STOCK CAR NEWS: September 2008

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

NASCAR Newscast: Chase Race 4 Talladega Preview

NSCS Recap: Johnson holds off Edwards' charge to take Chase lead

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- It was probably one of the most spectacular finishes in NASCAR history.

Carl Edwards made a suicide run into the third turn underneath race leader Jimmie Johnson. He was determined to win.

Unfortunately, Edwards ran out of track before running into the wall, struggled to maintain control and watched Johnson go back by him for the victory at Kansas Speedway.

A sellout crowd stood, cheering the last-lap, do-or-die antics of the hard-driving Edwards, even though his banzai run tactics didn't work.

Greg Biffle made a last-lap pass of Jeff Gordon for third position. Matt Kenseth was fifth after a day of struggles, and Kevin Harvick finished sixth. Jeff Burton was seventh, David Ragan eighth, AJ Allmendinger ninth and Elliott Sadler 10th.

It was another sad day for Kyle Busch, who encountered mechanical problems again and wound up 28th. Busch was never a factor.

It was Johnson who led most of the way. Edwards, however, was a contender throughout the race, having to fight his way back from 25th spot after a pit road accident sent him back in the field for a restart.

Johnson's win establishes him as the man to beat in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship since he has two Sprint Cups in his possession already, but Edwards and Biffle plan to give him all the competition he could ask for in the remaining seven races.

The three up-on-the-wheel drivers -- Johnson, Edwards and Biffle -- will wear out the gas pedal at Talladega next weekend if Sunday's race was an indication of what to expect.

Talladega is a wide-open, 2.6-mile, high-banked speed palace where drivers draft together in a 40-car swarm.

Sunday in Kansas, popular driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr., once again finished poorly in 13th position.

Under a steaming sun on a tacky track, two-time defending champion Johnson took the lead in his Lowe's Chevy and raced away from the field at the start.

Kenseth's yellow DeWalt Ford took over near the 20-lap mark with Martin Truex Jr. just behind. The rest of the field fanned out around the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway.

Truex passed Johnson at 30 laps for second spot. For the third race in a row, regular-season points leader Busch encountered some type of engine problem, dropping out of contention before 50 laps had been completed.

Busch established his Joe Gibbs Racing team as the favorite to win the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship with eight wins during the regular season. He started the Chase atop the standings but fell to 12th out of 12 after the Dover race last weekend. At the 60-lap point in Sunday's race, no relief seemed to be in sight as both Kyle and brother Kurt struggled near the back of the pack.

Once the first round of green-flag, pit stops were complete, Kenseth was back out front with Truex and Johnson behind. Rounding out the top 10 were Casey Mears, Gordon, Sadler, Allmendinger, Brian Vickers, Biffle and Ragan.

Vickers lost several positions due to a run-in with Edwards during the pit stops. Edwards clipped the rear of Vickers' Toyota as he entered his pit while Vickers was exiting his. Both cars suffered minor damage. The incident shuffled Edwards back to 25th.

Ryan Newman slid into the wall on the 74th lap bringing out the first caution flag of the day.

During this pit stop, several cars banged together when Dave Blaney pulled in front of others leaving his pit. Allmendinger's crew let a tire roll across pit road, costing him a bunch of track positions.

On the restart at lap 79, it was Mears, Truex, Gordon, Johnson, Biffle, Earnhardt, Sadler, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Sadler and Mark Martin.

Kyle Petty brought out a caution on lap 94, spinning off the track in Turn 3. After a restart with Mears in the lead, Johnson charged back to the front on lap 110.

Much-heralded rookie Joey Logano brought out a caution at lap 117 when he brushed the wall.

Once the green waved again, Truex was in front, Johnson, Bowyer, Biffle, Gordon, Jeff Burton, Earnhardt, Harvick, Sadler and Mears. Shortly after the restart, Kenseth lost control and spun but did not make contact with anything. Again on the restart, a spin brought the caution back out. Tony Stewart spun off the track after a brief on-track exchange with Vickers.

At the halfway point (134 laps), Johnson led with Truex and Biffle in tow. Gordon was fourth, Edwards fifth and Bowyer sixth. Earnhardt, Burton, Harvick and Mears were seventh through 10th.

Monday, September 22, 2008

NSCS Recap: Biffle stays unbeaten in Chase

Nascar Media.com:

DOVER, Del. -- Greg Biffle is up on the wheel. For the second consecutive week, Biffle outraced the field down the stretch and won the Camping World RV 400 Presented by AAA at Dover International Speedway.

