A nasty wreck when Jimmie Johnson tried to bump draft with Kurt Busch.  Kurt hit the outside wall, then back down and skipped off the inside barrier, but it was Elliott Sadler who hit the inside barrier head on hard. Certainly one of the hardest hits in NASCAR history. The engine was even separated from the 19.  Sadler was released from the infield care center and is okay.

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Late charge powers Biffle to convincing Pocono win

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(August 1, 2010)

LONG POND, Pa.—With his team owner at Mayo Clinic recovering from injuries sustained in a plane crash, Greg Biffle found the remedy for the ills of Roush Fenway Racing and Ford’s racing program.

Pulling away from the rest of the field after a rain delay of more than 17 minutes, Biffle beat polesitter Tony Stewart to the finish line by 3.598 seconds to win Sunday’s Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway.

The victory, Biffle’s 14th in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, was his first since 2008 and the first for Ford and owner Jack Roush since Jamie McMurray won at Talladega last November.

“I wish he was here, and I’m sure he’s watching, and this one’s for him,” Biffle said of Roush, who suffered injuries to his face and eye when he crash-landed his plane Tuesday night in Oshkosh, Wis.

The rain was exactly what Biffle needed to win the race.

“I felt like we didn’t have the best car today,” he said. “For some reason, when it cooled down, this car just took off—that’s all there was to it. The temperature cooled down, we really didn’t make any adjustments, and the thing just started going on the restarts and got in clean air, and the thing just took off. I don’t know what happened.”

Carl Edwards came home third, series points leader Kevin Harvick fourth and Denny Hamlin fifth. Sixth-place finisher Jeff Gordon saw his bid for his first victory since April 2009 disappear when a four-tire stop under caution on Lap 167 of 200 left him mired in traffic behind cars that took two tires or fuel only.

Gordon led 39 laps, second only to teammate Jimmie Johnson’s 96. Gordon, second in the standings, is 189 points behind Harvick with five races left before the field for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is set Sept. 11 at Richmond.

The rain delay was the second time the race was red-flagged. After a stoppage of nearly 29 minutes to clear the debris from a horrific crash involving Kurt Busch, Elliott Sadler and Clint Bowyer on Lap 165, the race took a bizarre turn. All of the lead-lap drivers—except Sam Hornish Jr.—came to pit road for four tires, two tires or fuel only.

Hornish stayed on the track, inherited the lead and ran 11 laps under yellow before NASCAR stopped the field on pit road with 23 laps remaining. But, after the rain delay, Biffle went to the front on the restart on Lap 180 and never looked back. Hornish raced hard over the last 21 laps but faded to 11th at the finish.

Gordon was fourth when the field restarted on Lap 151 after a debris caution. Juan Pablo Montoya, who had short-pitted before the leaders came to pit road under caution on Lap 146, had the lead by virtue of staying on the track. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who took two tires under caution, was second.

Though Gordon passed three cars to take the top spot on Lap 151, Montoya regained the lead on Lap 152, only to surrender it at the stripe a lap later. Gordon finally cleared Montoya through Turn 3 on Lap 154 and pulled away before two quick cautions slowed and ultimately stopped the race.

Earnhardt spun off Turn 1 to cause the fourth yellow on Lap 158, but no one near the front of the field came to pit road, being outside the pit window that would allow them to finish the race without another stop.

On Lap 165, Johnson attempted to bump-draft Kurt Busch as the cars approached Turn 2 and instead turned the No. 2 Dodge sideways. After twice turning across the nose of Clint Bowyer’s Chevrolet, Busch slammed into the inside fence.

Busch’s analysis of the incident was succinct. “I got wrecked on the straightaway,” he said. “Jimmie Johnson drove straight through us.”

Elliott Sadler got the worst of the melee, as his No. 19 Ford slowed and then spun after contact from behind. Sadler’s car plowed nose-first into the inside guardrail and berm behind it with enough force to rip the engine from the car.

