Posted on by Holly Cain

Cain: Don’t diminish 29-year-old’s prolific performance

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Kyle Busch was dejected and disappointed as he left his mangled No. 18 M&M’s Toyota in the Dover International Speedway garage and walked quickly and deliberately to his motorhome with a trail of reporters and cameramen in his wake.

Mostly though, Busch was just downright mad.

He had nothing to say — or at least nothing safe for print or TV — after a wreck only a quarter of the way through Sunday’s FedEx 400 at the Monster Mile derailed his shot at a tripleheader weekend sweep.

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He had led 81 of the first 125 laps when, while racing at the front of the field with Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon, Busch’s car got squeezed into the wall by Bowyer — apparently an honest mistake by Bowyer’s spotter who thought the cars were clear of one another.

The how or why didn’t matter to Busch. For him it’s all about the win.

And no one has won more NASCAR national series races than Busch in the last five years.

No active driver has won more NASCAR national series races. Period.

Busch acknowledged being energized by the opportunity to add to his entry already in the history books with a second three-race national series sweep at Dover. He is already the only driver in NASCAR history to do so, collecting a trio of trophies at Bristol in 2010.

But, he explained, he really doesn’t think in terms of a "sweep" but instead looks at each race individually. If he’s in it, he wants to win it. One, two or three in a weekend, it doesn’t matter. And if there are three races going on at a track, "and I only run one, it feels like a complete waste of time."

"The pure joy of winning is what I’m there for,” Busch said. "If I’m going to participate and race I’d rather be winning than finish second or third and being frustrated or upset.”

After winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Dover on Friday and then the NASCAR Nationwide Series race there Saturday, Busch spoke presciently about his chances of third trip to Victory Lane.

"If there’s ever the opportunity where they reverse the weekend and run the Truck race, then the Cup race and then the Nationwide race, I might have a shot at it," Busch said smiling. "It seems the last one (Cup race) is always the hardest one and that’s just due to the competition. You’ve got the best of the best to deal with whether it’s drivers, cars or crew chiefs."

You’re not going to win them all, but Busch is your best bet to win them all in a single race weekend, competing as an owner-driver in the Camping World Truck Series and a part-time participant in the Nationwide Series to go along with his full-time job with Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

His Truck and Nationwide series victories this weekend give him a combined 134 national series wins — 29 in Sprint Cup, a record 66 in Nationwide and 39 in the Camping World Truck Series.

Gordon is next closest with 94 national victories — the vast majority of those (89) coming in the Cup ranks.

It’s really an amazing and often overlooked accomplishment for Busch, who at only 29 years old could easily win more than 200 national series races at this pace. On Sunday, his time out front made him only the 15th driver in NASCAR history to lead 10,000 laps in a Cup career.

And yet Busch is aware that his impressive victory tally without a trophy in one of the sport’s biggest events somehow lessens his accomplishment in others’ eyes.

"Have you read your message boards?," Busch asked rhetorically this past weekend. "For what I’ve accomplished so far in my career, (the Bristol triple) ranks pretty high, probably first. That Bristol night race is notorious and I’ve won the Southern 500 at Darlington."

Then he smirked and shook his head.

"But I don’t have a Daytona 500, I don’t have a Coke 600, no All-Star Race, no Brickyard, so essentially I’ve got nothing on my resume. I’ve got 134 of ’em right now and none of ’em mean nothing.

"Hopefully the big ones will come."

In the meantime, his deep bows in front of the grandstand following a victory must feel so gratifying.

He’s overcome a reputation of petulance, and fans aren’t booing him as loudly anymore. For even those fans that don’t consider him "their" driver have to concede Busch sure knows how to wheel a stock car.

"It’s fun, I enjoy racing, that’s what I’m here for,” Busch said. "That’s what I do. I know there are some naysayers who say I shouldn’t be (in Truck and Nationwide series), but until the rules change — and they have changed a few times to keep us away — and yet I keep running.

