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Saturday NASCAR update - Almirola wins MIS truck race, Logano looking to make Nationwide history at Kentucky

The Nationwide series is racing in Sparta, Kentucky tonight at the Meijer 300. Joey Logano took his third pole in a row at the 1.5 mile oval, and looks to make history by winning the same race from the pole three years in a row. Kentucky is the track where Joey made history two years ago by setting the record for the youngest winning driver in Nationwide Series history.

The race airs tonight on ESPN.

Almirola Steals the show at the MIS truck stop
I love it when anybody can figure out a way to beat Kyle Busch. Aric Almirola did just that during Saturday’s Craftsman Truck Series race at MIS on Saturday when he interrupted a fight between Busch and Brett Bodine. Almirola is in the thick of the championship battle with Bodine, and is now just 55 points out of the standings lead.

Here’s the presser from MIS:

BROOKLYN, Mich. (June 12, 2010) - Out of nowhere, with two others ready to decide the outcome, Aric Almirola decided to make it a three-way affair and all but stole the VFW 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday.

What appeared to be a shootout between points-leader Todd Bodine and Kyle Busch became a three-way battle with Almirola jumping in the middle of a tight, three-wide dice for the lead following a restart with eight laps remaining.

Almirola, not in the most enviable position of the three contenders, went for the lead, got it with seven laps left and held off the hard-charging Bodine and Busch to win for the second time this season and first at MIS.

“I didn’t think it was the greatest place to be, but I knew we were going to run wide open to the corner and we were either going to crash or make it out the other side on that last restart,” Almirola said. “I knew how important clean air was and I knew it was my only shot to get out in the lead, and if I didn’t get out in the lead there was no chance of us winning the race. I went down in turn one and I knew I was going to run a shorter distance than Todd (on the outside of the three-wide situation) so I just tried to hang tight on Kyle’s door and get him loose, which I did. By the time we got off Turn 2, I was almost clear of Todd and then we went through three and four I cleared him. That was the move of the race as far as I was concerned. Our car in dirty air wasn’t as good as it needed to be and that was the key.”

There was a Truck Series track record of 20 lead changes up to that point. Neither Bodine nor Busch was going to make it 21 with Almirola winning by a scant 0.111 seconds, or about one car length. Busch was another two car lengths back in third. Ron Hornaday Jr. finished fourth with rookie Austin Dillon fifth.

“We just didn’t have enough,” said Bodine, who posted his fifth top-10 finish in six races at MIS. “We had a great truck. We were a little tight on exit at the end and I could role up and start to go around Aric but I just couldn’t continue. With two to go, I rolled up and did it without lifting and I almost knocked the wall down and I thought Kyle was going to pass us.”

Busch posted his fifth top-10 finish in five races at MIS, but was anything but overjoyed. He was asked what it was like racing three wide for the lead toward the end of the race.

“It’s challenging. You’re all over the place trying to get back up in there, slicing, dicing and everything. I just didn’t have enough. Unfortunately they gave me a good truck and the driver didn’t get it done. I was trying to find some way to get around those guys but I couldn’t find it,” Busch said.

Tickets are still available for Sunday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400, and start at $30 for general admission. Kids 12 and under are free in those sections.

Nestled in the lush Irish Hills of Southeastern Michigan, Michigan International Speedway is the Great Escape, a venerable NASCAR national park where fans can get away and enjoy the very best in racing and camaraderie. It’s the love of racing and the thrill of a great time for race fans and drivers alike.

Memorial Day Weekend Racing Review

Dario Franchitti dominates to win second Indy 500

The 2010 Indy 500 won’t go down in the history books as a race for the ages, but it did have some interesting story lines and one terrible crash. The big story was the absolutely destruction of the field by Dario’s Target car which seemed to have a gear nobody else had which enabled him to lead 155 laps.

Unfortunately for the fans, no only did Dario’s domination make for somewhat of an uneventful race at the front of the field, but the race turned into a fuel mileage marathon at the end. In fact, Franchitti may not have made it to the end if it were not for a terrible crash that involved Mike Conway and Ryan Hunter-Reay in the closing laps.

