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JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
happy harvick continues to have an impressive year.Persistent Harvick ends Stewart's streak at Glen
Pass with three laps to go gives No. 29 team second win of season
By John Kekis, The Associated Press
August 13, 2006
07:51 PM EDT (23:51 GMT)
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (AP) -- With a lot of skill and loads of luck, Kevin Harvick stole a road race at Watkins Glen International that seemed to be Kurt Busch's from the start.
Harvick, who moved into contention when Busch was penalized for pitting too soon midway through the 90-lap race, passed Tony Stewart with three laps to go Sunday and won the caution-plagued AMD at The Glen.
It was Harvick's first road win and his second victory of the year driving for resurgent Richard Childress Racing. And it was stunning because Stewart had won three of the previous four races here.
"I knew my only shot to get him back was getting into [Turn] 1,'' said Harvick, who moved up one spot to third in the points standings. "I knew I was only going to have a couple of chances, so I took my chance, it stuck, and I went on by.''
The pass was made coming out of 11th turn. Harvick outbraked Stewart through the turn, edged past him on the front straightaway and completed the pass entering the first turn, a 90-degree right-hander. He then pulled away over the final two laps over the 11-turn, 2.45-mile layout.
"I think I just overdrove the entries and exits, and he was good,'' said Stewart, who moved up two spots to seventh in the points race.
The race changed midway on an error by Busch's crew. Joe Nemechek spun off course and brought out a caution for debris. Busch, with instructions from crew chief Roy McCauley, entered the pits for tires and fuel in what would be his last stop. But he crossed the commitment line a split second before the pits opened and was forced to go to the rear of the field on the restart.
"Kurt, I don't know what to say. I'm about in tears,'' McCauley said over the radio. "I'm sorry, Kurt.''
"I think I'm OK,'' Busch said.
He was, but not for long. Seconds after the race restarted, Busch was caught in a multicar crash that also involved Matt Kenseth. Busch's No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge sustained front-end damage, and his chances for a victory vanished for good.
"We put ourselves in position for NASCAR to make a call, and it didn't end up in our favor,'' said Busch, who rallied into the top 10 but spun out on the final lap and finished 19th. "We're going to stand here and discuss it, but it doesn't do any good now.''
The top 10 drivers in the standings qualify for the 10-race Chase, now in its third year. And Busch, 13th and fighting for the last spot with Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr., appeared set to make a big jump. Instead, he remained 13th, 172 points behind Earnhardt, who remained 10th after an 18th-place finish.
The top 10 in the standings will be reset in four weeks -- after the 26th race of the season -- into five-point intervals. Those 10 drivers will then race for the Nextel Cup title over the final 10 races of the season.
Busch, fresh from his stirring victory over Robby Gordon in Saturday's Busch Series race at The Glen, began from the pole. And he was the class of the field from the start, leading 36 of the first 53 laps.
Neither Jeff Gordon, Stewart, nor Robby Gordon, who had combined to win 16 of the previous 18 races on NASCAR's two road courses, had anything for Busch in the first half of the 220.5-mile race.
Stewart ran second much of the time, and every time there was a caution, Busch had a rearview mirror full of Stewart's bright-orange Chevrolet. But Stewart, one of the best in Cup on restarts, was unable to snooker Busch on three tries.
"You feel for Kurt today,'' Stewart said. "He had a car that was capable of winning the race. That's absolutely rotten, terrible luck right there.''
Harvick, who pitted just before the crucial caution, gained the lead when Stewart and the rest of the leaders pitted the next time around and led the next 23 laps.
"You're gambling on the caution,'' said Todd Berrier, crew chief for Harvick's No. 29 Chevrolet. "That's all you're doing. We would have liked to have stopped sooner, but the way the race had been going, all the cautions, we stuck to the plan. More times than not it don't work when you stick to the plan.
"As soon as the caution came out, it put us in the top three,'' Berrier said. "Stewart and Robby and all those guys got back in the pack and it took them a long time to get back up there.''
Stewart had been unable to track down Harvick during the previous green-flag run. But when Casey Mears spun out to bring out a caution with 11 laps left, it gave Stewart a chance.
Harvick, making his 200th career start, got away on the restart. But Stewart caught him entering the chicane, driving by hard on the outside when Harvick threw a block inside, and easily took the top spot. Seconds later, the 10th caution of the race set up the five-lap shootout that Harvick won.
