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No. 5 pulls away from Keselowski; Busch brothers both finish in top five

VIEW: FOOD CITY 500 RACE RESULTS

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kasey Kahne checked Bristol Motor Speedway off his bucket list, winning for the first time in 19 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series attempts after a heated duel with Brad Keselowski.

“This is one of those tracks that, as a driver, you feel like you really need to win at," said Kahne, who snagged the lead on a final restart with 40 laps left and held off both Kyle Busch and Keselowski in Sunday’s Food City 500.

“We’ve been trying for a long time. To pull it off, I feel is a big accomplishment for our guys and myself. There are so many things that are thrown at you when you come to this place. We’d been fast here other times and not able to finish the deal.”

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Kahne, now seventh in the points standings, had finished no better than fifth in any of his previous 10 Cup races at Bristol.

The final restart came after Kahne’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson blew a tire, bringing out the race’s 10th caution.

Prior to the final green-flag run, Kahne and Keselowski had staged a furious short-track duel that rekindled memories of the door-to-door racing that made Bristol famous.

“I’m (thinking) how can I get by and he’s (thinking) how can I hold this guy off,” Kahne said. “I reeled him in, but he was driving into the corners so hard, I really couldn’t do anything on the bottom. I bumped him a few times. He was sideways a few times trying to hold us back.

“I felt like we got a really good restart, got the lead and, from there, it was just momentum and trying to drive away.”

Keselowski knew he was in trouble after spinning wheels on the final restart and watching Kahne set sail. 

“I don’t think I had anything for Kasey. I don’t know if anyone did,” said Keselowski, the defending race champion who finished third. “He was so good through the middle, really everywhere. He was kind of in a league of his own.”

Kahne credited his team, led by crew chief Kenny Francis.

“It’s fun to come to pit road and break even or gain spots,” he said. “The guys have just been nailing it on pit road.”

Not everyone made up ground in the pits.

Busch, who won the pole in track record time on Friday, posted the fastest laps in both of Saturday’s practice sessions and then won Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series event, led the first 55 laps before a pit-road speeding violation under caution shuffled him back to 32nd. He was undaunted in his recovery, clawing his way back to 16th in the next 40 laps and moving to second behind teammate Denny Hamlin on Lap 155 after the race’s fourth caution.

“We battled back. I wish I could have kept up with the 5 (Kahne), but he took off and left us all," Busch said.

Hamlin led 117 of the first 189 laps before surrendering the lead in the pits to teammate Matt Kenseth, who suffered his own misfortune when race leader Jeff Gordon blew a right front tire on Lap 391. Gordon climbed the track with his tire going down and Kenseth had nowhere to go, slamming into the rear of Gordon.

“Not a lot either one of us could do about that,” said Kenseth, resigned to a 35th-place finish.

Joey Logano, who started 10th, had been making steady progress and was challenging Gordon for the lead on Lap 348 when he tangled with Hamlin, his former JGR teammate. That led to a post-race exchange between Logano, Hamlin and team members.

Asked if he and Hamlin had a problem, Logano replied: "If we didn’t, we do now."

Keselowski’s third-place finish vaulted him to the lead in the Sprint Cup point standings, nine points ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished sixth after qualifying 32nd.

Johnson, who entered as the points leader, finished 22nd after running in the top 10 most of the day and fell to third in the standings. Kurt Busch finished fourth, his best showing for Furniture Row Racing, and Clint Bowyer was fifth.

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German manufacturer gets 11th win in 14 years

SEBRING, Fla. – Audi continued its record of domination in Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring fueled by Fresh From Florida, scoring an impressive 1-2 finish to give the German marque 11 victories in the last 14 years.

