When it comes to short motor speedway racing tracks, Richmond Motor Speedway is amongst the most challenging. There has been one crusader on this track over the ages, Richard Petty. But now, the most active winning driver is Kyle Busch. His fourth win here would not come without its fair bit of controversy, however.
Late in the race, a caution flag for debris on the track caused a restart. Carl Edwards (who led laps for most of the race) was back flagged for starting too early – something he vehemently contests. Earnhardt Jr. and Harvick were simply slower than Kyle Busch off pit lane. Thanks to his fast working and nimble pit crew, Busch shot out of the caution, took the lead, kept it and earned a much deserved victory.
In spite of what any other driver may say, luck only has a little bit to do with it. In the end, driving on a short track with a teeny apron, and on a track that’s less than one mile long in a D-shape that forces pack tandem action…is tough. For Busch, he’s proving that short tracks are his to own, and his alone. At least this year.
Fast Richmond Race Track Facts:
Earnhardt Jr. Blames Loss on “Brake Problems”
“We had some brake problems all race long,” Earnhardt told the press following the race and his 137th consecutive loss since 2008. “I had a great restart and I ran really great for one lap, and then the pedal went back to the floor.” He later added – humorously, “Even with the brakes working, I think the 18 (Kyle Busch) was a little bit better than us all night.”
Thanks to his big win this past weekend, Busch has climbed up two spots to 11th in the Sprint Cup Standings. Greg Biffle is still the point leader at first place.
WATCH: Highlights & Features from Richmond
The short track at Richmond is always very challenging for drivers and generally forces pack action that fans love. Such was the case last weekend. Some might say that Kyle Busch lucked out because of the late caution. However, at the end of the day there can only be one victor. This video will recap any action you missed from “America’s Premier Short Track,” courtesy of ESPN.
Perhaps the more challenging of speedway racing tracks are the short tracks. They leave little room for error. The laps pass by far more quickly. Pit row and your strategy are keys to success. And, if you don’t watch your back, other drivers can easily creep up on you, overtake you and leave you in the dust. Now factor all of this at one of the most challenging of all short tracks, Richmond Motor Speedway, and you have exactly the recipe for Kurt Busch’s big win last weekend over Denny Hamlin.
With 30 laps that were left to go on the .75 mile motor speedway, it really came down to two determined drivers: Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin on his heels. But Hamlin simply could not get enough juice to overpower the No. 54 Toyota that Kurt was piloting. When all was said and done, Hamlin lost by a few feet. Kurt would then win and set a record by winning in the same weekend and on the same track where his brother won in the Sprint Cup races and he won in Nationwide.
”This is the most emotional I’ve ever been for a win,” Kyle Busch expressed to the media following the race, and regarding his brother’s big win and his big win taking place on the same weekend. ”I’m not sure how we’ll run past this, but I don’t care. Tonight is the night.”
Get up to date on the NASCAR Nationwide schedule – the action resumes this weekend in Talladega, where every driver wants to prevent a brother winning repeat that occurred and set a record last weekend at the Richmond Motor Speedway.
WATCH: Busch Brothers Press Conference
Watch the emotion pour out as the Busch brothers recant their historical double header weekend in NASCAR that notched them a twin pair of victories. It’s a press conference for the ages. And both the brothers get a little bit teary as they recall the fight they have been embattled with in a slow start this season, capped off by exceptional wins by them both on the same motor speedway…during the same weekend.
After feeling like he was trailing No. 56 all day long last weekend – at the stockcar racing Sprint Cup event, the STP 400 at Kansas Speedway – Hamlin decided to take matters into his own hands. Right as the sun came out, almost in a fated shining on the track, Hamlin shone. He zipped ahead and stole the lead away from a dominate Martin Truex Jr. during the final laps of the race. A stunned Truex was unable to reclaim his lost lead.
“I felt all day I was behind the 56 and his car looked so superior to the whole field, and we just needed some kind of change — the weather, an adjustment — to make something happen,” Hamlin told the press following the big win at Kansas. “And we got both of them!”