"It’s for the pure love of the sport that I want to be out there and as long as Monster Energy and ToyotaCare keep supporting me, we’ll keep doing it as long as we can do it."

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Event continues to offer unique qualifying, race procedures

RELATED: More about the changes coming to the Eldora Truck Series race

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (June 3, 2014) – NASCAR today announced a series of format enhancements to the second annual NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Eldora Speedway, scheduled for July 23.

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Among the enhancements, aimed to bolster the emphasis on both driver skill and team strategy, are:

–  Pit stops during competition cautions are now optional, whereas they were mandatory in last year’s inaugural event.
–  Each qualifying race will now be 10 laps each. Last year, each race was eight laps.
–  A random draw will determine qualifying order. Last year, practice speeds dictated the qualifying order.
–  Owner points to be awarded to the top five team owners whose trucks do not transfer to the main feature. Last season, teams that did not advance to the main feature did not earn owner points. 

"Last year’s inaugural event at Eldora Speedway was an incredible success, and these enhancements will only increase the excitement for our fans," said Chad Little, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series managing director. "NASCAR continually works with team owners and drivers to ensure that NASCAR fans get what they’ve come to expect out of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series – close, thrilling racing, every single lap."

The event continues to showcase a traditional two-lap qualifying session, five qualifying races, one last-chance race and a champion’s provisional to determine the 30-truck starting field. The top 20 in owners points entering the event will have a guaranteed starting position.

The overall race procedures for the Mudsummer Classic are as follows:

Qualifying
•  Two-lap, single-truck qualifying determines starting position for the qualifying races with random draw determining the qualifying order.

Qualifying Races
•  Five qualifying races will be held at 10 laps each and only green flag laps are counted.
•  Lineup for the qualifying races will be based on qualifying speeds.
•  The top five trucks in qualifying will start on the pole for their respective qualifying races with four locked-in trucks (top 20 in driver points) starting in each qualifying race.
• Five trucks from each qualifying race will transfer to the feature – four locked-in trucks and one non-locked-in truck.
• Upon completion of the qualifying races, 25 trucks will earn spots in the feature race.

Last Chance Race
• The lineup will be based on finishing position from the qualifying races and the race will be 15 laps with only green flag laps counted.
• Top-four finishers transfer to the feature and start in positions 26-29.
• The 30th starting position goes to the most recent past series champion. If the position is not filled by an eligible champion, it will be assigned to the next highest finishing truck of the Last Chance Race.
• Owner points will be awarded to the top five team owners whose trucks do not transfer into the feature.

Feature
• The race will be 150 laps divided into three segments of 60, 50 and 40 laps with competition cautions at the breaks on Lap 60 and Lap 110.
• Caution laps will not count during the competition cautions and positions cannot be improved on pit road.
• Teams are not required to pit during the competition cautions. Those teams that do not elect to pit, may remain on the track and start in front of the pitting teams.

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1-800-CarCash Mudsummer Classic set for July 23

RELATED: NASCAR announces format enhancements for Eldora

NASCAR announced four enhancements Tuesday morning to the annual NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on dirt at Eldora Speedway.
 
The second running of the 1-800-CarCash Mudsummer Classic, scheduled July 23, will carry over many of the same format elements rooted in dirt-track tradition and will remain a 150-lap event, but with a handful of tweaks from last season’s inaugural race.

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— Qualifying races will be lengthened from 8 to 10 laps.
 
— Pit stops during the two competition cautions that divide the race into three segments will be optional instead of mandatory as they were in 2013.
 
— The order for single-truck, two-lap Keystone Light Pole Qualifying will be determined by random draw instead of practice speeds.
 
— The top five team owners who fail to qualify for the mainevent through the last-chance qualifying race will be awarded owner points.
 
Instead of making wholesale changes to the format after a largely successful first event, officials opted for largely minor enhancements to NASCAR’s only national series race at a dirt track.
 
