RACE RECAP | CHARLOTTE
Race #5 in The Chase
10 Ryan Newman
9 Denny Hamlin
8 Tony Stewart
7 AJ Allmendinger
6 Kevin Harvick second in points
5 Marcos Ambrose 3rd straight top 10, 5th top 5 this season
4 Kasey Kahne
3 Carl Edwards is the points leader by 5
2 Kyle Busch started dead last led the most laps, and moved to 4th in points

VICTORY LANE

1 Matt Kenseth takes home his 3rd win of the season, second career at Charlotte and moves to 3rd in the point standings

Continue reading “Matt Kenseth Wins Charlotte, Johnson in vicious crash”

By Brian Hilderbrand
Special to the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(October 15, 2011)

LAS VEGAS, Nev.—Polesitter Ron Hornaday Jr. held off a late challenge by Matt Crafton on Saturday to earn his 51st Camping World Truck Series victory in the Smith’s 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Hornaday, 53, led 107 of the 146 laps and notched his second victory in a row and his first in 11 starts in Las Vegas. Crafton was second, .629 seconds back, followed by Timothy Peters, Johnny Sauter and Todd Bodine.

Rounding out the top 10 were Nelson Piquet Jr., David Mayhew, Cole Whitt, Brendan Gaughan and Parker Kligerman.

Continue reading “Hornaday Wins at Las Vegas For Second Straight Truck Victory”

Better Half Dash Quotes:

Jacquelyn Butler (No. 6, winner) – “All of the girls did really good. It was fun out there. I want to go back and do it again next week. That was crazy but a lot of fun. I don’t know when I passed her [Allgaier]. All of our tires were wearing down, so that was a good excuse. I just tried to get past her. It was like, there are five [laps] to go, so I had to watch Tricia [Mears, second-place finisher] coming up behind me. I tried to hold my line. I didn’t remember the shot she gave me. I was so focused on what I was doing. It was a lot of fun to do this for MRO and Speedway Children’s Charities. Hopefully, we’ll keep doing it and do it again next year and get the word out there. My charity is, of course, MRO. They do so much for us. [Question: Were you nervous?] I didn’t eat. I had a bite of banana and a little bit of a shake. [Question: Your trophy is bigger than boyfriend David Ragan’s from Daytona, are you going to rub it in?] I’m too proud of him for winning Daytona, but it will be sitting right next to his Daytona trophy. So, I think we’ll take the car to the dealership, and it will sit there a little bit. So, of course, with it sitting there, I will have to mention it every time I come into the room. I have watched David race here, so I know these cars are nothing to play around with. [Question: What is the best advice you received?] I got some from David, his dad Ken and Tom Pistone. I knew with a car in front of you, you don’t follow their line. Run your own line. Eventually, they are going to overdrive it and if you’re following their line, you will follow them. So, focus on your line.”

Continue reading “Jacquelyn Butler Wins Better Half Dash at Charlotte”

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(October 14, 2011)

CONCORD, N.C.—Rebounding from hard contact with the wall early in Friday night’s Dollar General 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Carl Edwards held off Kyle Busch on a five-lap green-flag run to the finish to win his eighth Nationwide Series race of the season and the 37th of his career.

Busch came home second followed by Trevor Bayne and Elliott Sadler, who claimed the final $100,000 Nationwide Insurance Dash4Cash bonus and cut into the series points lead of ninth-place finisher Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Brian Scott ran fifth, followed by Brad Keselowski, whose dominating run was foiled by a cut tire late in the 200-lap race. Justin Allgaier, polesitter Paul Menard, Stenhouse and Brian Vickers completed the top 10.

Kenny Wallace finished 16th in his 519th Nationwide start, tying the series record of Jason Keller.

Continue reading “Carl Edwards holds off Kyle Busch for Charlotte Nationwide Series win”