Kurt Busch – Page 3

Watching NASCAR this Week: The Quaker State 400

June 29, 2012 by Greg Quick 1 Comment

Clint Bowyer dominated the Sonoma racetrack at last weekend’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 in Sonoma yet still had to withstand a strong performance from Kurt Busch to earn the green flag. He led 71 of the 119 laps in a race that witnessed few cautions and 8 lead changes and which had an average speed of 86 mph, or as a friend said, lap car speeds.

It was a near thing for Bowyer as he ran out of gas at the end of the race and had to walk to victory lane. Busch, in an unsponsored car fell back at the end and the top 5 was filled out with Tony Stewart finishing second followed by Busch, Brian Vickers and Jimmie Johnson.

Quaker State 400 at the Kentucky Speedway.
Next up is the Quaker State 400 at the Kentucky Speedway. The track is a 1.5 mile tri-oval and will be the site of a great deal of speculation as to Matt Kenseth’s future. At the end of the season his contract with Roush Fenway Racing expires and will not be renewed. He is slated to be replaced on the team by Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

So far this season Kenseth has one victory and eight top five finishes and is the leading point’s leader. ESPN is reporting that now Kenseth is claiming that he has a deal for 2013 but is declining to say where. Let the second guessing begin-or is it still at first guessing level?

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.

Broadcast
June 30 at 6:30 pm ET on TNT

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Matt Kenseth
2) Greg Biffle -11
3) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -14
4) Jimmie Johnson -25
5) Tony Stewart -63

Nationwide’s Road America race last week was won by Nelson Piquet Jr., a race that I missed because ESPN decided to broadcast it like something the late LeRoy Neiman would have painted (my cable company is having trouble with some ESPN broadcasts).

Piquet ran a solid race but at least some of the news has to do with Jacques Villenueve how was dominating for a time and racing for a top finish still on the last lap. Then on the last lap to go he was pushed into the grass and came back on the track and collided with Danica Patick, spinning her out from the 5th place position she was in-she eventually finished 12th. The top five was filled out by Michael McDowell in second, then Ron Fellows, Max Papis and Sam Hornish Jr.

Feed the Children 300 at Kentucky Speedway

Broadcast
June 29 7 pm ET ESPN 2

Nationwide Standings
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Austin Dillion -11
3) Rickey Stenhouse Jr. -23
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -34
5) Cole Whitt -75

Filed Under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, ESPN, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, NASCAR, Sam Hornish Jr., Sprint Cup Series, TNT, Tony Stewart Tagged With: NASCAR, Sprint Cup

NASCAR takes on the Road at Sonoma Raceway

June 22, 2012 by Greg Quick 1 Comment

Dale Earnhardt Jr. must be feeling lighter a foot these days as a 143 race losing streak monkey just leaped off his back with his victory last week at the Quicken Loans 400 held at the Michigan International Speedway.

The victory for the driver, who is having a great season, could help him break another streak that he would love to see gone, that of never having won a championship. In the top ten in points all season he is now just a mere 4 points behind Sprint Cup leader Matt Kenseth. The top five was filled out by Tony Stewart in second followed by Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and Jimmy Johnson.

Toyota/Save Mart 350
This week’s race is a horse of a different color, as it is a road race at Sonoma, a good deal slower and much harder to pass. The 1.99 mile track, once as long as 2.52 miles, is situated at the gateway to the Napa and Sonoma wine country so if you are heading out you might want to make a weekend of it.

Road races are not to everybody’s taste. No high curves, the banging and bumping that characterize so many other races is missing. I think that they make a nice change of pace, but do not see a need to add another, not that I am aware of any push to do so.

Broadcast
June 24, 2 pm ET on TNT

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 huge list.

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Matt Kenseth
2) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -4
3) Greg Biffle -17
4) Jimmie Johnson -33
5) Denny Hamlin –51

The Nationwide race last week witnessed Joey Logano winning for the second win in a row by leading the last 24 laps but was forced to hold off a hard charging James Buescher to win his fifth race of the year.

Some of the top racers in the Nationwide series did not have great races including points leader Elliott Sadler finishing 11th. Danica Patrick had a very interesting race, there were seven cautions and she was involved in three of them. She did manage to finish in 18th. The top five last week was filled out by Buescher finishing second followed by Kurt Busch, Cole Whitt and Austin Dillon.

Sargento 200
This week the teams are headed to Road America for the Sargento 200, far away from the wine country where the Sprint Cup is running and instead out where the cheeseheads live in Wisconsin. This is also a much longer course that the one in Sonoma, with a 4.04 circuit and 14 turns.