To Truex’s credit, he did lead for an impressive 173 laps. But it all comes down to that final lap in stockcar racing. Yet again he had to take home a second place finish, and just be happy that he had another top-5. The race marked 175 winless races in the Sprint Cup for Truex Jr. Hamlin, however, now has two wins on the season and sits in the top five in the standings.
Now on to Richmond where his Joe Gibbs Racing team enters confidently; Hamlin has won twice in 12 starts there.
Check out the current Sprint Cup Standings. Hamlin sits in 5th place now, up one position. Greg Biffle Still is still in the top slot as we head to week 9 in the Sprint Cup Schedule.
WATCH: Denny Hamlin Takes The Win At Kansas
Who better to get you all caught up on the latest happenings in stockcar racing than the good folks over at ESPN? We took a look around and found this recap video on YouTube. It features an in-depth recanting of the events that transpired at Kansas last week with expert commentary like you have grown to expect. Stay abreast of the action by recapping week 8 in NASCAR.
“We did a great job,” seems like the appropriate connotation for Keselowski to sum up his close loss to James Buescher. And for Buescher, he had an uncanny day at the Kansas Speedway racing track. Actually, it was his best day of racing in the NASCAR World Camping Truck Series in 76 attempts. That’s how many tries it has taken him to win his first truck event; he’s been racing in this series since he was 18-years-old.
But last weekend, the stars were shining on Buescher. Coming out of a late race knot, where he was tandem with Brad Keselowski, Buescher managed to take the lead as the final ten lap countdown began. He would not give it up again to Keselowski again. And he finally got to the feel the victory lane kiss on his cheek, got a taste of bubbly, and basked in the confetti. Suiting celebratory efforts for your first Camping win…indeed.
“We did a great job, my team did, of capitalizing on pit strategy,” Keselowski express to the press post-race. “We needed a little more speed to run with James, who was just lightning quick.”
And lightning quick he was. He led for the most laps, kept vets off his heels all day. And it paid off in spades with his first win in this series of events.
Quick Kansas Speedway Racing Track Facts:
Check out the latest NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Standings. After winning last weekend at Kansas, Buescher is in second, only four points back from Timothy Peters.
WATCH: 2012 SFP 250 – James Buescher Wins
If you were not able to tune into the truck action last weekend, worry not. This video will get you all caught up on anything that you missed in a few minutes. It features highlights, commentary and all of the goodies that you want to know. The Camping World Truck series resumes again on May 21st at Charlotte.
As it turns out, the sun is good for Denny Hamlin and three time Super Bowl winning former NFL coach, team owner, Joe Gibbs. Because once the sun came out last weekend at the STP 400 on the Kansas Speedway racing track, it was game over for other drivers.
“They didn’t panic,” Joe Gibbs said after the race. “They paced themselves, and I’m glad the sun stayed out a little at the end.”
Once the sun dawned on the speedway racing track – during the final laps – it was nearly like the losing beckon for Martin Truex Jr., who had put on a show of force by leading the race for 173 laps that day. Hamlin saw his in, he took the lead, and he fended off Truex Jr. and crossed the finish line first. For Truex Jr., it’s another winless race; 175 Sprint Cup races and counting without a win. For Hamlin, he’s got two wins on the season and 19 career victories now.
Quick Kansas Speedway Racing Track Facts:
Take a look at the current Sprint Cup Standings. Hamlin is now in 5th place, up one spot from last week. Greg Biffle Still dominates the top slot as week 9 in the Sprint Cup Schedule arrives this week in Richmond.
WATCH: Hamlin Makes NASCAR History At Kansas
Not only was this win a pivotal win for Denny Hamlin last weekend, but it also set history for his Toyota car, which has 199 wins in its tenured history in NASCAR since it became a part of the races in 2007. This video recaps the action from last week at the Kansas Speedway racing track with all of the information that you want to know as we head into week 9 at Richmond.
