October 2010

on

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(October 16, 2010)

CONCORD, N.C.—Bring on Martinsville.

Jamie McMurray cleared Kyle Busch off Turn 2 after a restart on Lap 314 and pulled away from Busch to win Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, site of McMurray’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory in 2002.

Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup leader Jimmie Johnson and second-place Denny Hamlin, however, both dodged trouble and finished third and fourth, respectively, to set up a showdown Oct. 24 at Martinsville, a short track the two drivers have dominated the past four years.

Together, Johnson and Hamlin have won the past eight races at the .526-mile speedway, Hamlin the last two. Hamlin enters the sixth race in the Chase 41 points behind the four-time defending series champion.

McMurray won for the third time this season, the second time at Charlotte and the sixth time in his career, completing unfinished business from the Coca-Cola 600 in May, when he ran second to Kurt Busch.

Greg Biffle finished fifth, and Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, David Reutimann and David Ragan completed the top 10.

Fighting a loose handling condition, Johnson looped his No. 48 Chevrolet off Turn 4 on Lap 34. On Lap 38, he restarted 37th but gradually moved to the front. Ultimately, Johnson regained track position when he stayed out under caution on Lap 128—while most of the lead-lap cars came to the pits.

Johnson restarted fifth on Lap 132 and worked his way up to third during a long cycle of green-flag pit stops that ended on Lap 179. A caution for Marcos Ambrose’s spin off Turn 4 put all the lead-lap cars back on the same pit sequence and solidified Johnson’s position in the top five.

Hamlin dodged a Lap 2 wreck but brought his No. 11 Toyota to the pits with flat-spotted tires. Like Johnson, Hamlin restarted from the back of the field and patiently worked his way forward.

Busch, who finished 1.866 seconds behind McMurray, led 165 of the 334 laps. McMurray led 44 laps and Johnson 15.

on

1 27 1 Jamie McMurray Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Chevrolet
2 6 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Toyota
3 10 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet
4 23 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota
5 22 16 Greg Biffle Scotch Blue Ford
6 17 17 Matt Kenseth Crown Royal Black Ford
7 12 20 Joey Logano Home Depot Toyota
8 24 29 Kevin Harvick Shell / Pennzoil Chevrolet
9 16 00 David Reutimann Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota
10 26 6 David Ragan UPS Ford
11 34 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet
12 2 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford
13 32 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet
14 4 5 Mark Martin GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
15 13 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA / Susan G. Komen Toyota
16 14 47 Marcos Ambrose Lance / Tom’s Toyota
17 20 33 Clint Bowyer Cheerios / Hamburger Helper Chevrolet
18 7 83 Reed Sorenson Red Bull Toyota
19 21 82 Scott Speed Red Bull Toyota
20 18 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet
21 29 14 Tony Stewart Old Spice / Office Depot Chevrolet
22 30 10 Bobby Labonte Gander Mountain Outdoors Chevrolet
23 1 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Chevrolet
24 5 98 Paul Menard Schrock / Menards Ford
25 3 43 A J Allmendinger WIX Filters Ford
26 9 19 Elliott Sadler Stanley Ford
27 31 12 Brad Keselowski Penske Dodge
28 36 38 David Gilliland Taco Bell Ford
29 8 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. AMP Energy / National Guard Chevrolet
30 15 2 Kurt Busch Operation Home Front / Miller Lite Dodge
31 42 34 Travis Kvapil Long John Silver’s Ford
32 41 37 Dave Blaney Andy Griffith Show 50th Anniversary Ford
33 39 7 Robby Gordon ExtenZe Toyota
34 38 71 Andy Lally ModSpace Chevrolet
35 37 21 Bill Elliott JDRF / Motorcraft / Quick Lane Ford
36 11 39 Ryan Newman Haas Automation Chevrolet
37 35 26 Patrick Carpentier Air Guard Ford
38 25 9 Kasey Kahne Budweiser Ford
39 33 46 Michael McDowell Conely for School Board/Whitney’s Collision Chevrolet
40 19 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Mobil 1 Dodge
41 43 64 Jeff Green Little Joe’s Autos Toyota
42 28 09 Landon Cassill Phoenix Construction / Graceway Chevrolet
43 40 36 J J Yeley Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet

on

Race Recap | Charlotte
10 David Ragan
9 David Reutimann
8 Kevin Harvick
7 Joey Logano
6 Matt Kenseth
5 Greg Biffle
4 Denny Hamlin is now 41 points behind Johnson
3 Jimmie Johnson 4th straight top 3 after spinning his car early on
2 Kyle Busch led the most laps

VICTORY LANE

1 Jamie McMurray picks up his third win of the season, 2nd at this track, 6th career win, the first non-chase driver to win at Charlotte since the Chase began. In fact he’s the only non-chase driver to win another time at Talladega.

OTHER STORIES ON THE DAY

On lap 2 Ryan Newman went for a wild ride spinning on his own. Tony Stewart got damage to the right rear of his 14 machine. Denny Hamlin flat spotted his tires.

Kurt Busch spun in turn 4

Jimmie Johnson spun the 48 in turn two

Jeff Gordon lost all power and went a lap down. Battery/Alternator

Marcos Ambrose spun, Jimmie Johnson lost 4 spots in the pits to Kyle Busch

On lap 88 Jeff Burton went for a wild ride hitting his teammate Clint Bowyer

on

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(October 15, 2010)

CONCORD, N.C.—New rubber. Old rubber. It didn’t matter to Brad Keselowski, who ran the final 56 laps of Friday night’s Dollar General 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race on his last set of tires.

Track position, however, proved far more important at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where Keselowski picked up his first NASCAR Nationwide Series win at the 1.5-mile track, his fifth victory of the season and the 11th of his career.

Martin Truex Jr. ran second, followed by Justin Allgaier, Joey Logano and polesitter Clint Bowyer, whose winning chances disappeared with a pit-road speeding penalty on his last stop. Kyle Busch, Reed Sorenson, Aric Almirola, Ryan Newman and Kevin Harvick completed the top 10.

Keselowski widened his lead in the NASCAR Nationwide standings to 450 points over 13th-place finisher Carl Edwards.

“I might be biased, but I thought that was the best race I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Keselowski, who has won two of the four races in the new NASCAR Nationwide car this year. “And I was driving the car, so I can imagine what the fans saw—that was awesome.

“The decision to stay out … we had pitted just five laps before the yellow came out (on Lap 154) and felt really good about it. I knew that Paul (Wolfe), my crew chief, had made an adjustment right there at the end, on the last stop, and my car was just flying.

“We quite honestly weren’t very good on test day (Wednesday) and wasn’t very good the first half of the race, and I’ve got to give credit to Paul. That guy’s amazing. He gave me the car I needed to win with at the end. This Challenger flew.”

Keselowski’s ploy to stay out on old tires after the caution on Lap 154 paid immediate dividends. The driver of the No. 22 Dodge opened a lead of almost a second over Truex before Brian Scott’s spin through the frontstretch grass caused the seventh caution of the race on Lap 182.

On Lap 183, Harvick and Edwards pitted for fresh tires—from fifth and sixth, respectively—and restarted 11th and 12th on Lap 187, but the new tires failed to provide the desired advantage. The green-flag run was short-lived, however, as Steve Wallace turned across the nose of Trevor Bayne’s No. 17 Ford on Lap 188 and slammed into the backstretch wall.

Keselowski led the field to a restart with eight laps remaining and pulled away to beat Truex to the finish line by 1.137 seconds.

Notes: Danica Patrick posted a career-best 21st-place finish in her ninth NASCAR Nationwide start. … The Charlotte race was the fourth and final event with the NASCAR Nationwide Series new car this year, before it’s phased in full time in 2011.