"I think we’ve added to the excitement level by lengthening the qualifying races a couple laps," said NASCAR Camping World Truck Series managing director Chad Little. "Come race time, to add a little procedural strategy to the races, the teams are not required to pit during the competition breaks, which will occur on Lap 60 and Lap 110. They can use their own team strategy and decide whether they want to come in for tires or fuel. If they choose not to, they’ll be placed ahead of those trucks that pit."
 
While NASCAR brought change to qualifying procedures in all three national series with the advent of group qualifying, officials opted against incorporating that format into Eldora’s tricky half-mile. The only switch for the 2014 race is to line up the qualifying order by the draw of a pill.
 
"It’ll bring a little bit more randomness to the qualifying order versus trying to determine when the track is best and when to go out and lay down a fast or slow lap," Little said. "Hopefully … that’ll take away some strategy and make it more fair for all the competitors."
 
Little also said NASCAR officials listened to feedback from truck series owners to make the final adjustment, awarding owner points to teams that fail to advance to the main event through qualifying races.
 
"Last year, because it’s a 30-truck field for the feature, we didn’t award any points past 30th," Little said. "Some of the feedback we received from the ownership group was, ‘if we go to all the races, at every other event, we receive points back to 36th, so if we’re unfortunate enough not to make the race, we feel like we should be awarded points from 31st to 36th like the other events.’ We agreed. The last-chance race allows us to do that, so we’re going to award points for 31st through 36th for those owners who aren’t fortunate enough to make the feature."

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With the passing of ‘Hoss’ comes a flood of memories from Allison, Waltrip

Charles Everett "Hoss" Ellington passed away May 31, and another small part of NASCAR’s colorful history has been silenced.

Ellington, a native of Wilmington, North Carolina, was 79.

"He was a unique team owner," said Donnie Allison, who scored four of his 10 NASCAR premier series victories while driving for Ellington. "He was very, very serious about his racing, but he never acted that serious around us. He was always cutting up. … He pretty well left us alone with the race car — (engine builder) Runt Pittman, myself and (crewman) Jackie Rogers, we pretty well took care of everything. 

"I couldn’t have asked for a better team owner. He gave us all the means to win with, and it showed. The car ran good every time we raced it." 

Ellington, inducted into the Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame in 2008, won just five times as an owner — four with Allison and a fifth and final time with NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson. His teams earned 52 top-five finishes, including 10 runner-up finishes, in 264 starts.

"He was very, very serious about his racing, but he never acted that serious around us. He was always cutting up."

— Donnie Allison on Hoss Ellington

His organization never ran the entire schedule, instead competing in a limited number of races with a variety of drivers.

"He never ran for the points," said Allison. "When he was there, he wanted to win. He didn’t care about points."

At a time when "creative engineering" of the race car was commonplace, Ellington did his best to keep pace.

"Hoss was best known in racing for his imaginative engineering," longtime Charlotte Observer motorsports writer Tom Higgins said. "Charlie Glotzbach was driving his car at Charlotte in 1973 and they just ran away with the pole. They just blistered the field. 

"Well, NASCAR knew something was wrong so they started going over that car and they found an illegal carburetor on it. … It had a sliding device in it that would open up the carburetor and make it much bigger. It was connected to the cockpit with piano wire. It was genius. 

"But (NASCAR) found it, took the pole away from Glotzbach and I think they fined Hoss $5,000, which was a lot of money then. I nicknamed it ‘Glotzbach’s gizmo.’ It was something else." 

Higgins said Ellington changed drivers so often — more than 20 drove his car at least once — that the owner once told him "he was going to … buy one of those things they put on the front of a bus that changes and shows what city they’re going to next," Higgins said. "He said he was going to put it on his car and just put the drivers’ names on the thing, then roll it from one to the other when he changed drivers. He was just a colorful, colorful character." 

