March 2011

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By Jared Turner
Special to the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

DARLINGTON, S.C.—Kasey Kahne did it again.

Making his first and possibly only Camping World Truck Series start of the year, Kahne cruised to a relatively comfortable win in Saturday’s Too Tough To Tame 200 at Darlington Raceway.

The victory made Kahne the first driver in the truck series to win three of his first four starts.

Second alongside Elliott Sadler on a restart with 53 laps to go, Kahne immediately dispatched of Sadler—who had taken two tires under the previous caution—and never trailed again.

Kahne held on through three more restarts, including a final one with three laps to go, to take the checkered flag ahead of four-time series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. and 2010 Darlington winner Todd Bodine. Matt Crafton and James Buescher completed the top five.

Kahne’s stiffest challenge over the final laps came from Bodine, who once moved alongside before getting loose and falling into the clutches of Hornaday.

“I gave it a shot and got sucked around and got loose and all that and finished third,” Bodine said.

Kahne, a full-time driver in the Sprint Cup Series since, scored truck wins at Darlington and Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2004 and finished second last year at Pocono Raceway.

Saturday marked Kahne’s second appearance in the Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota normally driven by team owner Kyle Busch, who was vacationing in Cancun.

“This is one of my favorite racetracks,” said Kahne, who qualified second and led four times for 95 of the 147 laps. “I’m really glad I came. I really enjoy driving this thing.”

Matt Crafton remained the series leader, stretching his advantage to six points on rookie Cole Whitt, who moved into second after three races. Whitt finished an impressive eighth after starting from the pole and leading twice for 30 laps before dropping back with a pit-road mistake and engine issue.

Whitt, 19, was making his fourth career truck series start, his first at Darlington.

“The track just kind of suited my driving style, and from the get-go we just kind of fell into the rhythm,” Whitt said.

The race was slowed by 10 cautions, including one for a three-truck wreck involving Johanna Long, Ricky Carmichael and Nelson Piquet Jr. that brought out the red flag for 7 minutes, 37 seconds.

Notes: Kahne’s margin of victory was 1.116 seconds. … Kahne, who started second, became the fourth winner to start inside the top five. Bodine started eighth last year, and Bobby Hamilton started 14th when he won in 2003. … Kahne’s three wins tie Rich Bickle, Andy Houston and Dave Rezendes for 27th on the all-time win list.

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If you would have asked Jeff Burton, driver of Richard Childress Racing’s No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, at the beginning of the 2011 season if he thought the first three races would bring him bad luck, his answer would have been ‘No.’ Same with crew chief Todd Berrier, director of competition Scott Miller and the entire Cat Racing team.

Unfortunately, it did. And, with those three races now in the record books, Burton heads to Bristol Motor Speedway, the site of the fourth race on the 2011 Sprint Cup Series schedule, 32nd in the championship point standings and with one thing on his mind – redemption.

The South Boston, Va., native started off the year with a win in the Duel 150 qualifying race at Daytona International Speedway that secured him and the No. 31 Caterpillar team the fourth starting spot for the 53rd running of the Daytona 500. But, that high soon led to the first of three lows.

After showcasing a strong and fast No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet during the first half of the Great American Race and leading a total of five laps on two separate occasions, the engine expired on the RCR entry, forcing the team to call it a day and leave the historic speedway with a 36th-place finish.

The Berrier-led squad, again, produced a fast black and yellow Chevrolet for the 312-lap at Phoenix International Raceway the following weekend, but a wrong place, wrong time circumstance accumulated the veteran driver in a multi-car incident just 60 circuits in. Speedy work by the crew to repair the damaged machine to the best of their abilities sent Burton back on track in order to gain as many valuable positions as he could before the checkered flag waved and, because of that, he was able to salvage a 26th-place result.

Most recently, handling woes and ever-changing track conditions at Las Vegas Motor Speedway got the best of the Cat Racing team that left them leaving Sin City with a 21st-place finish.

Alas, the off weekend – a few days for the driver, crew chief and gang to clear their heads and erase the misfortunes that plagued them early in the season.

“It’s very disappointing to have the finishes that we had in these first three races,” commented Berrier. “Obviously, this isn’t how we pictured our season to start out, but it’s the situation we’re in and we’ll do everything we can to dig ourselves out from underneath it. Our team is strong and we’ll recover. I don’t like losing, so you can believe that we’re doing everything we can to turn this ship around.”

The next four races on the schedule – Bristol Motor Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Martinsville Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway – couldn’t have come at a better time for the 21-time Sprint Cup Series winner. After all, he has found Victory Lane at three of those four tracks in his career.

In 2008, Burton beat his RCR teammates to the line, claiming his first victory at the Bristol bullring. A third-place finish last year at Auto Club Speedway has the Cat Racing team wanting more when they return to the West Coast and numerous laps led at both Martinsville Speedway events last year has Burton hungry for a win at his home track. And, how can you forget Texas – not only the site of Burton’s first Sprint Cup Series victory, but the Fort Worth facility’s first repeat winner.

“It’s, obviously, disappointing to be where we are in the point standings,” stated Burton. “With as much preparation that we, as a company, did over the off season, it’s something that we couldn’t have done any different. Some of the situations we were involved in were out of our control while some were in our control. I’ve said all along that the new points structure will hurt those with poor finishes and we’re a classic example of that. Yes, we have a hole to dig out of, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do it. I believe in this team, wholeheartedly, and I really believe that over these next few races, you’ll see us have a complete turnaround.”

The boys in black and yellow will head to the World’s Fastest Half Mile next Thursday, looking for that turnaround. An hour-and-a-half practice session commences all Sprint Cup Series activity on Friday followed by qualifying. Then, the Cat Racing team will have two more chances on Saturday to fine tune their No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet for Sunday’s 500-lap showdown.

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NASCAR announced today that Robby Gordon, driver of the No. 7 car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, has been placed on probation until Dec. 31 for a rule infraction he committed March 4 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Gordon was penalized for violating Section 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing; involved in an altercation in the garage area with another competitor) of the 2011 NASCAR rule book.

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Robby Gordon has been put on probation until the end of the year by NASCAR after a scuffle in Las Vegas with Kevin Conway that ultimately brought about a police report. Conway drove for Gordon in 7 races last year, and are currently involved in a lawsuit from that relationship. Kevin was not penalized by NASCAR.