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Filed under: Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

Four NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers are hovering at or near 13th place in the points standings, hoping to claw their way up into the 12-driver Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff beginning Sept. 19 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Don't shift to the edge of your seat just yet, however. With two races to go before the Chase cutoff, all four drivers -- Jamie McMurray (at left in photo), Mark Martin, Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne -- are just too far back to have a reasonable chance at catching up.

It's not impossible, mind you. But if any of them do it, they will set a record for emerging from the deepest points hole ever to make the Chase.

Clint Bowyer (at right in photo) is on the bubble in 12th, and he won't be breathing easy for the next couple of weeks, even though he can take some comfort in the relatively large size of his 100-point lead over McMurray. Martin is 101 points back, while Newman trails by 118 points. Kasey Kahne, in 16th place, is 136 points behind Bowyer and realistically has no chance at all.

'Well, it's a little bit of a cushion," Bowyer said after finishing fourth at Bristol in the most recent Sprint Cup race. "But we've just got to keep doing what we're doing. If we do that, I don't think they can catch us. We've got two races to go. Two good race tracks -- I love Atlanta, run well there, and I love Richmond, run well there. With any luck at all, we'll be in this thing."

 

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Filed under: Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, NASCAR Fights, Nationwide Series, NASCAR

Kyle Busch dominated the Food City 250 Nationwide race at Bristol Friday night, surviving a tangle with Brad Keselowski and spinning him out in retaliation before going on to a victory by about 10 car lengths over Jason Leffler.

It was Busch's 10th victory of the season in 20 starts, tying a Nationwide record set by himself in 2008 and also by Sam Ard.

And judging from the boos of the crowd, it was one of the least popular wins of his love-to-be-hated career.

After winning the truck race here, Busch now has a chance to sweep all three Bristol races if he can win the Sprint Cup event Saturday night.

Behind Busch and Leffler, Elliott Sadler finished third, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Carl Edwards.

With about 40 laps to go in the 250-lap race, Busch caught up with Keselowski, who had taken the lead somewhat late in the race, and the two began battling side by side for the lead. Busch held the inside line and could get a nose ahead of Keselowski, but couldn't make it stick for several laps.

When he finally did get ahead, Keselowski hit the back of his car, nearly knocked Busch out of control and retook the lead.

 

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Filed under: Tony Stewart, Sprint Cup, Scott Speed, IRL, Indianapolis 500, NASCAR

Texas Motor Speedway announced Tuesday evening that it would host two NASCAR Sprint Cup races in 2011, including a night race in the spring, as well as the Firestone Twin 275s, an IndyCar doubleheader next June 11.

The speedway's first Cup event next year, the Samsung 500, will be April 7-9, climaxing with the speedway's first Saturday night Sprint Cup race ever on the evening of the 9th, a Saturday night.

The speedway's second Cup date, on Sunday Nov. 6, will once again give Texas the eighth race in the 10-race Chase to the Sprint Cup. The fall weekend also will feature NASCAR Truck Series and Nationwide Series races.

"Texas is perfect for a Chase market -- big, strong and bold," NASCAR Chairman Brian France told an audience of hundreds at the House of Blues in Dallas in an extravagant announcement ceremony.

Indy Racing League CEO Randy Bernard also was there to promote the first twin-race event in the IndyCar series since Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1981.

 

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Filed under: Ryan Newman, NASCAR Crashes, NASCAR Fights, Sprint Cup, Joey Logano, NASCAR

It looked like a heavyweight boxer eye-to-eye with a lightweight at the official weigh-in of a boxing match as stocky Ryan Newman faced down with skinny Joey Logano in the garage area of Michigan International Raceway after Newman drew the short stick in a racing encounter in the Carfax 400.

Logano was inside of Newman as they battled side by side for 15th place through turns three and four on lap 148. Logano's car became loose and began to wiggle and slide up toward Newman's car. Newman was almost past Logano's car when Logano's right front made contact with Newman's left rear, sending Newman for a long slide sideways through the turn.

Newman didn't hit anything, regained control and went to a 23rd place finish, while Logano finished 10th.

Afterwards, there they stood, face to face, with Newman on the offense, and clearly not liking the explanation he was hearing from Logano. Just a few feet away, a raft of cameramen recorded the encounter. As the discussion continued, Newman seemed to become more upset and at one point it almost seemed to get physical.

Seconds later, NASCAR officials stepped in and separated the drivers.

 

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Filed under: Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

Although the Chase to the Sprint Cup can and probably will be a completely new battle, points leader Kevin Harvick showed championship strength in winning the Carfax 400 Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.

Harvick battled past Denny Hamlin with 11 laps to go on the two-mile track and pulled away for his third victory of the year. In winning, Harvick also became the first driver to qualify for the Chase.

Harvick's margin over Hamlin at the end was 1.731 seconds. Carl Edwards finished third, followed by Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth.

"I can't believe I won at Michigan!" Harvick shouted over his radio as he took the checkered flag. "Great freakin' job, guys."

It was Harvick's first victory at Michigan, and the first at the two-mile track for car owner Richard Childress since Dale Earnhardt won in 1990.

 

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Filed under: Roush Fenway Racing, NASCAR

As Jack Roush made his final left turn on approach to Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wis., just before crash landing his jet on July 27, he appeared to overshoot the runway center line -- the first visible glitch in what turned out to be a disastrous landing, the National Transportation Safety Board revealed in its preliminary report on the crash.

Roush suffered severe facial injuries in the crash of his Hawker Beechcraft model 390 (Premier IA) business jet, including a ruptured left eyeball that cost him the sight in that eye, and was hospitalized for more than two weeks. He was released Wednesday and returned to the track Friday for the weekend's races at Michigan International Speedway.