Marcel Fassler, Benoit Treluyer and Oliver Jarvis drove the year-old No. 1 Audi R18 e-tron Quattro, which won by 7.68 seconds over the No. 2 of Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Lucas DiGrassi – who were debuting a 2013-spec diesel-hybrid. Kristensen was seeking his seventh victory in the event, with McNish a four-time Sebring winner.
The two Audis quickly pulled away and were never seriously challenged. Neel Jani, Nicolas Prost and Nick Heidfeld finished third in the No. 12 Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60, five laps down.
Jarvis wrapped up a rare double, following up his GT class victory in the Rolex 24 At Daytona. He drove an Audi Sport Customer Racing/AJR Audi R8 in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series 2013 opener. It was his first time driving in either of the American endurance classics.
Oliver Gavin, Tommy  Milner and Richard Westbrook took GT honors in the No. 4 Corvette C6 ZR1, winning by 2.7 seconds. Matteo Malucelli, Olivier Beretta and Gianmaria Bruni led much of the race in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 458 Italia. Milner took the lead with 15 minutes remaining when Malucelli had an off-course venture in Turn 10, highlighting a charge back into contention after the team lost a lap due to electrical problems four hours into the race.
The P2 race came down to a battle between teammates, with Level 5 Motorsports finishing 1-2. Team owner Scott Tucker drove in both cars, joining Marino Franchitti and Ryan Briscoe in the winning No. 151 HPD ARX-03b. Tucker, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Simon Pagenaud finished second in the team’s No. 152 entry, one lap behind. It was the fourth consecutive class victory at Sebring for both Level 5 and Tucker, tying the all-time record in the respective categories.
David Ostella, David Cheng and Michael Guasch took the lead in the final half hour and held on the win the Prototype Challenge class in the No. 52 Oreca FLM09 fielded by PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, winning by 15.80 seconds over the No. 8 of Kyle Marcelli, Chris Cumming and Stefan Johansson.
Dion von Moltke became a 2013 double winner at Daytona and Sebring, joining Cooper MacNeil and Joeren Bleekemolen in winning GTC in the Alex Job Racing No. 22 Porsche 911 GT3. Von Moltke co-drove with Jarvis on Job’s winning Audi at Daytona.

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Posted on by Holly Cain

Fans can vote on race name, concession item and pace car design for June 9 event

For a racing facility so steeped in tradition, the family-owned Pocono Raceway is proving itself as progressive and hip as any venue in NASCAR.

Pocono Raceway President Brandon Igdalsky — the track’s third-generation caretaker — says it’s a pretty simple formula instilled in him long ago that begins and ends with the fans.

So for the first time ever, fans will be directly influencing the June 9 “Fan Driven 400” NASCAR weekend at the famed 2.5-mile triangle.

Through a special partnership with Walmart, fans will chose the name of the race, select a pace car design and even decide what kind of pierogies the concession stand will sell.

"This opportunity really is giving back to the fans and taking it to the next level."

—Brandon Igdalsky, President, Pocono Raceway

“We’re all fans of racing to begin with,” Igdalsky said. “We do things in the way of, ‘How would we like to be treated?’ That’s how we position ourselves.

“This opportunity really is giving back to the fans and taking it to the next level.”

Igdalsky said the track has been working with Walmart and NASCAR since last fall to come up with a unique fan initiative. And with the success of The Sprint Unlimited in February at Daytona, he is encouraged about the possibilities at his family’s track.

“What that does is validates that we’re going in the right direction,” Igdalsky said.

“I think we’re having fun. One of the cultures my brother (Nick, Senior Vice President, Pocono Raceway) and I try to instill in everyone is, you know what, this is sports. If we’re not having fun, then what the heck are we doing it for?

“If we can take that and share that enthusiasm and train of thought with the fans, then everyone at the end of the day wins. Without them, we’re not here.”

Fans started nominating race titles last month and Igdalsky said there were several thousand submitted.

“Some we can use and some we can’t,” he said with a laugh.

From that pool, Walmart, NASCAR, track executives and its fan council narrowed it down to three choices – Race More. Live Better. 400, Pocono for the People 400 and Party in the Poconos 400 — and from now through April 8, fans can go to walmarturl.com/FanDriven400 to vote on the final name.

The pierogie-recipe vote will take place from April 9-May 6, and fans can cast their vote on the pace car design from May 7-May 27.

Beyond that, Walmart is offering 16,000 Concourse Grandstand tickets at a discounted price of $25. Pocono Raceway also will offer the $99 Walmart Family Track Pack, which includes four tickets, four hot dogs and four sodas, for their Aug. 4 Pennsylvania 400.

