Bizarre Happenings IN Sam’s Town 300 Nationwide Series Race

I must admit that the Sam’s Town 300 Nationwide race yesterday, was one of the strangest I have seen in a while.

Here is Kevin Harvick, Scott Speed, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch leading the way in the beginning of the Sam’s Town 300. All four cars ended up in the garage.

The craziness began on lap nine when Denny Hamlin spun out all by himself. After that it seemed all hell broke loose for the front-runners.

Not long after Hamlin’s spin, Kyle Busch spun out racing Kevin Harvick for the lead. Busch’s spin ended up taking out pole sitter, Scott Speed.

Denny Hamlin spinning out a few laps later.

Not only did we see Sprint Cup drivers spinning out unassisted, but there was also a confuggled mess of pit road mistakes by just about everyone that led or contended for the lead. It almost appeared that leading the race was a hex.

Biffle ran out of gas as the leader, which put Hamlin out front. Then Hamlin was too fast exiting pit road, had to return for a pass-through penalty, and was too fast again.

Kyle Busch spins and collects Scott Speed.

Hamlin’s mistake gave Vickers the lead, but he coughed it up when he left his pit stop with a missing lug nut.

Brendan Gaughan inherited the lead, then he spun trying to enter pit road to give David Ragan the lead. Edwards, who had rallied to third from an earlier punctured tire, was penalized for driving too fast off pit road. But as he tried to argue his penalty, Ragan wrecked on the track to take NASCAR’s attention.

Harvick’s car sits mangled in the garage after an altercation with teammate Jeff Burton. 

Justin Allgaier, who had stayed out of trouble to put himself in position to make a late challenge for the lead, then scuffed the wall while running in the top 10.

Finally, when it all got sorted out, Greg Biffle was the leader and eventual winner.

There was so much wrecking and pit mishaps at one time, that the ESPN2 broadcast announcers were having a difficult time keeping up with it all.

If the Nationwide race is any indication of how the Sprint Cup race will be, it might prove to be a very interesting race. It would be good to see after the California boredom last week.

Kyle Busch Makes History With Stater Bros. 300 Win

Hours after winning a Camping World Truck Series race in a runaway, Kyle Busch staged a repeat performance in Saturday night's Stater Bros. 300 Nationwide Series event at Auto Club Speedway.

"It's awesome," Busch said after climbing out of his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. "This is just a blast. It's pretty special to beat guys like Carl [Edwards] and Kevin [Harvick]. To win here twice in one day is even more special."

In claiming the 22nd Nationwide Series victory of his career, Busch became the first driver ever to win two races in any of NASCAR's top three series on the same day. Busch had come close once before, finishing second to Jamie McMurray by .005 seconds in a July 2007 Cup race at Daytona after winning a rain-delayed Nationwide race earlier in the day.

On Sunday, he'll try for another record -- a weekend sweep of NASCAR's top three series at the same race track.

About the only suspense came on a restart on Lap 135, after Edwards beat Busch off pit road following the final stops for both cars. Busch dived to the inside of Edwards' Ford, and Harvick made it three-wide through the corner before Busch regained the lead through Turns 3 and 4.

From that point, Busch pulled away and crossed the finish line 1.011 seconds ahead of Harvick and almost the same margin he had in beating Todd Bodine in the Truck race.

Joey Logano, Busch's teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, finished third, followed by pole-sitter Edwards and his Roush Fenway Racing teammate, David Ragan.

Jeff Burton, David Reutimann, Brian Vickers, series rookie Brendan Gaughan and Steve Wallace completed the top 10.

"It was a blast," Busch said. "We were just glad to put on a great show. It got a little nerve-wracking there on that last restart but that's what the fans come to see."

Harvick tried to seize the opportunity but couldn't force his way past Busch and Edwards.

"I was able to sneak by Kyle and Carl when they got together there [on the restart] -- at least that's what it looked like from my perspective. I just couldn't quite complete the pass there."

Busch, who led 143 of the 150 laps, obliterated the field during the first green-flag run, streaking to an advantage of more than 8 seconds before pitting from the lead on Lap 40. After the cycle of green-flag stops, Busch led Harvick by as much as 11.486 seconds before Michael McDowell's fiery crash in Turn 2 caused the first caution of the race on Lap 52.