The preliminary report, a brief account of the facts gathered thus far, did not address the "conflict" with another plane that Roush has spoken of. It also did not detail the role or observations of air traffic controllers working the landing other than to note that they have been interviewed and the air traffic control audio tapes have been secured for further review. Normally, it takes the NTSB three or four months to determine a probable cause for an accident.

The NTSB said amateur video of the approach -- video that apparently has not yet become public -- showed that Roush made a "left base turn" on his final approach to the 8,002-foot runway 18R at Oskkosh.

Roush and his passenger, Brenda Strickland, who also received non-life threatening injuries in the crash, had left Willow Run Airport near Ypsilanti, Mich., at 5:29 p.m CDT, 47 minutes before the crash at 6:16 p.m. They were flying to Oshkosh to attend the Experimental Aircraft Association's Airventure 2010 fly-in convention. The weather was clear and Roush was flying under visual flight rules as he was cleared to land.

 

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Filed under: Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Nationwide Series, Danica Patrick, NASCAR

Brad Keselowski found a new way to avoid getting wrecked by Carl Edwards -- running away from him.

That's exactly what Keselowski did on the final restart with 10 laps to go in the Nationwide race at Michigan International Speedway Saturday.

Meanwhile, Danica Patrick struggled with a loose race car but finished the race in 27th place, four laps down.

Keselowski restarted the race in second, but leader Edwards chose the outside lane, and it was not the best choice. Keselowski ran hard and low into turn one on the inside, and by the time he emerged from turn two, he was well clear of his nemesis.

Two laps later, Keselowski was two-tenths of a second ahead, and he gradually stretched it out from there, beating Edwards by at least 30 car lengths.

"We just fought back from adversity with an awesome Dodge Challenger," Keselowski said in victory lane. "These new cars are sweet to drive and they're even better to drive when this Dodge Challenger is that fast."

 

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Filed under: Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR Tracks, NASCAR

In the midst of its first repaving job in 30 years, Daytona International Speedway found itself with a new president Friday when Robin Braig was suddenly replaced by Joie Chitwood III (right), namesake of the famous stunt driving family.

The speedway said that "effective immediately," Braig "will leave to pursue other opportunities."

Chitwood, 41, has been Vice President of Business Development for International Speedway Corporation, which owns the speedway and 12 other major tracks, since 2009. He was at Indy before that and previously was Vice President and General Manager of Raceway Associates, LLC, which oversaw construction and operation of the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., from 1999-2002.

Starting at age five, Chitwood performed in his family's motorsports entertainment business, the well-known Chitwood Thrill Show. His grandfather, Joie, who started the thrill show, competed in seven Indy 500s from 1940 to 1950.


"We are very fortunate to have a seasoned executive of Joie's proven ability to step into this important position as President of Daytona International Speedway," ISC's Chief Executive Officer Lesa France Kennedy said in a statement released by the speedway. "Joie is highly respected throughout the industry and brings a lifetime of motorsports entertainment experience to Daytona.

"I would also like to thank Robin for his passion and dedication to the speedway and to promoting motorsports. I wish him much success in his future endeavors."

Braig served as Daytona's president for seven years, replacing John Graham.

 

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Filed under: Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

Jack Roush said that the congestion at Whitman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wis., site of the Experimental Aircraft Association's annual AirVenture weekend, played a role in his July 27 crash there while he was landing his Premier Beechcraft jet, Mark Martin told the media Friday.

"I talked to Jack Sunday evening, and he's doing okay," Martin said during his press conference at Michigan International Speedway. "He, obviously, wanted to tell me the story about how the accident happened, and it was pretty much what I suspected immediately when I heard where and when it had happened. There was a conflict with traffic.

"Jack got in a situation where he thought, 'How am I going to get out of this without hitting somebody?' because of all the things that were going on, which is exactly what I thought would happen, because, you know, he's in a jet and there's some very small aircraft at different speeds and those kinds of things," Martin said. "And he just got in a situation where he was uncertain about how he was going to make it all work, got slow and tried to get slowed down and got a little too slow and whatever."

At Oshkosh during the AirVenture weekend, "they've got aircraft that are landing just nose to tail, and they might be landing on other runways, on taxiway. . . all this stuff simultaneously. It's not something you deal with under normal circumstances. Under normal circumstances, they're way spread apart and all of that stuff."

Roush was able to walk out of his badly damaged jet after the crash, but lost his left eye and suffered other severe facial injuries. He was hospitalized until Wednesday, but returned to the track Friday wearing sunglasses, which covered his stitched left eye.

Roush said Friday that he filed his accident report for the latest incident on Friday and according to ESPN, said he was put in conflict with the flight plan of another airplane close to the ground "and I was unable to address the conflict and keep the airplane flying."

"I ground-looped the airplane," ESPN quoted Roush as saying. "It wasn't something silly I was doing erratically or something else that you would say was risky or foolish. It just happened."

 

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Filed under: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR Tracks, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

Although 11 of the expected 36 NASCAR Sprint Cup dates in 2011 have yet to be announced, none of those slots appear to hold any surprises.

The Brickyard 400 date for 2011 has been confirmed as July 31 -- one week later than this year -- as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has begun selling tickets at its website.

The Indy confirmation leaves 11 dates remaining, but most are repeat dates from last year.

Texas Motor Speedway is publicizing a gala announcement of its 2011 schedule this coming Tuesday night at the House of Blues in Dallas, complete with NASCAR president Brian France, more than 1,000 fans and guests and a concert by "a well-known, Grammy-nominated, triple-platinum rock group."

But unless the speedway is switching to a Saturday night, there doesn't appear to be anything new to report about its Sprint Cup race dates.

 

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