Danica Patrick

The All-Star Race is Here. NASCAR Starts its Engines in Charlotte

May 18, 2012 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

Last weekend in Darlington was a bit of surprise for both races, calm at the start and then havoc later on. Ok now that I think of it that is not too surprising. Anyway in the Sprint Cup Bojangle’s Southern 500 Jimmie Johnson came through for Hendrick Sports, winning its 200th race.

Johnson benefited from the late yellow flags to help him overcome fuel issues late in the race and I would like to second the announcers comments about has there been any studies done regarding the turning on and off the engine to save fuel. Does that really work? For Johnson it broke a long cold streak dating to last season.

He seemed to be pressed late by Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch but they did not hold up down the stretch. The top four finishers after hi were Denny Hamlin, Stewart, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.. For any interested in Danica Patrick, she finished six laps down.

In other track news Kurt Busch was fined $50,000 and placed on probation for speeding through pit road late in the race and then returning and bumping Ryan Newman’s car after the race. Think there fender bender in the race affected this? The probation will last until July 25th. Also next year no more Impalas ranging free on the track as Chevrolet has said that they will be replaced next season by the new Chevrolet SS.

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Greg Biffle
2) Matt Kenseth -2
3) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -14
4)Denny Hamlin -17
5) Jimmy Johnson -39

This Week- The Sprint Showdown
Broadcast
May 19, 7 pm ET on Speed

Twitter Feeds
@NASCAR-Official NASCAR feed
@NationwideNNS-Nationwide Official Twitter
@NASCAR_NNS-NASCAR Nationwide feed
@NASCARONFOX-Fox Sports feed
@AllWaltrip-3 Time NASCAR Champ and Fox announcer
@PRNLive-Performance Racing Network
@EdHintonESPN-ESPN Columnist Ed Hinton

The Sprint Cup is shaking things up a bit this weekend with the Sprint Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The race will have an altered format this year and will now feature five segments, the first four will consist of 20 laps each and the final segment will have ten laps.

Drivers that win one segment will be at the front for the next segment. Multiple wins enables the second place winner to take the pole position. The ten lap race will only count green flag laps. Also no points but lots of cash!

Nationwide Series
No Nationwide again this weekend, maybe giving Elliott Sadler time to cool down from the tap he received from eventual winner Joey Logano last weekend. Actually Sadler was quite professional about the whole thing in his post race interview, but I have to wonder if a return tap is not in his future.

The bump came with only five laps to go on a restart and wrecked Sadler, also hurting his standings as then points leader. For most of the race Denny Hamlin had been in charge but that changed after one of the earlier yellow flags. He managed to finish second followed by Brad Keselowski, Sam Hornish Jr. and Austin Dillon. Danica Patrick managed a 12th while Travis Pastrana finished a respectable 17th.
No race this weekend so we will see you in Iowa.

Nationwide Series Standings
1) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2) Elliott Sadler -23
3) Austin Dillon -35
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -59
5) Cole Whitt -82

Filed Under: Charlotte Motor Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, Darlington Raceway, Fox Sports, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, NASCAR, Sam Hornish Jr., Tony Stewart Tagged With: NASCAR

Will Darlington’s Walls be a Factor in the Bojangle’s Southern 500 ?

May 11, 2012 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

Sometimes it is good to listen to the announcers, although I am pretty sure none of the drivers in last week’s Sprint Cup race at Talladega were in a position to do so, at least those that were still left on the track as the race had its final green flag for an overtime sprint to the checkered flag..

If the drivers had that luxury front runner Matt Kenseth, who shot out into a big lead without the benefit of teammate Greg Biffle to give him a push. He was in that position at the end due to a nine car pileup that happened with just four laps to go.

As the Fox Sports announcers were questioning the tactics here came rivals Brad Keselowski who with a big push from teammate Kyle Busch shot past him into the lead with a lap to go. Busch, judging from the post race interview sounded like he then expected that he would be able to pass Keselowski at the end, but failed.

This was Kieslowski’s second win of the season followed by Busch, Kenseth, Kasey Kahne and Biffle rounding out the top five.

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Greg Biffle
2) Matt Kenseth -7
3) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -9
4) Denny Hamlin -27
5) Kevin Harvick -45

This Week’s Race
This Saturday the teams head to Darlington Raceway for the Bojangle’s Southern 500 on the 62 year old historic track. The oval course has a distance of 1.366 miles and gget ready for some up the wall driving.

There is an interesting reason that Darlington is more egg shaped than a true oval. When the course was being modified to accommodate the up and coming NASCAR races a local property owner down near turns 3 and 4 did not want his fishing hole disturbed so the course was narrowed down at that end.

Broadcast
May 12, 6 pm ET on Fox

Nationwide Series
Broadcast
May 11th at 6:30 pm ET on ESPN 2

Last week’s race was also what you would expect from Talladega, with a number of crashes including a major one that left driver Eric McClure with a concussion and internal bruising, but he was out of the hospital on Monday and will not be behind the wheel tonight.

The race had a much better ending for Joey Logan, who with five pas to go shot into the lead past Kyle Busch to win the Aaron 312. The win was Logano’s second of the season and the first second of the weekend for Busch.