The Charlotte incident wasn’t the only time Ellington’s team ran afoul of NASCAR. The 1976 Daytona 500 is remembered for the slam-bang finish between eventual winner Pearson and Richard Petty. A week before the race, Ellington’s car, with A.J. Foyt driving, had won the pole for the race. Until officials discovered a steel nitrous oxide bottle on the car. Foyt’s time was quickly tossed out. 

As were the times of Darrell Waltrip, the No. 2 qualifier, and Dave Marcis, who had posted the third fastest lap.

Waltrip’s DiGard entry also carried an empty bottle that was judged to have contained nitrous oxide; Marcis’ transgression was an unapproved aluminum flap placed over the radiator that improved front-end aerodynamics. 

"I don’t know how much creativity Hoss had; he had a lot of creative people around him, I’ll say that," Waltrip said. "He was good friends with (chassis builder) Banjo Matthews at the time. And Banjo built our cars. Hoss had great equipment and Runt build great engines. They played hard but they worked and raced hard too. They were serious about what they were doing. They took their racing very seriously." 

The following year, Waltrip won the Talladega 500 while driving in a relief role for Allison and Ellington. 

Having fallen out of the race early, Waltrip had already changed clothes and was getting ready to leave the track when members of Ellington’s crew approached him. 

"They said ‘man we need you; you’re the only guy out of the race that can do it. Donnie’s sick and he’s got to get out of the car; we don’t want to park it. We can win this race,’" Waltrip said. 

"So I ran back and put my uniform on and got in the car. The car was a mess. Donnie had gotten sick in the car. … 

"I ended up in a battle with Skip Manning. Skip had a fast car that day. I got in Donnie’s car and they said ‘Oh you’ll win the race easy.’ Here I am, I’ve got cars all around me and I’ve got my hands full. I said ‘I thought you said this would be easy?’ "

Waltrip did end up winning, with credit for the win going to Allison. 

Waltrip’s payoff for the relief role? 

"(Hoss) turned around and handed me a bottle of Gatorade, because that’s who I drove for," Waltrip said. "And that was my payoff."

Ellington tried his hand at driving before focusing solely on ownership. He made 21 starts from 1968-70, posting four top-10s. He finished a career-best seventh twice in 1969 — in the World 600 at Charlotte and the American 500 at North Carolina Motor Speedway. 

His first hired driver was Lorenzen in 1972. The 2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee made seven starts in the Lemon Tree Inn-sponsored No. 28 Ford, finishing as high as fourth at Talladega and Darlington. 

Four different drivers won at least one pole while driving for the Ellington team. Foyt was the first, qualifying No. 1 for the July 4 Firecracker 400 at Daytona in 1976. Donnie Allison (4), Pearson (1) and Buddy Baker (1) also won poles. 

Pearson, a winner of 105 Cup races, won for the final time in 1980 while driving for Ellington. The CRC Chemicals Rebel 500 was also the last victory for the car owner.

Allison said his first win with Ellington in the 1976 National 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway was his most memorable. And his most satisfying.

"Not only for it being his car, but I had been fired by DiGard the previous July and told I couldn’t drive anymore," Allison said. "I was told I wasn’t able, that I didn’t have any more skill left or whatever. (DiGard owner) Bill Gardner said that." 

After the win, Allison said, "I walked over and punched him in the chest and said, ‘I’m just the SOB that couldn’t drive, remember?’ It was pretty satisfying to me." 

The big one that got away is easy enough to recall. The 1979 Daytona 500, the first nationally televised 500 and the one that ended with Donnie, brother Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough scrapping in the infield. 

In plain view of the camera throughout the fight is the red No. 1 Chevrolet owned by Ellington. 

"That’s the one race that stands out in everybody’s mind," Donnie Allison said. "Which we definitely should have won." 

The Allisons and Yarborough might have been at odds, but Ellington apparently held no grudges.

