A bad call was good news for Kasey Kahne last week at Loudon as rival Denny Hamlin’s miscommunication with his crew chief opened the door for Kahne’s second cup victory of the season. While leading in a dominating car, Hamlin went in for a pit stop during a caution and a misunderstanding led his pit crew to change all four tires rather than the two he was expecting.
While Hamlin returned to the track in 13th place due to the extra time it took, he almost made it all up with a rousing charge that saw him close to second place but the race ended before he could manage to regain the top spot. He led half of the laps during the race. After Hamlin the top 5 was filled out by Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brad Keselowski.
The results were great news for Kahne because it gave him a major boost for the Chase as he moved from 16th to 12th position. After the previous weeks second place he appears to be finding his stride at the right time of the season. Hamlin also managed to move up two places with his second place finish.
http://youtu.be/k814NNNqnoo
No race this week
Twitter– Instead of pointing to a number of Twitter addresses as we have in the past it seems to make much more sense just to send you to a site that appears to have consolidated a who’s who of racing twitter addresses instead. So head over here for a list.
Sprint Cup Series Standings
1) Matt Kenseth
2) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -16
3) Greg Biffle -40
4) Jimmie Johnson -51
5) Denny Hamlin -79
6) Kevin Harvick -85
7) Tony Stewart -89
8 Martin Truex Jr. -90
9) Clint Bowyer -93
10) Brad Keselowski -94
The Nationwide race last week in New Hampshire saw Brad Keselowski win the checkered flag with a major assist from Amber Cope, who effectively blocked then race leader Kevin Harvick in heavy traffic, a move that enabled Keselowski to slip past Harvick for the lead and eventually the win.
Cope, who was a lap down at the time threw the winning block with about 20 laps left after Harvick had led for the last 30 laps. He was fuming about the rookie move and made his displeasure well know in his after race comments. The top five was filled out by Kevin Harvick in second followed by Austin Dillion, Sam Hornish Jr. and Rickey Stenhouse Jr.
This Week: STP 300
While Sprint Cup is off this week, Nationwide will be going forward with the STP 300 held at Chicagoland Speedway’s 1.5 mile tri-oval track. It seems that tempers from the Cope move, as well as a few other bumps from last week this could be a great day of racing.
Broadcast
July 22, 2 pm ET ESPN
Nationwide Cup Leaders
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Austin Dillion -3
3) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -16
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -32
5) Justin Allgaier -73
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