The race resulted in some shuffling in the leader board as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ran third and took the points lead from Elliott Sadler while Cole Whitt was fourth, with Dale Earnhardt Jr taking the firth spot.

I seemed to have missed the real fun however. I rushed out of the house as the checkered flag dropped and missed Danica Patrick put Sam Hornish Jr. into the wall with a ‘tap’ on the cool down lap. He had bumped her earlier in the race. She claims that t is all behind them and that she apologized to Hornish, Roger Penske the car owner and talked with Nationwide Series director Joe Balash. She was not penalized and finished 13th in the race, Hornish 12th.

Tonight they will be running the VFW Sports Clip Help a Hero 200 under the lights, so sit back, have a beer and watch the action as you relax yourself into the weekend.

Nationwide Standings
1) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2) Elliott Sadler -5
3) Austin Dillon -35
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -60
5) Cole Whitt -77

Filed Under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, Darlington Raceway, ESPN, Fox Sports, Greg Biffle, NASCAR, Sam Hornish Jr. Tagged With: NASCAR, Sprint Cup

NASCAR Returns to Talladega This Weekend

May 4, 2012 by Greg Quick 2 Comments

Nothing like a little controversy to spice up a race, and Kyle Busch’s fourth consecutive victory at Richmond had its share. The one that stands out to me is how the race ended. A caution came out for a hazard on the track with 13 laps remaining- the hazard apparently being a water bottle.

At the time Tony Stewart was leading and he lead down pit road, but Busch beat him back on the track and hung on for the last laps for the victory. Dale Earnhardt Jr. also passed Stewart, this time on the track, to finish second and pushing Stewart to third. The other top placers were Denny Hamlin and Kasey Kahne,

The other issue from the race revolved around Carl Edwards, and his spotter. Apparently on the restart after a caution that occurred when Jeff Burton hit a wall with 81 laps remaining, Edwards lined up next to Stewart and was told by his spotter that he was the leader. The flag dropped and off he went, and down came a black flag. At first told that he had jumped the start and passing the leader it was later ruled that it he left too early as he was not the leader. He managed to finish 10th.

It should be mentioned that the victory snapped a 22 race losing streak for Busch. In other news the top of the leader board is getting pretty snug with the gap between the leader and others closing, as well as some shuffling among the top 5.

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Greg Biffle
2) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -5
3) Denny Hamlin -9
4) Matt Kenseth -10
5) Martin Truex Jr. -22

This Weekend
The Talladega Superspeedway will be the home for his weekend’s Aaron’s 499. The track is a 2.66 mile tri-oval with turns banked anywhere from 16.5 degrees to 33 degrees. It should be a very exciting race as last year the track witnessed 88 lead changes.

Broadcast
May 6, 12 pm ET on Fox

Twitter Feeds
@TalladegaSuperS- Track’s Official Feed
@NASCAR-Official NASCAR feed
@NationwideNNS-Nationwide Official Twitter
@NASCAR_NNS-NASCAR Nationwide feed
@NASCARONFOX-Fox Sports feed
@AllWaltrip-3 Time NASCAR Champ and Fox announcer
@PRNLive-Performance Racing Network
@EdHintonESPN-ESPN Columnist Ed Hinton

The Nationwide Series
Last weekend’s Nationwide race did not have as much controversy, but there was always the spectacle of heavily talked about rookie Travis Pastrana. The race winner, starting off a great weekend for the Busch clan, was Kurt Busch.

Busch won with a great finish as the last laps were contested by Denny Hamlin with a great deal of side by side racing that witnessed Busch winning by a nose. The fact that Hamlin was in a position to challenge was a tribute to his driving as he missed his spot on pit road and had to drive around.

Kevin Harvick looked like a winner for much of the race, leading 158 laps, but fell back late and finished third while Rickey Stenhouse Jr. and Sam Horish Jr. filling out the top five. Morgan Shepherd led 4 laps, which at 70 years of age is quite an accomplishment.

Two heavily watched drivers, Travis Pastrana and Danica Patrick finished mid-pack. Patrick started 16th but ended in 21st while Pastrana started 25th and managed to pull up to 22nd and might have done better but he was hit with a pass through penalty.

Nationwide Standings
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Rickey Stenhouse Jr. -2
3) Austin Dillon -23
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -53
5)Michael Annett -65

The cancellation of two practice sessions yesterday due to rain and changes to today’s practices at the track has lead to an already set lineup for tomorrows Aaron 312 race. In order the top 5 are Sadler, Stenhouse Jr., Harvick, Joey Logano and Dillon.

Broadcast
3 pm ET on ABC

Filed Under: ABC, Athlete to Follow, Danica Patrick, Fox Sports, Kurt Busch, NASCAR, Sprint Cup Series, Talladega Superspeedway, Tony Stewart Tagged With: NASCAR

The All-Star Race is Here. NASCAR Starts its Engines in Charlotte

Will Darlington’s Walls be a Factor in the Bojangle’s Southern 500 ?

NASCAR Returns to Talladega This Weekend

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