"To give you an example of what kind of guy Hoss was," Allison said, "he gave Cale a ride home after that race. Everything was snowed in and Cale couldn’t fly his plane. So Hoss gave him a ride home. 

"I didn’t know that until a few days later, but I gave him hell when I found out. I said if I’d given Cale a ride home, it would have been on top of the van. 

"But that’s just the kind of guy he was."

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1989 Cup champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer puts his focus on charity

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — His days of charging off into the first turn, hell-bent and hammer down, have ended but Rusty Wallace, NASCAR’s 1989 Cup champion, manages to keep moving at a pretty fast clip these days.

"Hey, how ya doing? Good to see you," says Wallace, smiling broadly as he greeted another guest that had materialized here at Trump National Golf Club on this warm sunny morning.

The scene repeated itself often, whether by the bag drop or behind the clubhouse where a sizeable selection of breakfast foods had been laid out. 

Dressed in dark slacks and golf shirt, Wallace mingled seamlessly with guests — current and former NASCAR drivers, NFL players, pro golfers from the LPGA’s Symetra tour, and a host of area businessmen.

All had arrived to participate in the inaugural Rusty Wallace Golf Classic, a charitable event raising funds for the NASCAR Foundation.

"We’ve built race cars and auctioned them off at Barrett-Jackson to raise money for the Foundation, have done a few different things like that," Wallace said. "And then a buddy of mine that I met through my association with Callaway and Top Flite came up with the idea of a golf tournament."

Wallace, who has been on the Foundation’s board since 2006, said all of the money raised through the tournament, held May 21, "is going directly to the foundation.

"We’ve had some big supporters, a lot of sponsors. Oakley has really gotten involved. (NASCAR team co-owner) Felix Sabates has been unbelievable — he bought some of the foursomes and brought some of his (dealership’s) Bentleys out here." 

It’s been eight years since Wallace climbed from a stock car for the last time. He finished 13th in the season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2005, leaving him eighth in points for the season. 

Few drivers have stepped away any closer to the top.

A standout on the short tracks and road courses, Wallace won 55 times in Cup, a total that remains ninth best overall. He was involved in incredible finishes and unforgettable wrecks. He earned his championship while driving for drag racing owner/driver Raymond Beadle, but spent the bulk of his career and enjoyed most of his success with team owner Roger Penske.

Wallace was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2013. 

Today, he stays busy with numerous business interests. Chief among them are the car dealerships — Wallace owns six — in East Tennessee. A seventh is underway. 

"Brad Daugherty and I just became partners in a new Hyundai dealership in Knoxville (Tennessee)," said Wallace, who has been in the business for more than two decades. 

"It’s coming out of the ground in about six months," he said. "Between that and working full time for ESPN (as an auto racing analyst), those are my main deals." 

Wallace also has a personal services agreement with Iowa Speedway, which was recently purchased by NASCAR. "I love that track," he said. "Everybody knows that."

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Get all the NASCAR TV information for the week

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All times are ET

Monday, June 2
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 1
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBC Sports Network
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FOX Sports 2
7 p.m., Empty Cup: Quest for the 1992 NASCAR Championship (re-air), FOX Sports 2
2:30 a.m. (Tue.), NASCAR Now, ESPN2
3 a.m. (Tue.), NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race at Dover (re-air), FOX Sports 1
 
Tuesday, June 3
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 1
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBC Sports Network
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FOX Sports 2
2 a.m. (Wed.), NASCAR’s The List (re-air), NBC Sports Network
2:30 a.m. (Wed.), NASCAR Now, ESPN2
2:30 a.m. (Wed.), NASCAR’s The List (re-air), NBC Sports Network

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Wednesday, June 4                                                         
11 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race at Dover (re-air), FOX Sports 1
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 1
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBC Sports Network
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FOX Sports 2
6:30 p.m., NASCAR’s The List (re-air), NBC Sports Network
7:30 p.m., 100,000 Cameras: NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (re-air), FOX Sports 2
2:30 a.m. (Thu.), NASCAR Now, ESPN2
 