“I always say, fans, fans, fans and it’s not just lip service, it’s what we truly believe,” Igdalsky said. “It’s what my grandfather instilled in us. Everything we’ve always done is for the fans.” ___________________________________________________________________________________________

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Posted on by Zack Albert

Bump from Hamlin sends Logano into spin, leads to post-race dust-up

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Clint Bowyer emerged from his car on pit road Sunday afternoon, flushed and all ready to talk about his solid fifth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway. But then something caught his eye on the track’s JumboTron.

"Hey everybody, it’s Bristol. They’re fightin’! How ’bout THAT!" Bowyer shouted over the track’s public-address system. "It’s what you’re supposed to do at Bristol."

If fighting is standard behavior at the World’s Fastest Half-Mile, then what Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin did in the aftermath of the Food City 500 was downright appropriate. If nothing else, it reinforced the theory that close-quarters, full-contact racing on the .533-mile track is back in earnest.

Logano was in line for his best finish of the young NASCAR Sprint Cup season, working his way up from 10th starting spot to challenge for the lead in the second half of the 500-lap race. But as he battled leader Jeff Gordon on Lap 348, Hamlin gained on the front-running pair and nudged Logano into the backstretch wall.

"If he didn’t mean to wreck me, I think he would’ve said he’s sorry. But he didn’t say that."

—Joey Logano, on Denny Hamlin

"I just, you know, I meant to run into him," Hamlin said. "I didn’t mean to spin him out, but his day was fine. He still had a bad day anyway for whatever reason. You know, just, we finished bad and he finished bad. It’s even."

Logano disagreed.

"OK, sure," Logano shrugged. "If he didn’t mean to wreck me, I think he would’ve said he’s sorry. But he didn’t say that."

Both drivers — teammates with Joe Gibbs Racing as recently as four months ago — actually managed to rebound into the top 10 before both their days soured. Logano nudged Hamlin from behind when leader Brad Keselowski bogged down on the race’s final restart and the two combatants limped home from there. Neither driver cooled down on the so-called cool-down lap.

After parking and dismounting, Logano leaned his head into the cockpit of Hamlin’s Toyota. Words were exchanged before a Hamlin crewman pulled Logano away. That escalated into a full-fledged scuffle as the fans — and simultaneously Bowyer — roared with approval.

"I think part of it’s Bristol racing, but part of it’s ridiculous," Logano said. "Whatever. I had a fast race car and I’ve just had it. …

"I feel like I race him clean all the time, and he’s going to do that. I understand the way he races now that he’s not my teammate, and I will race him the same way he races me."

What was Hamlin’s response when asked what Logano said to him?

"He said he was coming for me," Hamlin said. "I usually don’t see him, so it’s usually not a factor."

The chippy relationship between the two former Gibbs teammates worsened after the season-opening Daytona 500 when the two engaged in a tense Twitter exchange, highlighted by Hamlin sarcastically calling Logano a "genius" for his drafting tactics. Post-race Sunday, Logano certainly had the social-media insult fresh in his head.

"If we didn’t (have a problem), we do now," Logano said. "Send that message. Tweet that!"

And so he did, issuing this Twitter salvo after the race: "Hey @dennyhamlin great job protecting that genius brain of yours by keeping your helmet on." To which Hamlin responded: "Why’s that.. What would u do?"

The makings of a feud may be top of mind when the circuit hits Auto Club Speedway next weekend, though the speed of the 2-mile track does not lend itself to settling scores. Darian Grubb, Hamlin’s crew chief, did his best to diffuse the situation, saying the No. 11 JGR team’s focus would not change.

"We’ve just got to take control of our own destiny," Grubb said flatly. "(Our) team has to do what it has to do to win a championship and not worry about anybody else."

Pole-starter Kyle Busch, a current teammate to Hamlin and former teammate to Logano, has been a lightning-rod figure when it comes to on-track dust-ups in the past. On Sunday, he was Switzerland, playing the neutrality card when asked what he saw transpire.

"I love Joey. I think he’s a good little racer; he works really hard, too," Busch said. "I have no comment to it because I didn’t see any of the first incident and I didn’t see anything afterwards. I just heard the crowd.

"It’s a little disheartening that we all can’t just get along."