By then, 14 of the 43 cars that had started the race were on the lead lap.

"Definitely, the best car won -- that's for sure," said Edwards, who fell back after battling Busch and Harvick on the final restart. "That was amazing. Kyle was just in a league of his own [Saturday night], so it was tough to be able to hang with him for most of the night."

The victory came in the first race back for crew chief Jason Ratcliff, suspended along with fellow crew chief Dave Rogers for the final 10 races of last season and Daytona after the Gibbs team was caught trying to manipulate the results of an engine dynomometer test at Michigan.

"I've been dreaming about this," Ratcliff said. "It's a heck of a way to come back."

 

2009 Stater Bros. 300 Final Results

Results Saturday from the Stater Bros. 300 race for NASCAR's Nationwide Series at Auto Club Speedway, listing starting position in parentheses, driver, car, reason out if not running at the finish, laps completed, driver rating, points and money won:

1. (2) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 150 laps, 150 rating, 195 pts, $76,820.

2. (9) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 150, 117.4, 170, $60,525.

3. (7) Joey Logano, Toyota, 150, 107, 165, $56,893.

4. (1) Carl Edwards, Ford, 150, 120.9, 165, $44,150.

5. (8) David Ragan, Ford, 150, 106.6, 155, $34,375.

6. (6) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 150, 115.8, 150, $31,325.

7. (29) David Reutimann, Toyota, 150, 96.1, 146, $28,275.

8. (12) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 150, 105, 142, $26,825.

9. (11) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 150, 90.7, 138, $35,903.

10. (15) Steve Wallace, Chevrolet, 150, 87.6, 134, $35,493.

11. (18) Jason Leffler, Toyota, 150, 86.9, 130, $32,393.

12. (23) Scott Lagasse Jr., Toyota, 150, 83.7, 127, $32,143.

13. (4) Mike Bliss, Chevrolet, 150, 95.1, 124, $32,943.

14. (17) Justin Allgaier, Dodge, 150, 88.4, 121, $31,808.

15. (10) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 150, 80.7, 118, $26,055.

16. (42) Michael Annett, Toyota, 149, 65.8, 115, $31,563.

17. (19) Jason Keller, Ford, 149, 74.5, 112, $31,353.

18. (36) David Green, Toyota, 149, 67.1, 109, $31,518.

19. (27) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, 149, 68.9, 106, $31,108.

20. (24) Ken Butler, Chevrolet, 149, 68.4, 103, $31,498.

21. (30) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 149, 61.6, 100, $31,238.

22. (14) John Wes Townley, Ford, 148, 64, 97, $30,753.

23. (20) Brandon Whitt, Ford, 147, 65.3, 94, $31,068.

24. (25) D.J. Kennington, Dodge, 147, 53.7, 91, $30,508.

25. (26) Kertus Davis, Chevrolet, 146, 49, 88, $24,055.

26. (32) Kenny Hendrick, Dodge, 146, 45.1, 85, $30,263.

27. (13) Brad Keselowski, Chevrolet, 145, 78.8, 87, $30,128.

28. (43) Stanton Barrett, Chevrolet, 145, 38.4, 79, $23,540.

29. (31) Brian Keselowski, Dodge, 145, 44.8, 76, $23,390.

30. (38) Eric McClure, Ford, 145, 37, 73, $30,048.

31. (37) Kenny Wallace, Chevrolet, 143, 48.4, 70, $29,638.

32. (40) Scott Gaylord, Chevrolet, 143, 37.6, 67, $29,528.

33. (33) Danny O'Quinn Jr., Chevrolet, 134, 42.7, 64, $22,950.

34. (5) Greg Biffle, Ford, accident, 127, 90.7, 61, $23,190.

35. (28) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, rear end, 61, 55.5, 58, $22,730.

36. (3) Michael McDowell, Toyota, accident, 50, 63.1, 55, $29,838.

37. (16) Terry Cook, Chevrolet, ignition, 15, 41.7, 52, $28,973.

38. (35) J.C. Stout, Chevrolet, overheating, 13, 36.7, 49, $22,395.

39. (39) Johnny Chapman, Chevrolet, ignition, 10, 34.5, 46, $28,808.

