August 2009

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NSCS Recap: Hamlin Captures Emotional Pocono Victory
Denny Hamlin wins Pocono(Photo Credit: CIA Stock Photo)
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

LONG POND, Pa.— As it turned out, Denny Hamlin was right … but not without a struggle, and not without a heavy heart.

Having said Friday that he expected to win the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway, Hamlin charged to the front from the sixth position with 13th laps left in Monday’s rain-postponed race and ended a 50-race drought in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series.

After beating Juan Pablo Montoya to the checkered flag by .869 seconds, Hamlin wept in victory lane, overcome with emotion in the aftermath of the recent deaths of his grandmother, Thelma Clark, and the mother of tire specialist Patrick Mullen at Joe Gibbs Racing.

“We’ve come close in a lot of races this year and come up short,” said Hamlin, who led a race-high 91 laps. “Definitely had some angels with us today. Patrick’s mom passed away—our tire guy—a couple weeks ago and my grandmother a few days ago.

Continue reading “Race Recap: Denny Hamlin takes Pocono”

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RACE RECAP | POCONO
Denny Hamlin10 Tony Stewart coming from the back of the pack
9 Kurt Busch
8 Jeff Gordon
7 Mark Martin
6 Brian Vickers
5 Kasey Kahne
4 Sam Hornish Jr. best career Cup Series finish
3 Clint Bowyer much needed solid run
2 Juan Pablo Montoya best finish of the year

VICTORY LANE

1 Denny Hamlin breaks a 50 race winless streak and grabs his first win of the 2009 season. This is Hamlin’s first victory since Martinsville Speedway back in March 2008. It’s Denny’s 3rd career Pocono win. It was an emotional victory lane for Hamlin, whose grandmother passed away this week.

Tony Stewart came in with a tire problem early in the race, but recovered

Jimmie Johnson lost engine power at lap 105, changed the carburetor and spark plugs going 3 laps down, but in true #48 fashion they amazingly finished 13th.

Robby Gordon and David Stremme were each held 5 laps after scuffling on the race track

Kyle Busch bounced off the wall with 27 laps to go, but still finished 16th

Denny Hamlin hooked David Reutimann, and wrecked Marcos Ambrose in the process.

A big wreck with 20 laps to go, involved were Reed Sorenson, Bobby Labonte, Joey Logano, Michael Waltrip and Jeff Burton which seemed to be triggered from David Ragan

Big crowd despite the Monday rain delayed race

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By Tim Tuttle
Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

Ron Hornaday wins 5th in a rowGLADEVILLE, Tenn. — Ron Hornaday Jr. moved higher into the NASCAR record book alongside some famous company Saturday in the Toyota Tundra 200, becoming the third driver to win five straight races in a national series and the first in 38 years.

Horanday joined Richard Petty and Bobby Allison, who both did it in 1971 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, in a tie for second on the all-time consecutive win list. Petty holds the all-time record with 10 straight in 1967 in the Cup series.

“That’s unheard of (five straight) in this time and age,” Hornaday said. “Five, can you believe that?”

Hornaday led 115 of 154 laps in the Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet. It was his sixth victory of the season and 45th of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career, first on the all-time list.

It was Hornaday’s first win in 13 NASCAR races at the 1.33-mile concrete-surfaced track, five in trucks and eight in the Nationwide Series. He has long coveted winning Nashville’s trademark trophy, a Gibson guitar painted by artist Sam Bass.

Continue reading “Ron Hornaday wins 5th in a row”

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RACE RECAP | IOWA SPEEDWAY
Brad Keselowski10 Stephen Leicht
9 Scott Lagasse Jr.
8 Michael McDowell
7 Kenny Wallace
6 Jason Keller
5 Kelly Bires 2nd top 5 this season
4 Carl Edwards 3rd straight top 5
3 Jason Leffler
2 Kyle Busch 9th straight top 2 finish

1 VICTORY LANE
Brad Keselowski grabs his second win this season and goes in the history books as the first winner at Iowa Speedway for the Nationwide Series

Brad pockets an extra $75,000 from the Nationwide Series Dash 4 Cash program, making this the single biggest payday in series history.

There was a massive crowd of 60,000 on hand to see this inaugural event, the place is listed to have only 25,000 seats, so they added more than double the amount of temporaries in place.