In post-race celebrations, Ashley Judd once again displayed her love for attention, and made sure the world knows that her man is “the man”. We know, Ashley, we know.
Read more

Jeff Gordon vs. Jimmy Johnson - Here’s hoping for a sequel

During Monday’s Last rain-postponed Texas race a gimpy Denny Hamlin scampered off with the ol’ cowboy hat and his first win of 2010, a remarkable feat for a guy who went under the knife for knee surgery only three weeks prior. But the other bit of news that developed during the Texas 500 was a little tiff between Jeff Gordon and Jimmy Johnson that was sparked by a turn 4 incident in the middle of the race.

If you didn’t see it, Gordon and Johnson were battling wheel to wheel with 94 laps to go, and Gordon made an aggressive move on the low side of Johnson. Coming onto the flat part of the race track the two got together resulting in a crushed left front fender on Johnson’s Impala that eventually caused his left front tire to fail a number of laps later.

It looked to me like Johnson didn’t leave Gordon much racing room, and pinched the 24 down a little bit. And Gordon wasn’t giving up any room either. And in radio exchanges that followed, Jeff wasn’t thrilled about the situation. He keyed up and said, “He must want to be treated differently than everybody else.” Whoa, harsh words from the usually polished Gordon.
Read more

Historical day for NASCAR

Saturday was a historic day for NASCAR at both the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series races.     The festivities began in Iowa at Rusty’s little track in a cornfield in what was being called an “Inaugural” race for the Nationwide series.  Well, actually, Indy Car has raced there a couple of times already, but it was the first time that NASCAR darkened the tunnels of the 7/8ths mile circuit.

The best part of the day was watching Brad Keselowski hold off a charging Kyle Busch, who’s been more annoying than usual lately.   Busch’s JGR crew brought Busch in for two tires late in the race, but Tony Eury Sr. was calling the shots for Keselowski who kept the youngster out on the track.  Eury’s gamble paid off, and Brad drove hard in the end to hold of Busch.

Here are some highlights:

More NASCAR history was made in Nashville where Ron Hornaday posted his fifth straight victory.  The Harvick-owned truck squad is on fire, and are in a class of their own.  The win gave Ron his first Nasville Speedway guitar.    And no, he didn’t pull a Kyle Busch and slam the gorgeous Gibson guitar on the asphalt.  Nope.  Mr. Hornaday has something Kyle Busch doesn’t.  It’s called “class”.

I can’t believe it, he’s driving away from me

The NASCAR Nationwide Series is in Joliet this weekend with the Cup boys at Chicagoland Speedway, and ran their 300 miler under the lights on Friday night.  The story of the race could be summed up by a radio transmission by Kyle Bush late in the race when he said, “I can’t believe it, he’s driving away from me!”

And Logano did drive away from second-place Kyle Bush, posting his fastest laps of the day as the race came to a close on old tires.  It was an incredible driving performance and a testament to the driving talents of this kid, and the incredible car that the Joe Gibbs Racing team put together.

Logano was driving the same car that he won with at Kansas, a car that seems to have some “special sauce” in it for the 1-1/2″ cookie-cutter ovals.

Logano will try for the double tomorrow in the Cup race but will have his work cut out for him as he starts 24th, deep in the field.

Kyle Busch was less than ecstatic in self again in post race interviews, in fact, he looked as if someone had taken away his birthday. This guy doesn’t like to finish second, and seems to especially hate losing to “Sliced Bread”. Busch told ESPN, “I guess it’s a good *points* day for us” in an overly-sarcastic tone. I love Busch’s drive to win, but sometimes he needs to suck it up and show a bit of class when he loses. We get it, Kyle. You hate to lose.

Kansas City Star: Tire gamble pays off for Logano

Ok, let’s see that again - Tony vs. Kyle at the Coke Zero 400

The epic ending of Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona was one for the ages deserves a second look.   Normally I’m not a fan of these crash-and-burn NASCAR finishes, but this one got me and everyone at the cookout up out of their lawn chairs!

Here’s the video:

Tony Stewart leads the field to green tonite at Daytona

NASCAR has had a string of bad weather luck, with dark clouds following the tour around the US.  Weather nixed qualifying again this week at Daytona which means Tony Stewart inheirits the pole position based on points.

FloridaToday.com:  Rain spoils Daytona qualifying

Tony very well could win this race from the pole, but due to the double-file restart rule that is now in effect, I think that just about *anyone* in the field could win this restrictor plate race.  Dale Earnhardt is due for a win, and a win for him would be a storybook comeback tonight.  But look out for Matt Kenseth, the fastest Ford (the only fast Ford) and the winner at Daytona earlier this year.