40. (22) Casey Atwood, Chevrolet, rear end, 5, 34.6, 43, $22,305.

41. (41) Justin Ashburn, Chevrolet, ignition, 5, 28.9, 40, $28,713.

42. (21) Dennis Setzer, Dodge, vibration, 3, 32.4, 37, $22,165.

43. (34) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, vibration, 3, 30.8, 34, $22,127.

***

Race statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 137.178 mph.

Time of Race: 2 hours, 11 minutes, 13 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 1.11 seconds.

Caution Flags: 4 for 23 laps.

Lead Changes: 6 among 3 drivers.

Lap Leaders: K.Busch 1-39; C.Edwards 40; Bra.Keselowski 41-42; K.Busch 43-130; C.Edwards 131-134; K.Busch 135-150.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): K.Busch, 3 times for 143 laps; C.Edwards, 2 times for 5 laps; Bra.Keselowski, 1 time for 2 laps.

Top 10 in Points: 1. K.Busch, 360; 2. C.Edwards, 340; 3. K.Harvick, 305; 4. D.Ragan, 297; 5. B.Vickers, 297; 6. D.Reutimann, 273; 7. J.Logano, 268; 8. B.Gaughan, 256; 9. J.Keller, 255; 10. G.Biffle, 221.

Stewart Hangs On For Nationwide Win

Tony Stewart will start at the rear of the field in Sunday's Daytona 500, but he was at the head of the pack in Saturday's Camping World 300.

Stewart captured NASCAR's first Nationwide Series event of the season, holding off Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards during a furious last lap, just hours after being involved in a practice-session crash with teammate Ryan Newman that damaged his primary Daytona 500 car.

Stewart Celebrates Winning The Camping World 300 at Daytona

Busch, with drafting help from Edwards, got to Stewart's rear bumper and nudged him but couldn't — or elected not to — get Stewart loose enough to get by. Edwards and Clint Bowyer slipped past Busch to finish second and third, respectively.

"Kyle pushed me all through the corner. If I'd spun or crashed I was going to have to have it out with him," said Stewart, driving his Nationwide car for Hendrick Motorsports, which supplies Chevrolet engines and technology for his Stewart-Haas Cup team.

"We lost both of our cars for the Daytona 500, so this was a good way to rebound from it."

Stewart and Newman, the defending Daytona 500 champ, will both run backup cars on Sunday.

It was the fourth victory in the last five years for Stewart in the season-opening Nationwide Series event — third in a Chevrolet. He drove a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to victory last year.

Clint Bowyer, the defending Nationwide Series champ, led 30 of the first 90 laps in the 120-lap race. Bowyer, Brian Vickers and Edwards all led in the final 25 laps.

Edwards was afraid the last-lap pushing and jockeying for position might lead to mass chaos.

"Clint was pushing me. I had a little run on Tony. I thought, man, this is going to be smoke and walls and all that," Edwards said. "But it ended up (Stewart) gave me enough room and I still ended up second."

Edwards took the lead from Vickers and was in command until Brad Keselowski's blown tire brought out a caution with nine laps to go. Edwards elected to stay on the track rather than pit for new tires and could not hold off Stewart after the restart.

"Here at the end it was so cool, man," Edwards said. "Man, at this place, you can be down one minute and up the next. It was really a fun race and a heck of a way to start the year."

No caution came out when Scott Wimmer blew a tire with less than five laps to go.

The race featured six caution flags for 23 laps. Jason Leffler, who started fourth, was penalized five laps for rough driving in an incident with Steven Wallace and finished 33rd.

Vickers, who rallied his Toyota from the 27th starting position, finished sixth behind Greg Biffle and just ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Pole-sitter Kevin Harvick finished 11th.

2009 Camping World 300 Results

Results Saturday from the Camping World 300 race for NASCAR's Nationwide Series at Daytona International Speedway, listing starting position in parentheses, driver, car, reason out if not running at the finish, laps completed, points and money won:

1. (5) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 120 laps, 190 points, $89,895.

2. (10) Carl Edwards, Ford, 120, 175, $84,700.

3. (3) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 120, 175, $76,500.

4. (13) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 120,  165, $64,625.

5. (6) Greg Biffle, Ford, 120, 160, $59,405.

