green flag pit stop which put hima lap down, it was determined the left-rear tire was loose. On lap 233 a caution came out for the 2002 Truck Series Champion Mike Bliss who was sitting at a complete stop near the entrance of pit road. This caution on lap 233 interrupted green flag pit stops, Kurt Busch was the only driver yet to pit when this took place. As a result several drivers chose to take the "wave around" option where they don't make a pit stop in order to get back on the lead lap. Kurt got lucky.

Once Kyle Busch found the front of the competition everyone knew it would take some awfully bad luck to prevent him from earning a good finish or the victory. Marcos Ambrose ran a very impressive race again, but he surrendered the lead to Rowdy Busch on lap 246. After just taking the lead Kyle ran his fastest lap of the race at that point on lap 251. The problem Kyle Busch had was a loose race car during the night time portion of the event. Kyle spun and brought the caution out twice, one of those spins took him right through the front straight-away grass. He is lucky is car wasn't damaged.

No Luck For Nobody
Jeff Gordon was running in the 10th position not even 100 laps completed in the event. He lost a tremendous amount of track position when he decided to take 4 tires on a yellow flag pit stop while the majority of the other drivers elected to gamble and take two tires. After that the #24 team struggled all race long with a tight race car around the 18th position. Just when all hope was lost a caution came out with 120 laps to go which once again interrupted the cycle of green flag pit stops. This time Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, and David Gilliland were the cars that were yet to make a pit stop. This was the point where cautions began to take place quite frequently. Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon while under green flag racing conditions had to pit knowing they were both seconds from running on fumes. Congratulations to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for earning an 11th place finish in his first career Sprint Cup Series race. Despite constant minor contact with the outside wall Ricky managed to be in a good spot near the end of the race to take advantage of drivers being out of fuel for this incredible debut finish. That is two drivers that have done something amazing in that #21 Wood Brothers Ford.

Unpredictable Outcome
The entire 600 mile event showed us how difficult it really is to determine who is going to win a race or even who will finish well. Drivers like Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, and Matt Kenseth all experienced good luck but then horrible luck. Just when certain drivers thought they were getting a break something caused these drivers to not earn a well deserved finish. Kasey Kahne was searching for the correct line to use that would get him around the race track the fastest all race long. On the final restart Kasey Kahne ran out of fuel which stacked up the rest of the cars, and that caused several cars to collide. Tough break for Kasey and that #4 Red Bull team. The Hendrick Motorsports drivers all had competitive, fast race cars but they all experienced a form of bad luck or bad timing which caused them to not finish as well as they could have. Mark Martin was involved in a wreck, Jeff Gordon had to pit due to low fuel, Jimmie Johnson blew up with 5 laps to go, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran out of fuel on the final turn of the final lap to once again fail at snapping that long winless streak. I can't help but feel sorry for the fast cars that didn't have a good finish at the end of this race.

Noteable Drivers Results:

1. Kevin Harvick

2. David Ragan (Best career Cup finish)

3. Joey Logano

4. Kurt Busch
5. A.J. Allmendinger
6. Marcos Ambrose
7. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
8. Regan Smith
9. David Reutimann
10. Denny Hamlin

11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (First career Cup start!)
13. Greg Biffle
14. Matt Kenseth
15. Clint Bowyer
16. Carl Edwards
17. Tony Stewart
20. Jeff Gordon
21. Jeff Burton
22. Kasey Kahne
28. Jimmie Johnson
31. Ryan Newman
32. Kyle Busch

Images from: http://www.nascar.com/news/110529/kharvick-wins-charlotte-dearnhardtjr/index.html
Written by: Tyler McMurter

I have to start by saying congratulations to Carl Edwards on winning his first career All-Star race. Over the last five seasons he has been one of the best drivers in NASCAR, he deserved this accomplishment. Nobody expected Carl Edwards or any driver for that matter to dominate the majority of the segments. Carl's teammate at Jack Roush Racing Greg Biffle managed to win the first segment. Kyle Busch finished 2nd in the All-Star race in just his second career All-Star race appearance. You could find that #18 M&M's car near the front for most of the night. Although David Reutimann was not a favorite to win the event I am not surprised that he finished in 3rd. Reutimann has won at Charlotte Motor Speedway before. He knows how to be fast and competitive at this NASCAR circuit.