Clint Bowyer has the hot hand after winning the Nationwide race last night, but might not have the Cup car he needs

Top Picks:  Tony Stewart, Dale Jr., Mark Martin
Mark Martin might just snooker the whole field.  The veteran has been strong all year, and this race track owes him one.

Dark Horse Pick:  Juan Pablo Montoya
If JPM can get enough help, he could win this race.  He’s running inside the top 12 in the Chase standings, and is having a pretty goodyear.  Could this be a break-out win for JPM?

Long Shot Pick:  Brad Keselowski
Brad’s crazy win at ‘Dega was a huge boost to Brad’s career, and shows he’s a force to be reckoned with, especially at restrictor plate races.  He didn’t post good times on practice, but I still think I’ll keep an eye on this kid.

The Coke Zero 400 airs later tonite at 8 p.m. ET on TNT.

Zipadelli & Logano steal Cup win at New Hampshire

Greg Zipadelli rolled the dice and called a perfect weather-race to bring Joey Logano in first today at the rain shortened Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.   The win is rookie’s first in Sprint Cup compeition.

Everything went Logano’s way in an odd sort of way.  Logano had some early problems that put him out of sequence, a turn of events that may have assisted in his win.  Logano actually was the cause of the nine of eleven total caution periods in the race when he had a tire failure.  Ed Hinton of ESPN.com points out that Logano was the fortunate recipient of the Lucky Dog not once, but twice.    But the tire failure actually put the Home Depot team on an alternate strategy that played out perfectly under the conditions.

RACE NOTES

Jeff Gordon falls short
Gordon ran up front all day, and probably would have won the race had the rain held off for another five or six laps. Lady Luck didn’t shine down on Jeff today.

Tony Stewart’s strong run
The Stewart-Haas team really has the #14 car hooked up, and Tony was the fastest car on the track for a lot of the race. He ended up snake bitten by his former crew chief, but still a good day for Tony.

Dale Jr.’s strong run doesn’t show in the results
Dale Jr. didn’t look to have car to win, but he could have easily finished in the top 5 if the weather hadn’t broken up the party. Dale and the team have to figure out how to do better on restarts.

Was the big wreck Kyle’s Bush’s fault?
Kyle Bush made another friend in Martin Truex Jr. today when contact between the two created a huge accident that took out multiple cars. The question is, “Was it Kyle’s fault?” Truex sure thought so. From my seat, it looked like a pretty dumb move on Kyle’s part to stick his nose in a hole between two cars just before the entrance of turn 1.

LINKS

ESPN: Logano scores unlikely win at Loudon

SI:  Rain gives teenager Joey Logano first Cup win

Dirtmeister Kahne gets first NASCAR road course win

Anyone who ever witnessed Kasey Kahne run a winged sprint car on dirt knew that they were watching a future star in big time racing.  I personally saw Kahne win the Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway two years in a row, a race that draw all the best winged 410’s on the west coast to northwest Washinton.  But for a guy that is so at home in the dirt, Kasey Kahne sure put out quite a performance on Sunday at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma.

Kahne held off Tony Stewart to win a veritable crashfest on the natural terrain roadcourse.   A couple of drivers that were especially “crashy” on Sunday were Robby Gordon and Kyle Busch.  I lost track of exactly how many incidents these two were involved in, but it was more than a couple.

The win for Kahne is his first under the Petty Enterprises banner, and it was nice to see the King celebrating in Victory Lane again. 

USA Today has more:  Kahne, Petty brew up winning Sprint Cup combination

Mark Martin best at saving fuel at Michigan

Mark Martin has again made Dale Jr. look bad, and won yet another Sprint Cup race in 2009.  The old dude won a fuel mileage race at Michigan International (image that) today, beating his out-of-fuel teammate Jimmy Johnson and an out-of-fuel Greg Biffle in the closing laps. 

The media has called the finish “exciting”.

I’m not sure how exciting the racing was.  Michigan’s 400 miler is always a race to save fuel & Martin showed that he’s the Yoda of fuel saving.

Martin said, “I always come up short in these fuel-mileage races,” said Martin, whose victory was his third of the year. “But I saw the pace they wanted to run at the start and I began saving gas from the third lap.”

So from lap 3 to 200, Martin was saving fuel?   Can you feel the excitement?

The Detroit Free Press has more on the fuel saving festivities.

Freep.com: Mark Martin wins at MIS after leaders run out of gas