6. (27) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 120, 155, $57,930.

7. (24) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 120, 146, $54,255.

8. (9) David Ragan, Ford, 120, 142, $51,180.

9. (12) Jason Keller, Ford, 120, 143, $53,230.

10. (2) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 120, 139, $49,730.

11. (1) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 120, 135, $47,880.

12. (21) David Reutimann, Toyota, 120, 127, $47,505.

13. (14) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 120, 124, $47,430.

14. (41) Michael McDowell, Toyota, 120, 121, $46,730.

15. (35) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 120, 118, $47,780.

16. (34) Kenny Wallace, Chevrolet, 120, 120, $46,530.

17. (16) D.J. Kennington, Dodge, 120, 112, $45,880.

18. (31) Mark Green, Chevrolet, 120, 109, $46,055.

19. (28) Mike Wallace, Chevrolet, 120, 106, $45,630.

20. (8) Joey Logano, Toyota, 120, 103, $46,355.

21. (33) John Wes Townley, Ford, 120, 100, $45,380.

22. (15) Brad Keselowski, Chevrolet, 120, 102, $45,255.

23. (7) Danny O'Quinn Jr., Chevrolet, 120, 94, $45,480.

24. (11) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 120, 91, $44,955.

25. (22) Brian Keselowski, Dodge, 120, 88, $44,980.

26. (36) Eric McClure, Ford, 120, 85, $44,705.

27. (40) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 120, 82, $44,605.

28. (25) Mike Bliss, Chevrolet, 120, 79, $44,530.

29. (30) Mike Harmon, Chevrolet, 120, , 76, $44,430.

30. (37) David Green, Toyota, 119, 73, $44,605.

31. (38) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, crash, 116, 70, $44,155.

32. (43) Scott Wimmer, Chevrolet, crash, 116, 67, $44,080.

33. (4) Jason Leffler, Toyota, 115, , 64, $44,030.

34. (29) Robert Richardson Jr., Chevrolet, 115, 61, $43,980.

35. (18) Michael Annett, Toyota, 113, 58, $43,830.

36. (42) Donnie Neuenberger, Chevrolet, 110, 55, $43,755.

37. (39) Brandon Whitt, Ford, 102, 52, $43,690.

38. (26) Kertus Davis, Chevrolet, 95, 49, $43,630.

39. (20) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, 92, 46, $43,580.

40. (32) Justin Allgaier, Dodge, crash, 82, 43, $43,530.

41. (23) Kenny Hendrick, Dodge, crash, 80, 40, $43,480.

42. (17) Steve Wallace, Chevrolet, crash, 71, 37, $43,480.

43. (19) Scott Lagasse Jr., Toyota, crash, 71, 34, $43,358.

***

Race statistics

Time of Race: 2 hours, 9 minutes, 59 seconds.

Average Speed:  138.479 mph.

Margin of Victory: 0.68 seconds.

Caution Flags: 6 for 23 laps.

Lead Changes: 18 among 11 drivers.

Lap Leaders: K.Harvick 1; M.Kenseth 2-16; C.Bowyer 17-20; T.Stewart 21; C.Bowyer 22-28; K.Harvick 29-31; T.Stewart 32-34; G.Biffle 35-36; T.Stewart 37-48; K.Busch 49-52; C.Bowyer 53-57; K.Busch 58-67; Bra.Keselowski 68-73; K.Wallace 74-75; J.Keller 76-78; C.Bowyer 79-95; B.Vickers 96-105; C.Edwards 106-113; T.Stewart 114-120.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): C.Bowyer, 4 times for 33 laps; T.Stewart, 4 times for 23 laps; M.Kenseth, 1 time for 15 laps; K.Busch, 2 times for 14 laps; B.Vickers, 1 time for 10 laps; C.Edwards, 1 time for 8 laps; Bra.Keselowski, 1 time for 6 laps; K.Harvick, 2 times for 4 laps; J.Keller, 1 time for 3 laps; G.Biffle, 1 time for 2 laps; K.Wallace, 1 time for 2 laps.