"At the end, on even tires, we were just as good as Stewart, but it [beating him] was a really hard thing to do,'' Berrier said. "He's obviously really good at these places. It's a pretty good accomplishment.''
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
Martin hits a triple at Bristol track
Veteran now has Cup, Busch, truck wins
The Associated Press
Mark Martin, starting from the pole for the first time in a truck race at Bristol Motor Speedway, made just one pit stop and won the Craftsman Truck Series' O'Reilly 200 on Wednesday night.
Martin decided to roll the dice and take his lone pit stop during the second caution of the race on lap 30. He reclaimed the lead on lap 66 when the leaders pitted during the third caution and never relinquished his advantage, claiming the win on a green-white-checker finish in Bristol, Tenn.
"I'd be curious to know how much gas was left," team-owner Jack Roush wondered after the race.
With the victory, Martin became the first person to win a Cup race, a Busch race and a Craftsman Truck race at Bristol.
"I'm just really lucky to be able to drive this thing," Martin said. "It was awesome in practice and stayed that way all day."
Points leader Todd Bodine was second, followed by Ted Musgrave, Johnny Benson and David Starr.
"We had the second-best truck, and that's where we finished," Bodine said. "We should have won last week and we finished second this week. That's what we had to do for points."
Mike Skinner had one of the fastest trucks on the track early and he snagged the lead when Martin pitted early. After Skinner pitted at lap 66 and relinquished his lead, he spent the rest of the race furiously trying to fight his way through the field.
Handling problems near the end of the race relegated him to a seventh-place finish.
It was a typical night at Bristol Motor Speedway as the race featured nine caution periods for 53 laps.
Kenseth clinches Chase spot with Bristol victory
By Jenna Fryer, The Associated Press
August 27, 2006
02:26 PM EDT (18:26 GMT)
BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Matt Kenseth needed a Bristol win last year to maintain any chance of making the Chase for the championship.
His repeat win this year locked him into the playoffs, and possibly made him the driver to beat.
Kenseth continued his momentum-building run toward the Chase on Saturday night by winning at Bristol Motor Speedway -- his third consecutive NASCAR victory.
"If we can go into the Chase like this, we'll have a shot at the championship. The guys are operating at a championship level," Kenseth said. "I was worried about going into the Chase and not running good. But this is what it's about, bringing your best piece and go there and try to win some races."
His fourth win of the season clinched him a spot in NASCAR's 10-race playoff format, which begins Sept. 17 in New Hampshire.
It also showed he's peaking at the perfect time. Tony Stewart got hot midway through the summer last year and streaked to his second Nextel Cup title.
Now Kenseth, winner of three consecutive NASCAR races, hopes to do the same. He is the first driver since Dale Earnhardt in 1987-88 to win the Bristol night race in back-to-back seasons.
"I feel like we're definitely a contender," Kenseth said. "But in this business, you've got to prove your worth each and every week. We have been taking it one week at a time and putting forth 100 percent effort each and every race."
Boy, has it shown.
Kenseth won last week's Cup event in Michigan, then Friday night's Busch Series race at Bristol. He needed a gutsy pass of Kevin Harvick to get the Busch win, but this one came much easier.
He passed leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. with a little more than 50 miles to go, running him down and then sliding past when Earnhardt appeared to slow coming out of the fourth turn. There was no looking back from there for Kenseth, the 2003 series champion.
NASCAR changed the title-crowning format after Kenseth's championship, and he hasn't contended under the new format. He used a win here last August to highlight a frantic rally to make the Chase, but faded when the playoffs began.
A repeat collapse isn't likely for NASCAR's most consistent driver.
He's now second in points, and his back-to-back wins have sliced Jimmie Johnson's lead to just seven points.
"Matt Kenseth is at the top of his game," car owner Jack Roush said. "He didn't have the most dominant car, but he kept in there and kept working at it and noodled at it and noodled at it."
Kyle Busch finished second and was followed by Earnhardt, who had a terrible car when he arrived in Bristol and worked all weekend to salvage his title hopes.
"These boys came to Bristol and they worked really hard and turned a pile of crap into a pretty decent racecar," he said.
Earnhardt, who came into the race 10th in the standings -- on the bubble of making the Chase -- moved up one spot to relieve the playoff pressure.