When safety trucks removed the debris from the infield, Sadler’s car rode on one wrecker, the engine on another. Despite the severity of the impact, Sadler later walked out of the infield care center.

“I’m fine. I’m OK,” he said. “I’m a little sore, I think, from where the belts grabbed me. It knocked the breath out of me pretty good, but it’s definitely the hardest hit I’ve ever had in a racecar.

“I’m not sure what happened. I know some guys got spun out and moved up in front of us, and I saw some smoke. Everybody started checking up, and I checked up, but whoever was behind did not—and ran in the back of us and knocked me down through the grass.”

NASCAR stopped the race for nearly 29 minutes to clear the debris and repair the guardrail.

By Lee Montgomery
Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
Photo Credit: CIA Stock Photo

(July 31, 2010)

NEWTON, Iowa—Even when he doesn’t get any practice, Kyle Busch still wins in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Busch won his ninth NASCAR Nationwide race of 2010, his sixth in his last seven starts and 39th of his career by dominating the U.S. Cellular 250 in front of 55,988 fans at Iowa Speedway.

“I really like these cars,” Busch said. “It’s fun, man. I’ve really grown accustomed to these things and have learned how to drive them. You can really drive the Nationwide cars hard because they don’t have a whole lot of horsepower, so you can really try to make up a lot by being able to get more out of the car, driver-wise.”

Busch missed Saturday morning’s rain-delayed practice, making it to Iowa from Pocono in time for qualifying. In his first laps in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, he earned the second position. Brad Coleman practiced Busch’s car.

“It would’ve been better if I could’ve sat on the pole,” Busch said. “Darn Trevor Bayne.”

Bayne may have won the pole, but Busch’s car was clearly dominant in the race, even without Busch practicing it. Busch led four times for 209 laps.

“It says a lot about the team, it says a lot about my confidence as a driver and my confidence in the team that they can prepare great racecars—and also (backup driver) Brad Coleman and what he does. I told (crew chief) Jason (Ratcliff) before the start of this thing, ‘Man, if I win this thing, I just might not practice any more.’ I think I screw it up more when I practice it.”

Busch restarted sixth after a pit stop for four tires with 42 laps to go, passing four cars in one lap to move to second behind Kevin Harvick, who changed only right-side tires.

“We got five, six cars in between ourselves and Kyle, and that’s really what we wanted to do,” Harvick said. “We just didn’t expect him to pass them all in one lap. That was our best chance, to try to get in front of him, and hopefully have him get caught up in traffic.”

Busch passed Harvick with 24 laps to go and pulled away for the victory, spoiling Nationwide’s Dash 4 Cash program. Since Busch was ineligible because he hasn’t run all the Nationwide Series races this year, an eligible driver can win $75,000 if he wins at Texas Motor Speedway on Nov. 6.

Harvick ended up second, with Jason Leffler third, with points leader Brad Keselowski fourth and Bayne fifth. Sixth through 10th were Steve Wallace, Michael Annett, Justin Allgaier, Matt DiBenedetto and Carl Edwards.

Iowa’s second NASCAR Nationwide race saw two red flags in the first 100 laps. The first red was for Reed Sorenson’s wreck in Turn 1 on Lap 42, caused by a melted bead on the right-front tire. The second came 51 laps later, when Brian Keselowski nailed a prone Colin Braun in Turn 2.

Braun, who wrecked his primary car in qualifying, had spun off the corner before getting slammed by Keselowski. Three other cars were involved, but none of the drivers were hurt.

Bayne became the youngest driver in series history to win three consecutive poles as he claimed the top spot for the 250-lap race. Bayne is the fourth driver to accomplish the feat and the first in 18 years. The others were Sam Ard, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Michael Waltrip.

Brad Keselowski extended his series points lead over Edwards to 231 points.

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(July 31, 2010)

LONG POND, Pa.—Elliott Sadler isn’t ready to be written off.

On Saturday at Pocono Raceway, he showed why. Pulling away on the second attempt at a green-white-checkered-flag finish, Sadler won the Pocono Mountains 125 Camping World Truck Series race from the pole, his first victory since 2004 in any of NASCAR’s top three touring series.

