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July 29, 2012

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Team owner Rick Hendrick may have had better days — but not many.

Hendrick joined his No. 48 team in kissing the bricks at the finish line after driver Jimmie Johnson won Sunday’s Crown Royal 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, taking the checkered flag 4.758 seconds ahead of runner-up Kyle Busch and tying teammate Jeff Gordon for most NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins at the Brickyard — four.

Continue reading “Jimmie Johnson Wins Fourth Cup Race At Brickyard; Earnhardt Jr. Takes Series Lead”

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Hendrick Motorsports Lands Three Indy Contingency Awards

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Aug. 2, 2011) – Despite coming up one position shy in his bid for a fifth win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Jeff Gordon’s strong run in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 presented by BigMachineRecords.com sent a message that he is a serious challenger for a fifth championship, and earned the veteran driver two of Hendrick Motorsports’ three post-race contingency awards.

Gordon, who started the event in eighth, led four times for a total of 36 laps around the famed 2.5-mile track. Charging from 16th position to second in the final 20 laps, Gordon wheeled his No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet to a solid second-place finish. He has scored top-10 finishes in 14 of the 18 races held at Indianapolis, the most by any driver.

Continue reading “Hendrick Motorsports Lands Three Indy Contingency Awards”

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Paul Menard stretches fuel to win Brickyard 400

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(July 31, 2011)

INDIANAPOLIS — Years ago, as a garage rat at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Paul Menard dreamed of winning a race at the vaunted Brickyard.

On Sunday, the dream came true. In a season full of improbable first-time winners in NASCAR’s foremost races, Menard, 30, stretched his fuel mileage and held off charging Jeff Gordon to win the Brickyard 400 at the 2.5-mile track.

The victory was Menard’s first as a Sprint Cup driver, and it catapulted him into the conversation for a wild-card berth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Gordon, who closed rapidly over the final five laps, crossed the finish line .725 seconds behind the season’s fourth first-time winner.

“My first year here was 1989, that I can remember anyway—I think I was here when I was 3 or 4 years old, too,” said Menard, whose father, John Menard, has fielded IndyCars for a variety of drivers. “I just spent a lot of time in the garage area. I didn’t miss an Indy 500 from 1989 to 2003.

Continue reading “Paul Menard Gets First Career Cup Win, At Indy”