The speedway racing track that comprises Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) does not leave much room for erroneous on the track errors by driver in contention. In fact, this 1 ½ mile oval track is one of the more challenging short racks on the Nationwide schedule. If the short aprons are not intimidating enough, one can rest assured that the 24-degree high-banked turns and odd elevations, combined with straight-to-turn action will challenge even the most confident of professional drivers. For Ricky Stenhouse Jr., he proved he still has grit that carried over from last season, and notched the fourth win in a row for his Roush Fenway racing team at Texas last weekend.
Reflecting off lessons that he learned from last year, Stenhouse Jr. remains humbled.
It’s all about: “Just being patient,” he explained. “Making sure we put ourselves in a position to get the most points we could at the end of the race.”
Patience indeed. With six laps remaining in a late race restart, Stenhouse Jr. was seemingly content to wait around all day for his window of opportunity. Then it arrived. He swooped past Denny Hamlin and held on for the remaining laps, earning his second win of the year (he only had two wins in all of last year). And, of course, he also was presented with the coveted Cowboy Hat at the Texas Motor Speedway Victory Lane.
“It builds confidence in me that I can go out and do that,” said Stenhouse to the media following the race. “We’ve just got to do that and stay consistent. We’ve just got to keep it up.”
Get current on the NASCAR Nationwide Standings. Elliot Sadler holds the first place slot just four points off from second place is Stenhouse Jr. at 247 points.
Stenhouse probably isn’t Irish. And this was not really luck. But he’ll still take the win.
WATCH: Stenhouse Jr. Takes Home Win at Nationwide in Texas
While the lights had some problems staying on throughout the race, they did not halt it for that long when compared to other races this year like Daytona. After a late race restart that included the final six laps, Stenhouse was able to gain a cushion on Denny Hamlin. He would head home with the win in hand, the fourth in a row for Roush Fenway at the Texas Speedway racing track.
Winning is certainly not everything, but it’s nearly that. For Greg Biffle – who overcame Jimmie Jonson’s 130 leading laps last weekend at the Texas speedway racing track in 234 record laps of green flag racing – and who notched his first win here since 2005, marking his fifth top-five finish this year, his 17th career victory, not to mentioned snapping the 49-race losing streak for his Roush Fenway Racing team – it has got to be the end-all be-all. It’s also something that has secured his 1st place standings in the Sprint Cup two weeks and running, and it ensures that he enters week 8 a cozy 19 points up from the rest of the NASCAR pack when the racing continues in Kansas this weekend.
“It feels good to go on vacation being the point leader,” Biffle said after the April 1 race in Virginia at the speedway racing track there. But who could have guessed that he would be the leader in the standings following the resumption of the events after the customary week long pause during spring for NASCAR.
By his own words, Biffle has to be ecstatic. Following the race at Martinsville two weeks ago, he offered this adulation: “You’re never happy unless you win or you’re winning. I don’t mean happy as you’re not satisfied, but you’re going to continue to work hard, or harder, be aggressive, until you win,” said Biffle, who would go on to prove that by cutting his teeth for the first time since 2005 at the Texas speedway racing track the week after by earning his 17th career victory overall.
And there you have it folks: the big win at Texas speedway racing track has enabled Roush Fenway Racing to enjoy three different things:
WATCH: Greg Biffle Wins 2012 Samsung Mobile 500
This video, courtesy of the Texas speedway racing track via their YouTube Channel, depicts the awe-inspiring win by Greg Biffle last weekend as NASCAR resumed from the one week Easter pause. Relive the intensity of this race and see how stunned Biffle is in the Victory Lane after securing the top slot in the Sprint Cup thus far. It’s NASCAR at its very finest folks.
A father – and veteran of the speedway racing tracks – often knows best. For Ward Burton, it’s got to be a life changing experience to go from having your wife and child talking to you in the radio about how you are doing on the speedway racing track in any given race, to going to having to talk to your child on the radio with your wife next to you as you both hold your breath and hope for the best.
“He told me on the radio, ‘Ride in the back and watch them wreck,’” Ward told the press following the race about the irony of reversing roles with his son after being the one in the cockpit for 13 seasons of NASCAR. “And then at the last restart, he said, ‘OK dad, now it’s time to go. You can’t be dilly-dallying around any longer.’”