"I feel a whole lot better now as far as trying to get in," he said. "All of us have really just got to watch what we are doing -- minimize mistakes and utilize every minute of practice we get.
"I think we've got a really good shot of it. Before it was really just 50-50, up for grabs."
Scott Riggs scored a season-high, fourth-place finish and was followed by Jeff Gordon. The two exchanged heated words after the race, apparently disagreeing over the way they raced each other in the closing laps.
Rookie Denny Hamlin was sixth and was followed by Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman and Jeff Burton, who led 262 of the 500 laps but faded late. Johnson rounded out the top 10 and clinched his spot in the Chase.
"We took care of business," he said. "It wasn't anything pretty and it wasn't anything really racey. We weren't up there fighting for the win, but we stayed out of trouble and took care of the racecar and did what we needed to do."
The only change to the top 10 drivers was in order, with Mark Martin dropping six spots to 10th after his night went bad early when he was called for pitting outside the box on his first stop.
"My heart is heavy for Mark Martin," Roush said. "He's 10th in the points right now, certainly we're in jeopardy there."
Kasey Kahne, in 11th place in the standings, is the only driver realistically capable of racing his way into the Chase. His 12th-place finish has him 90 points out of the final spot with just two races to go.
"There are so many good race teams right now," Kahne lamented. "We've got to figure out how to be better than them."
Pole-sitter Kurt Busch, who began the race looking for his sixth Bristol win and a season-sweep, led early but never contended late. He suffered front-end damage when he ran into Reed Sorenson, was caught speeding on pit road and then blew his transmission with just under 100 laps to go.
He ended up 37th, ending his last-ditch effort to make the Chase. A two-time qualifier and the 2004 Nextel Cup champion, Busch is now 14th in the standings.
Martin won't run full time Roush Cup car in 2007
By Marty Smith, NASCAR.COM
August 27, 2006
12:42 AM EDT (04:42 GMT)
BRISTOL, Tenn. -- If Mark Martin returns to the Nextel Cup Series full time in 2007 it won't be in a Roush Racing Ford, team president Geoff Smith said Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway.
"You won't see Mark Martin in a Roush Racing owned [Cup] program," Smith said. "All our programs are sold out with the drivers we currently have. It was great of Mark to run this year.
"We're expecting Mark to be the lead guy in the Truck Series. That sponsorship is in place. We've got a couple of details to work out with Ford Motor Company, but that's where we expect to be. If he does more than that, it'll be supplemental."
Martin's projected replacement, Busch Series driver Todd Kluever, hasn't lived up to expectations, causing a buzz in the garage about his immediate future in the Nextel Cup Series. AAA is signed as sponsor of the No. 6, and per that contract Kluever is the driver.
"We're not satisfied with the aggregate performance level of that Busch team Todd's been with," Smith said. "When Jack does evaluations, he evaluates everything -- including the driver.
"That program right now is under intense scrutiny by Jack. And Todd, of course, feels that pressure. But it's our obligation to our sponsor to come forward and say where we think the program is with that driver."
So if not Martin or Kluever, who?
"[Kluever] is ready for it, but it's up to Jack to evaluate, of all the choices we have in our organization and outside the organization, is he the best candidate at this time for that program?" Smith said. "We owe it to AAA to make a formal evaluation.
"Certainly we can't leave things to rest when the performance level of the team generates this buzz. We have a lot of confidence in Todd over the long haul, but we also have to deliver over the short haul."
So might the veteran and the rookie split a season?
"Mark has not been a consideration for the 6, except only in the certain marketing scenarios early in the year that ended up not being in the equation. Even then it wasn't a full-time program," Smith said.
"It was a question of him running some races as part of a marketing transition. But in the end, the marketing plan involves a new driver in the series, and right now that's Todd Kluever. The only question is whether he's the one."
Roush was asked after Saturday night's Sharpie 500 about the prospects of Martin running the No. 6 in 2007.
"I have not been informed by Geoff that he's given up on Mark being in the 6 car next year," Roush said. "Certainly I haven't given up on that and it's pretty ironic that I had a meeting with Geoff [Saturday] morning when I rededicated ourselves to make sure that we give Mark as many options as we could have.
"I know one of the possibilities is [Martin] racing over with Boris Said and that group -- the Simo group. There has been some discussion about Mark driving that car for a number of races next year."