Thursday, June 5
1 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub Special (re-air), FOX Sports 1
2 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race at Dover (re-air), FOX Sports 1
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 1
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBC Sports Network
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FOX Sports 2
2:30 a.m. (Fri.), NASCAR Now, ESPN2
 
Friday, June 6                                  
10 a.m., The 600: History of NASCAR’s Toughest Race (re-air), FOX Sports 1
11 a.m., NASCAR K&N Pro Series Race at Iowa (re-air), FOX Sports 1
Noon, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Practice, FOX Sports 1
4:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Qualifying, FOX Sports 1
7 p.m., 100,000 Cameras: NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (re-air), FOX Sports 2
7:30 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub Special (re-air), FOX Sports 1
8:30 p.m., NCWTS SetUp, FOX Sports 1
9 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race at Texas, FOX Sports 1
2:30 a.m. (Sat.), NASCAR’s The List (re-air), NBC Sports Network
3 a.m. (Sat.), NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Practice (re-air), FOX Sports 1
4:30 a.m. (Sat.), NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Qualifying (re-air), FOX Sports 1
 
Saturday, June 7
9 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Practice, FOX Sports 1
10 a.m., Empty Cup: Quest for the 1992 NASCAR Championship (re-air), FOX Sports 1
10:30 a.m., NASCAR K&N Pro Series Race at Bowman-Gray, FOX Sports 1
11:30 a.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Final Practice, FOX Sports 1
12:30 p.m., NASCAR Live, FOX Sports 1
9 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Qualifying (re-air), FOX Sports 2
10:30 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Final Prac. (re-air), FOX Sports 2
11:30 p.m., NASCAR K&N Pro Series Race at Bowman-Gray (re-air), FOX Sports 2
12:30 a.m. (Sun.), 100,000 Cameras: NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (re-air), FOX Sports 2
3 a.m. (Sun.), NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race at Texas (re-air), FOX Sports 1
5 a.m. (Sun.), NASCAR Sprint Cup Final Practice, FOX Sports 1
 
Sunday, June 8
6 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race at Texas (re-air), FOX Sports 2
10 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub Special, FOX Sports 1
11 a.m., NASCAR RaceDay, FOX Sports 1
Noon, NSCS Countdown to Green, TNT
1 p.m., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race at Pocono, TNT
7 p.m., NASCAR Victory Lane, FOX Sports 1
2 a.m. (Mon.), NASCAR’s The List, NBC Sports Network
2:30 a.m. (Mon.), NASCAR’s The List, NBC Sports Network

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Posted on by Holly Cain

Matt Kenseth searches for final puzzle piece that will lead to first win of 2014

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DOVER, Del. — With his third-place finish Sunday at Dover International Speedway, Matt Kenseth moved into the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship points lead — two points ahead of Jeff Gordon — for the first time this year.

But the typically straight-faced Kenseth wasn’t overly emotional about the development. He’d rather have won the race. Any race, actually.

Under the new championship format that rewards race winners with Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoff berths, Kenseth — last year’s biggest winner with seven victories — is still the highest ranked driver among the top 10 in points without a victory this season.

"If there’s not 16 winners, and even if there is, they put the points winner in there (Chase field),” Kenseth said, "So even though we haven’t been able to win yet, we’ve been solid. And if you can’t win, you want to finish as high as you can every week — and obviously that’s rewarded by points.

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"It’s important for us to stay up there because we haven’t won a race yet.

"The whole (Chase) qualifying thing still feels weird to me, but we’ll have to see how it all shakes out for a year."

Of course, a victory would go a long way to simplifying everything. And Kenseth has been oh-so-close. He has a series-best 10 top-10 finishes and a very respectable five top-fives, including back-to-back third-place efforts at Charlotte and Dover.