Broadcast
June 23 3 pm ET ESPN

Nationwide Series Standings
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Austin Dillon -8
3) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -27
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -45
5) Cole Whitt -81

Filed Under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, NASCAR, Sam Hornish Jr., Tony Stewart Tagged With: NASCAR

NASCAR Tackles the Tricky Triangle-Poconos here We Come

June 8, 2012 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

Jimmie Johnson did what he does best in Dover, he won, for the seventh time to be exact. Leading for more than half the 400 laps he is in some pretty august company as driver Richard Petty and Bobby Allison also have seven.

It looked as if Jeff Gordon was going to fight him to the finish line but a loose tire killed any real chance he had because after the pit stop he was mired in traffic. The other top finishers were Kevin Harvic in second followed by Matt Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Clint Bowyer.

On a sad note recent Hall of Fame inductee Cotton Owens, former driver and car owner passed away at age 88.

This Week-Pocono 400 presented by #NASCAR
I love this track, simply because it looks like someone was having fun when designing it, everything is different, the banking, the length of the straightaways and the fact that it has three corners. The long, 2.5 mile, but relatively slow track will also affect pit strategies.

It will not be as fast as some of the races that you see all year, particularly the longer tracks such as Talladega and Daytona, but it has a lot more strategy involved at Pocono Raceway, particularly in green flag racing.

The track has an interesting history, and while shorter than some makes a good read over at its web site. I did not realize that it was almost bankrupt several times and that Bill France Sr. talked them out of selling the track. I also like that Yuengling is a sponsor. Don’t know who that is? For shame!

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Greg Biffle
2) Matt Kenseth -1
3) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -10
4) Denny Hamlin -22
5) Jimmie Johnson -33

Broadcast
June 10, 12 PM ET on TNT

Twitter Feeds
@NASCAR-Official NASCAR feed
@NationwideNNS-Nationwide Official Twitter
@NASCAR_NNS-NASCAR Nationwide feed
@Poconoraceway-Pocono Raceway
@PRNLive-Performance Racing Network
@EdHintonESPN-ESPN Columnist Ed Hinton
@nascarnowespn-ESPN2 NASCAR
@siriusxmnascar- Sirius XM:
@SPEED-Speed
@Nascar_TNT-TNT’s feed

Nationwide Series
Joey Logano won at Dover last week with an interesting up and down win. I only caught parts of the race but when I did see some of it he seems to be in command, yet apparently late in the race he pitted for four tires and emerged in the pack. Yet he fought through that issue to gain first the lead and then the checkered flag.

Pole sitter Ryan Truex had pulled in front late but got stuck in traffic and finished a disappointing second. He was followed by Brian Scott, Kurt Busch and Justin Allgaier. Danica Patrick had a hookup with old friend Sam Hornish Jr. and wrecked her drive, finishing 30th. Odd how those two are always drawn together.

The ever shy Kurt Busch, already on probation this season, earned a one race suspension for making threatening comments to a reporter after the over race. No race this week so see you in two weeks in Michigan.

Nationwide Standings
1) Elliot Sadler
2) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -12
3) Austin Dillon -14
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -50
5) Justin Allgaier -78

Filed Under: Contests, Danica Patrick, Kurt Busch, NASCAR, Sam Hornish Jr., Sprint Cup Series, TNT Tagged With: NASCAR, TNT

Race Day in Dover as NASCAR Readies for FedEx 400

June 1, 2012 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

Some very interesting 3-peats last week. I guess technically they were not actual 3-peats but so what? In the Coca-Cola 600 Kasey Kahne won for the third time and it is clear that he really likes this race since on the tour he has only won 13 times. The list of other 3 time winners shows that he is in an impressive group with luminaries such as Dale Earnhardt, David Pearson and Buddy Baker among the six others that have accomplished the feat.

The race was a great day overall for Hendrick Motorsports, which aside from Kahne had an additional 3 cars in the top 11. Filing out the top five was Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle and Brad Keselowski.
http://www.doverspeedway.com/

This Week
The FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks will be run at the Dover International Speedway’s monster mile, touted as the world’s fastest one mile oval. Good news for fans that have visited the track’s web site, they now have a mobile app that seems to be speedier than the regular one.

