April 2010

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By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(April 9, 2010)

AVONDALE, Ariz.—Surging to the front after a restart with eight laps left in Friday night’s Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix International Raceway, Kyle Busch overcame a potentially devastating penalty with 50 laps left to post his second Nationwide Series win of the year and the 32nd of his career, third most all-time.

Busch restarted 10th on Lap 193 of 200 at the 1-mile track. By Lap 195 he had gained second position, and on Lap 196 he passed eventual third-place finisher Brad Keselowski for the lead.

Kevin Harvick passed Keselowski and came home second. Brendan Gaughan ran fourth and Greg Biffle fifth. Polesitter Carl Edwards, Paul Menard, Scott Lagasse Jr., Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Joey Logano completed the top 10.

Keselwski took the lead in the series standings by four points over Edwards.

Logano led at the final restart but fell back through the field after sustaining damage from contact with Busch’s car on pit road on Lap 191.

“Man, this car was pretty awesome tonight,” Busch said. “It was super, super fast. Hopefully, that was an exciting win for the fans. I don’t know how we could have made it any better of a show right there.”

Busch led the field to a restart on Lap 137 from the outside lane, but Keselowski nosed ahead before the cars reached the start-finish line. Cars in the outside lane stacked up behind Busch, triggering a 10-car wreck that necessitated a stoppage of nearly 10 minutes, as track workers cleaned up the debris.

NASCAR ruled that Busch failed to restart the race in the designated area between two red lines on the frontstretch wall and awarded the top position to Keselowski. On the subsequent restart on Lap 145, NASCAR posted Busch’s No. 18 Toyota for a pass-through penalty for jumping the restart.

The penalty dropped Busch to 19th in the running order, 20 seconds behind Keselowski. Over the next 38 laps, Busch improved to 11th before NASCAR called a caution for debris on Lap 188.

“All I know is I paid NASCAR back by winning,” Busch said.

Busch dominated early, having led 96 laps by the time Steve Wallace blew a right front tire on Lap 111 and bounced his No. 66 Toyota into the No. 01 Chevrolet of his uncle, Mike Wallace, to cause the fourth caution of the race.

In fact, the only segment of the race Busch didn’t lead resulted from an out-of-sequence pit stop on Lap 17. Keselowski inherited the top spot for 15 laps, but Clint Bowyer stalled in Turn 1 to bring out the second caution, and Busch regained the lead by remaining on the track.

Bowyer replaced John Wes Townley in Richard Childress Racing’s No. 21 Chevrolet after Townley wrecked the car in Friday morning’s Nationwide practice session.

Townley, 20, crashed hard into the outside wall at the 1-mile track. Bowyer subsequently qualified a backup car 21st for Friday night’s race.

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1 43 A J Allmendinger Valvoline Ford
2 82 Scott Speed Red Bull Toyota
3 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Mobil 1 Dodge
4 47 Marcos Ambrose Kingsford / Bush’s Baked Beans Toyota
5 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard / AMP Energy Chevrolet
6 20 Joey Logano The Home Depot Toyota
7 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet
8 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Auto Parts Toyota
9 99 Carl Edwards SUBWAY Ford
10 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Chevrolet
11 14 Tony Stewart Office Depot / Old Spice Chevrolet
12 66 Michael McDowell PRISM Motorsports Toyota
13 1 Jamie McMurray Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Chevrolet
14 39 Ryan Newman Tornados Chevrolet
15 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet
16 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet
17 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Toyota
18 87 Joe Nemechek Petsmart / 21st Century Toyota
19 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge
20 9 Kasey Kahne Budweiser Ford
21 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota
22 12 Brad Keselowski Abyss Dodge
23 5 Mark Martin GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
24 29 Kevin Harvick Shell / Pennzoil Chevrolet
25 33 Clint Bowyer Cheerios / Hamburger Helper Chevrolet
26 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Office / March of Dimes Toyota
27 17 Matt Kenseth No. 17 Crown Royal Black Ford
28 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet
29 6 David Ragan UPS Ford
30 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford
31 55 Dave Blaney PRISM Motorsports Toyota
32 98 Paul Menard Moen / Menards Ford
33 7 Robby Gordon Blake Shelton / Warner Music Nashville
34 13 Max Papis GEICO Toyota
35 90 Scott Riggs Keyed-Up Motorsports Chevrolet
36 37 David Gilliland Taco Bell Ford
37 35 Johnny Sauter Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet
38 19 Elliott Sadler Stanley Ford
39 00 David Reutimann Best Western Toyota
40 71 Bobby Labonte TRG Motorsports Chevrolet
41 34 Travis Kvapil Long John Silver’s Ford
42 38 Kevin Conway # Extenze Ford
43 46 Terry Cook # Whitney Motorsports Dodge

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (April 7, 2010) – Carl Edwards and Elliott Sadler will each make milestone NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts this Saturday night, in the Subway Fresh Fit 600 at Phoenix International Raceway.
Edwards will make his 200th NASCAR Sprint Cup start, and Elliott Sadler will make No. 400.
Edwards has enjoyed success in his short time racing at NASCAR’s top level. Through the first 199 races, Edwards has 16 wins, 61 top fives and 102 top 10s.
In the modern era (since 1972), seven drivers have won more races by their 200th start than Edwards: Jeff Gordon (45); Jimmie Johnson (27); Darrell Waltrip (25); Davey Allison* (19); Tony Stewart (19); Rusty Wallace (18); and Bill Elliott (17). (*Note: Davey Allison won his 19 races in 191 career starts.)
Though still seeking a championship, Edwards has come close. He has made the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in four of his five full-time seasons, missing only in 2006.
Edwards was the championship runner-up in 2008, and finished third in 2005.
Below is a timeline of some of Edwards’ career highlights on his way to 200 starts:
1 – Edwards’ first start came at Michigan on August 22, 2004. He finished 10th that race, the last driver to earn a top-10 finish in his first start.
14 – On Feb. 20, 2005, Edwards competed in his first career Daytona 500, finishing 12th.
17 – Edwards won his first series race, edging Jimmie Johnson at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 20, 2005. The margin of victory that race – .028 seconds – is tied for 12th closest since the inception of timing and scoring in May of 1993.
47 – Edwards nabbed consecutive victories for the first time in his career. Start No. 46 was a victory at Atlanta, his first season sweep (Edwards has two sweeps in his career, the second at Texas Motor Speedway in 2008). Start No. 47 was a win at Texas.
109 – Edwards nabbed the coveted “Bristol Night Race” checkered flag for the first time on August 25, 2007. He won that race again in 2008.
157 – Edwards logged his series-high ninth win in 2008 at the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The victory wasn’t enough to catch champion Jimmie Johnson, as Edwards came up 69 points short in the final series standings.
Sadler’s career began with two races in 1998, before joining the series full-time in 1999. A member of the inaugural Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup class in 2004, that season was also his best career year. In 2004, Sadler had two wins, eight top fives and 14 top 10s – all career highs.
Below is a timeline of some of Sadler’s career highlights:
1 – Sadler’s first race is also the sport’s longest: the Coca-Cola 600. On May 24, 1998, Sadler finished 42nd.
75 – Sadler nabbed his first career win, on March 25, 2001 at Bristol Motor Speedway, driving for the legendary Wood Brothers. He led 70 laps in the event.
184 – Sadler’s second win came at Texas Motor Speedway on April 4, 2004, leading 48 laps.
202 – At Auto Club Speedway on Sept. 5, 2004, Sadler won his third, and most recent, race. He led 59 laps in the event.