And Jeb was certain to heed his own advice. Late into the race, he would be spun out and forced to make a pit entry due to a multiple car collision on the track. For most rookies, this more than likely would end the day (just ask Danica Patrick). For Jeb, he regained his composure, made a brief pit stop and got on the track.
His quick thinking netted him a top-15 finish in his very first national race. Jeb will be seen in four other stockcar racing events this year to top out his 2012 as part of his five race sponsorship deal with State Water Heaters.
WATCH: Crashes at Martinsville Claim Five Drivers at Once
Jeb Burton’s NASCAR debut in the World Camping Truck Series at the Martinsville Speedway Racing Track was not without its fair share of stockcar action. In fact, after completing about 213 laps, the rookie’s truck was involved in a multiple car collision that took out five drivers for a few laps, including Jeb Burton, Max Gresham, Miguel Pauldo, John King and Parker Kilgerman. Burton would later come back to finish in an impressive 13th place, in spite of being taken out late in the race.
The speedway racing tracks that you love to attend are not impervious to playing detriment to our fragile ecosystem and environment. As a matter of fact, when compared to any other professional sport on the planet, NASCAR is the most impactful with regard to how it can negatively affect earth. While some may think that considering any sort of green prospects in a sport that is powered by combusting fossil fuels would be nothing shy of mollycoddling, Mike Lynch, managing director of NASCAR Green Innovation, has been heading up the efforts to go green at NASCAR since 2008, and ascertains it is possible, while reminding fans that great efforts and accolades have been achieved within this undertaking already.
Green is Popular at Speedway Racing Tracks
You might be wondering just what efforts that NASCAR has made to propel stockcar racing out of its current lambasting by eco activists and into the limelight of a more green enterprise, while working with more than 400 sponsors, natheless.
WATCH: Energy Now Reports on Corn-Powered Speedway Racing Tracks
Could NASCAR be ultimately using corn fuel (ethanol) to power the racecars that create the excitement of pack fury on its speedway racing tracks? That’s the question that is asked and answered in this documentary video that was created by Energy Now. Correspondent Lee Patrick Sullivan examines the impact of corn fuel and its arrival in the sport, what drivers and teams are using it, and their thoughts on how it fits into the stockcar agenda. She also takes a look at a green fuel plant in the US, how the fuel is made, and why it’s safer for our environment.
Perhaps Ryan Newman’s big win at the Martinsville Speedway Racing Track last weekend can’t be entirely attributed to his calm demeanor inside of the cockpit. And then, again, it’s the patience and driving skills like this that have made some of the NASCAR legends, well, legendary.
Partially, his win at Martinsville can be credited to the resounding “boom” by Clint Bowyer. When only two laps remained in the race, Bowyer accidentally took out Gordon and Johnson, the race leaders at the time, allowing Newman to slide into first place and hold off AJ Allmendinger for the final two laps for a first place finish and victory lane run.
As for his cool composure in the NASCAR pocket, Newman saw his chance for glory, and he went with it. It’s not every day that you get a chance to overtake two veterans like Gordon and Johnson and steal away their Sprint Cup hopes during race six. And for this day, it was all Newman’s to bask in.
“We were not a dominant race car,” Newman humbly recalled of his come-from-behind and daring move to finish in first place. “Clint kind of cleared out Turn 1 for us and we were fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time.”
In the end, Newman won, aiding Hendrick Motorsports in gaining their 200th team victory. The upcoming Samsung Mobile 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway racing track (April 14th) will present another opportunity for Hendrick to make history with win No. 201. Until then, it’s all about Newman for now, and his Hendrick Team.
WATCH: Official NASCAR Footage: Final Laps from the Outback to Victory Lane
Footage does not get any better than this when you are trying to see the final exciting laps that marked Ryan Newman’s first impressive win at the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 in Martinsville. Watch as the expert team over at NASCAR delivers the final laps replete with all of that stats, comments and analysis that you have grown to expect. After two restarts marred the pack action, Newman found grace and pulled ahead for the big win.
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