Broadcast
June 3 12:30 pm ET on Fox

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Greg Biffle
2) Matt Kenseth -10
3) Denny Hamlin -16
4) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -18
5) Jimmie Johnson -48

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
@nascarnowespn-ESPN2 NASCAR
@siriusxmnascar- Sirius XM:
@SPEED-Speed

Nationwide Series
Brad Keselowski skated to a nice win last week in Charlotte, leading the last 67 laps and praying that the gas he got when he fueled up with 73 laps to go would last-it did, making his caution lap decision not to pit pay off.
The top five was filled out by Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Elliott Sadler. Point’s leader Ricky Stenhouse had mechanical issues and finished 26th while one other widely watched driver, Dancia Patrick disappointed by starting 3rd but finishing 13th.

The 5-Hour Energy 200 is this weekend and they will be racing in just a little over 24 hours of posting this. It should be a fun race as speeds will be high and drivers should be raring to go on this interesting track.

Broadcast
June 2, 2 pm ET ESPN & WatchESPN

Nationwide Standings
1) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2) Elliott Sadler -13
3) Austin Dillon -28
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -57
5) Cole Whitt -94
5) Justin Allgaier -94

Indy 500
Congratulations to Dario Franchitti who won his third Indianapolis 500 in a very intense last lap battle with Takuma Sato, who ended up hitting the wall in a tremendous crash after their tires made contact with each other.

Filed Under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, Dover International Speedway, ESPN, Fox Sports, Greg Biffle, Indy 500, Kurt Busch, Live sports via mobile, NASCAR, Sam Hornish Jr. Tagged With: Dover, Indy 500, NASCAR

Big Weekend for Racing Fans: Coca-Cola 600 and Indy 500

May 25, 2012 by Greg Quick Leave a Comment

The two will make for a great week of viewing for fans. With Indy moving its starting time back to noon it once again gives drivers that want to the opportunity to race in both events, all it needs is a helicopter ride in between. I am too lazy to look at this moment but I believe that only one driver has ever finished both races in the same day.

Last week there was the All Star Sprint Cup event. I did not see these races due to other obligations but according to ESPN’s report I did not missed that much as drivers figured out how to game the system. Jimmie Johnson won the $1 million event but complains of sandbagging seem to have arisen. I suspect we will see the rules tweaked a bit next year to try and stop this from occurring once again.

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

The Coca-Cola 600

Broadcast
May 27 at 5:30 PM ET on Fox
The race will be held at Charlotte Motor Speedway and is the longest race of the season for the drivers, and that is not counting and any additional delays from cautions could drag out the telecast. It looks like the race will be run under hot and humid conditions, although there is also a chance of isolated thunderstorms as well.

With Jimmie Johnson so hot lately he has to be considered the favorite in this race, his having gone two for two over the past two weeks. No asterisk need be applied to last week because I am sure no driver hits the gas in an effort not to take home the prize. However the length of a race also has to impact the chances that some unforeseen mishap can ruin a driver’s day.

Nationwide Series
The Nationwide Series also returns, with the running of the History 300. Somehow I missed the fact that they were running in Iowa last week- sorry. I just looked to see what other race was occurring in Charlotte. O well it happens.

It looks as if Rickey Stenhouse Jr. did not miss me, dominating the race by leading 209 of the 250 laps and winning the checkered flag He apparently likes the track with three wins here in the last year. The win was good for extending his lead in the series. The top five was filled out by Elliott Sadler coming in second followed by Michael McDowell, Austin Dillon and Kurt Busch. For those of you still enthralled by Danica Patrick, she did not finish for the second time this year.

Nationwide Series Standings
1) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2) Elliott Sadler -34
3) Austin Dillon -43
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -74
5) Cole Whitt -92

History 300
Broadcast
May 26 2:30 ET on ABC

The Indy 500
Broadcast
May 27 12:00 PM ET ABC
The Indy 500 is also this weekend and fans in the infield should be prepared for some hot racing, and hot weather. There are expectations that the race may set a heat record, beating the 92 set in 1937 if it hits the estimated 94 on Sunday.

With qualifying over the top row will feature Ryan Brisco alongside James Hinchcliffe and Ryan Hunter-Reay leading off the 33 car field. It looks like it was a pretty busy week for the drivers and fans.

Filed Under: ABC, Athlete to Follow, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick, Fox Sports, Greg Biffle, Indy 500, Kurt Busch, NASCAR, Sam Hornish Jr. Tagged With: Indy 500, NASCAR

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

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

Watching NASCAR this Week: The Quaker State 400

NASCAR takes on the Road at Sonoma Raceway

NASCAR Tackles the Tricky Triangle-Poconos here We Come

Race Day in Dover as NASCAR Readies for FedEx 400

Big Weekend for Racing Fans: Coca-Cola 600 and Indy 500

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

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