Top 10 in Points: 1. T.Stewart, 190; 2. C.Edwards, 175; 3. C.Bowyer, 175; 4. K.Busch, 165; 5. G.Biffle, 160; 6. B.Vickers, 155; 7. D.Earnhardt Jr., 146; 8. J.Keller, 143; 9. D.Ragan, 142; 10. M.Kenseth, 139.

Harvick Snags Nationwide Series Pole At Daytona

Camping World 300

Saturday 14, 2009

Noon (EST)

Kevin Harvick halted Joe Gibbs Racing’s dominance in NASCAR Nationwide Series qualifying Friday afternoon, winning the pole for Saturday’s Camping World 300 at Daytona International Speedway.

Kevin Harvick Is Awarded The Coors Light Pole Award At Daytona

JGR cars had won the last three poles in this race, but the team’s top driver Friday, Joey Logano, could only muster the eighth-fastest speed.

Harvick’s fast lap of 180.799 mph puts him on the inside of the front row in Saturday’s race in his own Kevin Harvick Inc. No. 33 Chevrolet. Roush Fenway Racing’s Matt Kenseth was second at 180.448, with Richard Childress Racing’s Clint Bowyer third at 180.097 as Sprint Cup drivers swept the top three positions.

Jason Leffler was the first non-Cup driver, qualifying Braun Racing’s Toyota fourth. Tony Stewart, driving a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, qualified fifth.

Roush Fenway’s Greg Biffle was sixth, with a surprising Danny O’Quinn qualifying seventh. O’Quinn was driving JD Motorsports’ No. 0 Chevrolet.

Logano was eighth, followed by Roush Fenway’s David Ragan and Carl Edwards in ninth and 10th, respectively.

 

Camping World 300 Starting Lineup

1. (33) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 180.799.

2. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 180.448.

3. (29) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 180.097.

4. (38) Jason Leffler, Toyota, 179.953.

5. (80) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 179.781.

6. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 179.745.

7. (0) Danny O'Quinn Jr., Chevrolet, 179.709.

8. (20) Joey Logano, Toyota, 179.698.

9. (6) David Ragan, Ford, 179.583.

10. (60) Carl Edwards, Ford, 179.505.

11. (99) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 179.404.

12. (27) Jason Keller, Ford, 179.379.

13. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 179.344.

14. (87) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 179.244.

15. (88) Brad Keselowski, Chevrolet, 179.162.

16. (81) D.J. Kennington, Dodge, 179.087.

17. (66) Steve Wallace, Chevrolet, 178.934.

18. (15) Michael Annett, Toyota, 178.781.

19. (11) Scott Lagasse Jr., Toyota, 178.667.

20. (89) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, 178.6.

21. (10) David Reutimann, Toyota, 178.55.

22. (26) Brian Keselowski, Dodge, 178.55.

23. (42) Kenny Hendrick, Dodge, 178.518.

24. (5) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 178.511.

25. (1) Mike Bliss, Chevrolet, 178.501.

26. (49) Kertus Davis, Chevrolet, 178.405.

27. (32) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 178.303.

28. (01) Mike Wallace, Chevrolet, 178.288.

29. (23) Robert Richardson Jr., Chevrolet, 178.158.

30. (84) Mike Harmon, Chevrolet, 178.126.

31. (70) Mark Green, Chevrolet, 178.087.

32. (12) Justin Allgaier, Dodge, 177.834.

33. (09) John Wes Townley, Ford, 177.809.

34. (28) Kenny Wallace, Chevrolet, 177.522.

35. (62) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 177.27.

36. (24) Eric McClure, Ford, 177.155.

37. (07) David Green, Toyota, 176.267.

38. (34) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, Owner Points.

39. (61) Brandon Whitt, Ford, Owner Points.

40. (05) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, Owner Points.

41. (47) Michael McDowell, Toyota, Owner Points.

42. (52) Donnie Neuenberger, Chevrolet, Owner Points.

43. (40) Scott Wimmer, Chevrolet, 177.581.

Failed to qualify

44. (56) Larry Foyt, Chevrolet, 177.529.

45. (90) Johnny Chapman, Chevrolet, 177.179.

46. (31) Stanton Barrett, Chevrolet, 177.124.

47. (91) Terry Cook, Chevrolet, 176.88.

48. (41) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 176.229.

49. (22) Johnny Borneman III, Ford, 176.039.