Sadler, 35, beat Kasey Kahne to the finish line by .445 seconds in a race that went five laps past its scheduled distance of 50 laps at the 2.5-mile triangular track. With his first truck series victory, Sadler is the 21st driver to win at least one race in each of NASCAR’s top three divisions. Matt Crafton finished third, followed by Aric Almirola and rookie Justin Lofton in the truck series’ first visit to Pocono.

Sadler’s win vindicated the faith of team owner Kevin Harvick and provided a welcome highlight in a two-year stretch that has seen Sadler struggle in a Sprint Cup car at Richard Petty Motorsports. Sadler announced July 9 that he will leave the No. 19 RPM Ford at the end of the season.

“It’s hard to put in words what this means to me,” said Sadler, whose last NASCAR win was Sept. 5, 2004 in a Cup car at Fontana, Calif. “To have a tough couple years like we’ve had in the Cup series, and things not go like we want to, as far as running up front, and winning races and leading laps and things like that. …

“You sit at home a lot, wondering if you’re ever going to make it back to victory lane. Are you ever going to have that situation again? Are you ever going to be in that position again? This, to me—I know it’s recent, and it’s today—but this is the biggest win in my career.

“There’s a lot of naysayers out there, and there’s a lot of people that write me off, not giving me a chance to make a comeback and be a strong presence again in this sport. To be able to come here and sit on the pole and win the race and race against people like Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin (who finished ninth), who I think are two of the best racecar drivers we have in our sport, means a great deal to me.”

Notes: Sadler drove Harvick’s No. 2 Chevrolet to the lead in the series owners’ standings. The No. 2 truck leads the No. 18 of Kyle Busch, driven by Kahne on Saturday, by two points. … Todd Bodine, who tops the drivers’ standings, rallied from a spin on Lap 41 to finish 12th. Bodine leaves Pocono 149 points ahead of Almirola in second.

Letarte signs contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports

LONG POND, Pa. (July 30, 2010) — Crew chief Steve Letarte has signed a multi-year contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports, the organization announced Friday.
Heading into Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Pocono Raceway, the 31-year-old Letarte has guided Jeff Gordon and the No. 24 DuPont team to 10 wins, 21 runner-up finishes, 77 top-five finishes, 108 top-10s and 14 pole positions in 174 races. Gordon’s second-place and top-five finishes during that time rank as the most among all drivers (teammate Jimmie Johnson ranks second in top-fives with 76.)

“I’m extremely excited,” Letarte said. “Hendrick Motorsports is the only company I’ve ever received a paycheck from. I’ve worked here since I was a teenager, and they’ve provided wonderful opportunities for me. I owe a lot to them. I’m really excited to be extended here so I can go a few more years.”

Letarte, a native of Portland, Maine, has been involved in the No. 24 team on almost every level, starting as a parts assistant while attending high school in 1995. A year later, Letarte was full-time with the No. 24 crew. He went on to work as a tire specialist, mechanic and car chief, winning three of Gordon’s four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series titles under the tutelage of crew chiefs Ray Evernham, Brian Whitesell and Robbie Loomis.

Near the end of the 2005 season, Letarte received the ultimate promotion when then-crew chief Loomis left for a spot at Petty Enterprises. Letarte stepped onto the pit box as the crew chief for Jeff Gordon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sept. 18, 2005. Six races later at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Letarte led the No. 24 team to Victory Lane and picked up his first win as a crew chief. The No. 24 team finished the 2005 season, scoring five top-10s in the last six races with Letarte at the helm.

Since then, Letarte has played a role in helping the No. 24 achieve several milestones. Notably, in 2006 at Infineon Raceway, the team made history after Gordon scored his ninth road course win – a Sprint Cup record. In 2008, Letarte helped extend Gordon’s streak of 16 consecutive seasons with a pole position when he picked up his first at Texas Motor Speedway. The team also scored its first victory at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth, Texas, oval earlier that year in April.