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
Kahne wins at California, inches closer to Chase
By Mike Harris, The Associated Press
September 4, 2006
03:48 PM EDT (19:48 GMT)
FONTANA, Calif. -- Kasey Kahne knew exactly what he needed to do in Sunday night's Nextel Cup race at California Speedway.
"I came here telling myself, 'You've got to win. You've got to win. You have to go out there and lead laps,'" Kahne said.
The 26-year-old Cup star managed both in the Sony HD 500, earning his series-leading fifth win of the season and closing in on a spot in the Chase for the championship with one race remaining.
To do it, Kahne had to overcome a penalty, a series of challengers and a daring fuel gamble by rookie Reed Sorenson at the end.
"These guys fought back with great pit stops," Kahne said. "I just can't thank this team enough. They just worked their butts off to get us back in this Chase and at least now we have a chance going into Richmond next week."
Not even a penalty for speeding on pit road halfway through the 250-lap race could stop Kahne, who fell back briefly to 24th. His No. 9 Evernham Motorsports Dodge stuck with the leaders and, thanks to a two-tire pit stop on Lap 176 that got him up to second, Kahne was in position to drive past Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the lead after the green flag came back out on Lap 180.
After falling back again when several other cars made two-tire pit stops, Kahne outdueled new teammate Elliott Sadler to regain the top spot on Lap 197. But there was yet another challenge for the 26-year-old driver, who led a race-high 132 laps.
Several drivers, including Sorenson, tried to stretch their final tank of gas to the finish and the 20-year-old Sorenson, who drives for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, almost pulled off his first victory and the first for the team since 2002. He took the lead on Lap 241 after most of the top cars pitted for a splash of gas and two tires.
Kahne, who gave up the lead when he made his final stop on Lap 238, found himself in fifth, nearly 14 seconds behind Sorenson. Kahne charged hard, grabbing second from rookie Clint Bowyer on Lap 247, but was still more than 7 seconds behind the leader.
But Sorenson lost his gamble, running out of gas starting Lap 249. Kahne zoomed past and raced away for the sixth victory of his career, beating Earnhardt to the finish by 3.428 seconds. Sorenson wound up 21st.
"You think a lot," Kahne said of all the ups and downs in the race. "You think about not making mistakes, not doing anything wrong. But you still have to be aggressive.
"We made a lot of good calls [Sunday night] and we definitely deserved this one."
Kahne had slumped badly after getting off to a tremendous start this season, with four wins in the first 15 races. Team director Kenny Francis was ecstatic after Sunday's win.
"That's the biggest win of the year so far," he said. "We have to race into this thing and the guys did a great job. Kasey did an awesome job driving."
Kahne started the night 90 points behind 10th-place Mark Martin and remained 11th in the battle for a spot in the 10-man Chase. But he will go to Richmond for next Saturday night's race just 30 points behind Jeff Burton, who fell behind Martin into 10th.
"This is all we could do," Kahne said. "We gained the most points we could possibly gain on a weekend. These other guys up there in the top 10, they're up there for a reason. You're not going to make that kind of a gain on them every week.
"I wasn't sure how far we'd be back, but 30's a lot closer than 90, and it could have been a lot worse than 90. It's a big jump. Anything can happen at Richmond. It's going to be a wild race there and, hopefully, we're on the good side of things."
Earnhardt, who has struggled on the 2-mile California oval in his last five starts, was very happy with his strong run this time.
"We're glad to get a second anywhere, especially in California and [on] this kind of racetrack," said Earnhardt, who failed to make the Chase last year. "We've really turned that around.
"I don't really get into the pressure of the Chase. The pressure is trying to run good, no matter what."
Bowyer held on for third place, followed by Carl Edwards, three-time California winner Jeff Gordon, rookie Denny Hamlin and new points leader Matt Kenseth.
Jimmie Johnson, who finished 11th on Sunday night, had led the standings for all but two weeks this season but now tails Kenseth by nine points. Those two remain the only drivers who have clinched berths in the 10-race Chase. Kevin Harvick remained third, but the rest of the top 10 was shuffled considerably.
Heading for Richmond, 72 points separate fourth-place Gordon from Burton, with Kyle Busch, Earnhardt, Hamlin, defending series champion Tony Stewart and Martin in between.
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
JLFJR wrote:Thanks for your input, PA! Very helpful.
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