He’s led laps in all but three of the 13 races to date, and was out front five different times for 17 laps Sunday.

But he’s cognizant of the ticking clock to set the Chase playoff field, even though he insists he’s not worried yet. And three of the four upcoming June race venues have been historically tough shows for Kenseth.

He is the defending winner of the June 28 race at Kentucky Speedway, and never finished worse than seventh there.

However, Kenseth has never won at the Sprint Cup Series‘ next stop, Pocono Raceway, or on the Sonoma Raceway road course (June 22). And while he has a pair of wins at Michigan International Speedway (June 15), he hasn’t seen Victory Lane there since 2006.

That track record actually may make Kenseth’s championship lead more significant, but his body language late Sunday afternoon revealed more disappointment than satisfaction in the situation.

He was still frustrated with the race’s final restart — and his best shot to catch eventual winner Jimmie Johnson — explaining that he spun his tires on the green flag and was subsequently hit by Clint Bowyer.

"I think I was still spinning tires in fourth gear and Clint hit me, I guess trying to give me a push there and it just destroyed our car,” Kenseth said. "My car was destroyed. I was glad to still finish after that."

Yet even Kenseth had to admit it was a preferred ending to a challenging day. He qualified only 21st fastest in his No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, and had to make his way up through the field more than once while his crew continually adjusted his Camry.

And Kenseth wasn’t the only person feeling left in Johnson’s wake. No one really showed much for Johnson, who seemed to have the field covered all afternoon en route to an all-time best ninth win at Dover.

"When you come to Dover, it’s always the 48, they are just unbelievable here," Kenseth said of Johnson. "If you’re going to have a shot to win here, that’s the car you’re going to have to beat every time unless they break.

"I always think they’re the favorites no matter where we go and obviously all the Hendrick and Stewart-Haas cars have been showing a ton of speed all year long and been in position to win a lot of races.

"We’ve got to figure out how to get ahead of them."

 

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Meet Josh, Official NASCAR Fan Council member of the month

Name: Josh

Current city: Branford, Connecticut

Hometown: Guilford, Connecticut

Member since: 2008

GETTING TO KNOW JOSH

Q. Why did you join the Official NASCAR Fan Council? 

A: "To give my thoughts on what NASCAR should do with the sport I love."

Q. What comes to mind when you think of NASCAR? What’s your favorite NASCAR memory?

A: "Family. I don’t have a specific favorite memory, but just all the fun I have had going to at least one race per year since 1994."

Q: Do you have a favorite in any of the following categories?

A. Driver: "Dale Jr."
A. Track: "To go to: New Hampshire. To watch on TV: Richmond"
A. Memorabilia: "A Toyota Nationwide Champions hat from when Kyle Busch won that championship in 2009"

Q: If you could go to any NASCAR race/track, where would you go?

A: "Bristol, because it’s Bristol.  I want to go to every track at some point in my life."

Q: Tell us about your family. Do you have children and/or pets?

A: "Single, and no pets."

Q: What do you like to do in your free time?

A: "Other than watch NASCAR and all types of motorsports I like to run and go to concerts."

Q: What’s your dream car?

A: "An older Ford Mustang, not sure which year though"

From all of us at nascar, we thank JOSH for hIS continued support and look forward to hearing from hIM in 2014!

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Hamlin’s first career Sprint Cup Series win came in 2006 at Pocono

Denny Hamlin has a favorable history at Pocono Raceway. He has won four races at the venue, which is the second-most among active drivers (behind Jeff Gordon with six). The four wins are tied for the most victories the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has at one track. (Martinsville is the other.) Hamlin’s strong runs at Pocono started in his rookie year of 2006 when he won his first career premier series race at the 2.5-mile track and went on to sweep both Pocono races that year. Although he has not won at Pocono since 2010, Hamlin has eight top-five finishes and 10 top-10 finishes in 16 races at the track.