Charlotte Motor Speedway is located in North Carolina, all of the best drivers compete to determine the All-Star driver in NASCAR. For some of the race it looked like Jeff Gordon had an outstanding chance at winning his 4th career All-Star race. However the final pit stop somehow managed to shuffle Gordon to the rear of the competition. The 4-time Champion never recovered and ended up finishing in 15th. I will admit my prediction was false, which was for an unlikely, underdog driver to pull of a shocking victory. I thought Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray, or David Reutimann would be the driver to do such a thing. All three of these drivers have a victory at least one victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kasey Kahne is a former All-Star race winner. I did also state that the popular drivers like Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Kyle Busch would have a significant chance at winning this glorious event. I figured it would come down to simply who can find the best lane, speed, and handling balance to decide a winner.

David Ragan out raced Brad Keselowski to win the Sprint Showdown which took place before the All-Star race. What was really exciting was the final restart when Keselowski made a bold move to the inside to make it 3-wide with Paul Menard and David Ragan. Keselowski would then drive off with the lead but was later caught and passed by Ragan, giving Keselowski a 2nd place finish. Jeff Burton was my pick to win the Sprint Showdown despite him not having any top 5 or top 10 finishes yet this season. The former Charlotte winner slipped further away from the leader on a restart when a slower car held up Burton and several other cars. Marcos Ambrose did an excellent job of using the outside lane to pass a couple cars at a time in the corners at some points. Some risky moves which turned into clean passes gave Marcos a 3rd place finish, but this was not enough to advance him into the main event race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was voted as the third of the three drivers to advance into the All-Star race, no one was surprised by this. Dale has so much love, respect, and popularity with the fans because of his father's legacy and again love with the fans. The Most Popular Driver Award usually goes to Earnhardt Jr. at the end of each season, but this year he seems to have a contender. Jeff Gordon has always had a large fan base and now it's beginning to show. For 8 of the 11 races completed so far in 2011 Gordon has been the Pizza Hut Fan Favorite driver. It will be interesting to see who wins this year's Most Popular Driver award.

All-Star Race Results:
1. Carl Edwards
2. Kyle Busch
3. David Reutimann
4. Tony Stewart
5. Greg Biffle

Written by: Tyler McMurter

All-Star Race Preview

The 2011 NASCAR All-Star Race

Every year at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina, all of the best drivers and pit crews compete in exciting competitions to determine the most dominant warriors in NASCAR. The Charlotte circuit is a 1.5-mile quad-oval with 24 degrees of banking in the turns and 5 degrees on the straight-aways. Pit road speed is 45 mph. The All-Star weekend will consist of the Pennzoil burnout competition, the Pit Crew Challenge, the Sprint Showdown, and the All-Star race.

Eligibility Regulations

The NASCAR drivers are eligible to compete in this historic event if they have at least one victory in the Sprint Cup Series in the previous season or the current season. All-Star race winners from previous years are automatically eligible for the All-Star race as long as they have competed in any NASCAR series during the 2010 or 2011 season. The exact same thing applies for drivers who have won a Cup Series Championship within the past 10 seasons. Expect a sold out crowd of 171,000 die hard NASCAR fans.

There is a preliminary event called the “Sprint Showdown” for teams that are not eligible for the All-Star race. The top two finishers from the Sprint Showdown will be entered into the All-Star race which will be later that same evening. Keep in mind that the fans get to vote in a third driver that competed in the Sprint Showdown as well. The NASCAR All-Star Event is always exciting for the fans and interesting for the experts.

I continue to say this all week leading up to the legendary event, it’s very possible that an under dog driver with less success than most of the best drivers will win the All-Star race:

-Kasey Kahne won the 2008 All-Star race and the points race at Charlotte the very next weekend. In 2006 Kahne won both points races at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

-Casey Mears won the first of the two points races at Charlotte in 2007.

-Kurt Busch has been struggling. Over the last six races his best finish is 10^th. However Kurt won the 2010 All-Star race and the first of the two points races at Charlotte last season.

-Jeff Burton has no top 5 or top 10 finishes so far in 2011. He could pull off a victory this weekend; he won the second of the two points races at Charlotte in 2008.

*Keep in mind that drivers like Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray, and Kyle Busch will all have a good chance at winning this historic event. 


Jamie McMurray won the second points race at Charlotte last season, Jimmie Johnson won the same event at Charlotte in 2009, and so did Jeff Gordon in 2007. Jeff Gordon is a 3 time All-Star race winner, Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin have each won the event twice, there are about eight drivers that have a great chance at being victorious this weekend.


Written By: Tyler McMurter