NASCAR Issues Fines And Probation For Violations At Darlington Raceway
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (May 15, 2012) – NASCAR has fined Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 51 car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, $50,000 and placed him on NASCAR probation until July 25 for his actions during the May 12 race at Darlington Raceway.
Kurt Busch violated Section 12-1 (Actions detrimental to stock car racing; reckless driving on pit road during the race; involved in an altercation with another competitor after the completion of the race) of the 2012 NASCAR Rule Book. Additionally, Craig Strickler, a crew member for the No. 51 team, has been fined $5,000 and placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31 for violating Section 12-1 (Actions detrimental to stock car racing; interfering with a member of the broadcast media).
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Joey Logano pulls away at Darlington for second straight Nationwide win
May 11, 2012
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
DARLINGTON, S.C. — Joey Logano drove away from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin after a green-white-checkered-flag restart and won Friday night’s VFW Sport Clips 200 Nationwide Series event at Darlington Raceway.
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1 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Cargill Beef Ford 28.336 173.546
2 18 Denny Hamlin(i) SportClips Toyota 28.461 172.784
3 3 Austin Dillon # Advocare Chevrolet 28.483 172.650
4 54 Kurt Busch(i) Monster Energy Toyota 28.528 172.378
5 20 Joey Logano(i) Dollar General Toyota 28.532 172.354
6 2 Elliott Sadler OneMain Financial Chevrolet 28.604 171.920
7 11 Brian Scott Dollar General Toyota 28.641 171.698
8 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Alliance Truck Parts Dodge 28.698 171.357
9 38 Kasey Kahne(i) Great Clips Chevrolet 28.788 170.821
10 31 Justin Allgaier Brandt Chevrolet 28.884 170.253
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For Tony Stewart, it’s one track down and two to go.
The three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion entered the 2012 season winless at just three tracks on the current schedule: Darlington Raceway; Kentucky Speedway, which ran its inaugural event in 2011, and Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Scratch Las Vegas; Stewart won there in March leading a race-high 127 laps.
Darlington remains an uphill climb. Stewart owns just three top-five finishes in 19 previous starts. His Driver Rating of 88.1 is 11th best. He finished seventh, however, a year ago.
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Greg Biffle didn’t just dodge a bullet at Talladega. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader fired the gun.
Fifth-place wasn’t a win but it offers further proof that the standings leader since after race No. 3 in Las Vegas won’t relinquish his advantage easily. Not even to Roush Fenway Racing teammate and Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth, who jumped from fourth to second in the standings to trail by seven points as the series moves to Darlington.
Biffle and Talladega haven’t always been the best of friends. Biffle needed 13 trips to the 2.66-mile track to gather his first top-10. He crashed out of four of five races in 2006-08.
Things have changed – and how. Beginning with 2007, when he finished seventh and fourth, Biffle has finished seven consecutive races on the lead lap.
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by Dwight Drum at Racetake.com
NASCAR’s next big race, the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, is on the 1.366-mile oval steeped in stock car tradition on southern turf. The 25 degree banking on an egg-shaped track has challenged NASCAR drivers since 1950 and was a vision accomplished by owner Harold Brasington after attending the 1948 Indianapolis 500.
Long known as the “Lady in Black” and “The Track Too Tough to Tame”,the historic track is now a Mother’s Day destination in Darlington, S.C. for many racing families.
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5-Regan Smith’s Southern 500 Win
What Trevor Bayne began in February, Regan Smith continued in May. Smith entered Darlington Raceway’s SHOWTIME Southern 500 with a lean resume to say the least: no wins, top fives or top 10s in 104 NASCAR Sprint Cup starts. Smith, then 27, became the upset winner of NASCAR’s oldest “crown jewel.” He led just the final 11 laps and held off Carl Edwards by 0.196 seconds to give Furniture Row Racing – a team headquartered in Colorado – its first series victory.