Biffle, who ran with the leaders most of the day, turned up the adrenaline with 24 laps to go and dogged teammate Matt Kenseth for 15 laps before finally passing Kenseth with a eight laps remaining.

It was no-holds-barred, bare-knuckle racing at its best as Biffle tried to pass Kenseth lap after lap on the low side of the track. Kenseth kept fighting him off, and Biffle slipped to the outside lane. The two cars touched momentarily, and Biffle came out of the corner sideways, but in the lead.

Carl Edwards, who joined the free-for-all for several laps, eventually had to settle for third place. It was a 1-2-3 finish for Roush Fenway Racing.

Mark Martin was fourth in a Chevy, and two-time champion Jimmie Johnson was fifth.

Rounding out the top 10 were Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton and Michael Waltrip.

Eight of the top 10 finishers are competing in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship, excluding Martin and Waltrip.

Tony Stewart, another Chase contender, was 11th. Denny Hamlin wound up 38t,h and the favorite coming into the final 10-race Sprint Showdown, Kyle Busch, had another dismal day, finishing dead last, 43rd.

A splendid day for racing with balmy, tropical weather turned stormy for former champion Kurt Busch just a lap into the race. David Gilliland barely brushed the left rear of Busch, causing Busch's Dodge to slam the outside retaining wall. The action on the high-banked Dover Downs track -- dubbed the "Monster Mile" -- continued shortly after the restart.

Patrick Carpentier lost control of his Dodge in Turn 1, spinning out of control and nicking the fender of Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup contender Carl Edwards. Both cars, as well as Kurt Busch and Gilliland, were able to continue.

Jeff Gordon showed his pole speed out front with Hamlin, Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, Martin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., David Reutimann, Bowyer, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. in tow.

On lap 31, McMurray sped past Gordon for the lead and put a comfortable distance between himself and the rest of the field.

Joe Nemechek brought out another caution on lap 64 when his Chevy cut a right front tire and slammed the outside wall.

On the restart at lap 69, excellent pit work by his crew put Kenseth on the point, followed by Gordon, Martin, McMurray and Edwards. Rounding out the top 10 at the time were Reutimann, Johnson, Bowyer, Burton and Biffle.

McMurray chased Gordon down and passed him again on lap 83 for second place. Gordon dropped to fifth behind Kenseth, McMurray, Martin and Edwards.

Several notables had moved into contention shortly after 100 laps with Tony Stewart leading the way. Stewart raced from 33rd to 15th at 130 laps and Juan Pablo Montoya had moved from 35th to 17th.

Earnhardt brought out a caution on lap 141 when he lost control of what he termed "a loose race car" and did a solo spin down the front straightaway. Almost simultaneously, Kyle Busch's Toyota started spewing smoke, signaling the possibility of a rear end gear problem. When the green flag started them again on lap 148, it was Kenseth and Edwards up front, Martin, Gordon and Biffle just behind. Earnhardt and Kyle Busch were limping around the track in 22nd and 36th spots, respectively.

AJ Allmendinger's Toyota brought out another caution just a few laps later when he scraped the wall.

The fireworks continued shortly after the green flag when Robby Gordon slipped up into McMurray, who was passing Gordon's No. 7, a lap down, on the outside in Turns 3 and 4. The two cars made contact and spun. The accident ended McMurray's chances to win even though he continued in the race.

The top five remained the same with Kenseth on the point.

Sam Hornish Jr. brought out the seventh caution of the action-packed afternoon when he cracked the wall after being bumped from behind by another car.

The "Monster Mile" was certainly living up to its ugly reputation for wrecking cars.

During this caution period, Kyle Busch's car returned to the garage area to figure out what the problem was with his machine. Busch was the hottest driver on the circuit in the first two-thirds of the season, winning eight times to become the odds-on favorite in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship. He had problems at New Hampshire last week and fell out of the race. Sunday's problem put him in 12th place in the Chase standings, from first to last in two races.

Hornish, who had returned to the track, spun again on lap 187 to bring out another caution, the eighth of the race.

Johnson went to the front shortly before halfway when some teams stopped and some didn't during the flurry of caution-flag stops.

Ryan Newman was second with Dave Blaney third. Gordon was next with Montoya on his bumper, followed by Reutimann, Allmendinger, Hamlin, Edwards and David Gilliland. Kenseth had dropped back to 11th with Biffle 12th. The complexion of the race changed completely at this point, but Johnson and company still had 200 laps remaining.