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Five-time Bristol winner scores a fourth-place finish in Food City 500

BRISTOL, Tenn. — The best remedy for trouble on the race track, Kurt Busch said, is a fast car.

“And we had just that,” the former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion said after a fourth-place run in Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

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Busch, who etched his name in the NASCAR record book as the first winner of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup format back in 2004, had to fight his way through two loose wheel issues during the 500-lap race. He had to battle back after going two laps down on a track where two seconds can be an eternity.

And given his Furniture Row Racing team’s difficult start to the season, the odds of leaving the 0.533-mile track with anything resembling a decent finish seemed unlikely.

Then again, he did have a fast car. 

“We were coming at the end. I mean we were bad fast,” said Busch, a five-time winner at Bristol.

It was the first top five for Busch since his third-place result last year at Sonoma while driving for Phoenix Racing. It was the first top five for Furniture Row (and just the fourth in 203 starts) since former driver Regan Smith’s fifth-place run at Talladega in 2012. 

Rather than erupt when the wheel issues surfaced, Busch chose to stay focused instead. Although he admitted his first thoughts were “Here’s more crap,” Busch said, “you just hope you can dig through it and at least post a top 10. We battled back; things went our way.”

In the end, it was another on-track issue — contact with Penske Racing driver Joey Logano –- that allowed Busch and the team the opportunity to get set up for a late-race charge.

“We ran into Logano with less than 50 to go; we had damage and we had to pit,” he said. “I’m like ‘what else?’ But that allowed us to be off sequence (on pit stops); we put on four fresh tires on and we battled back.

“We probably wouldn’t have even put four on if we hadn’t had the damage, so we had to drop back and punt. And that was the best call to make.”

While he had one of the fastest cars in the closing laps of the race, what Busch didn’t have was time. The previous pit stop was a necessity; unfortunately, it left him with too few laps to try and catch the lead pack of eventual race winner Kasey Kahne, runner-up Kyle Busch and defending series champ Brad Keselowski.

“We were just too far behind from the pit stop,” he said. “But we had four fresh tires and we were on offense.

“And when you can put on tires and pass a lot of guys at the end of the race, it makes you feel good.”

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Posted on by Nascar

Second in points, streak is Junior’s best start since 2008

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. wasn’t entirely satisfied with his sixth-place finish in Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, but said he was pleased that he was able to ease out of town with his fourth consecutive top 10.

And a lot of the credit, he said, should go to crew chief Steve Letarte, whose late-race pit calls helped get the 38-year-old driver in position to race his way back into contention.

“We need to do a little bit better; (I’m) not real satisfied with the overall performance,” the Hendrick Motorsports driver said, “but what Steve does on pit road is magic every week. He’s pretty sharp.”

"It was good to finally have it go our way."

— Steve Letarte, No. 88 crew chief

Earnhardt is now second in the point standings after four races in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series. He trails defending series champion Brad Keselowski by nine points (166-157).

Hendrick teammate Jimmie Johnson, the previous points leader, finished 22nd due to a late-race problem and dropped to third in points.

It was Earnhardt’s best finish since placing fifth on the fast, high-banked half-mile in 2008.

Starting deep in the field at a race track that had been cleaned of rubber by overnight rains, Earnhardt raced his way into 12th by Lap 75 of the 500-lap event. Traffic and track position, however, kept him from moving forward until the latter stages of the race began to play out.

He was 18th with just under 100 laps remaining, and just outside the top 10 when the race resumed with 40 laps left on the board.

“We didn’t loosen the car up enough as the race went on,” he said. “Steve saw what was happening there and the last couple of adjustments really helped me. And I was able to take a little bit better tires and get around some guys and make some ground up and salvage a good finish. …  The last 150 laps he made a lot of good pit calls — two or three that really put us in position to get that finish.”

Letarte said it was a combination of things finally coming together at a track where the team has been mostly mediocre in recent outings.

“Luckily it came out way,” he said. “We’ve really struggled with completing good races here. We’ve had better cars here. We’ve made pit-road mistakes, pit strategy mistakes. It was good to finally have it go our way.

“I wish we had had a little better car … maybe we could have finally won one. But to finish sixth with about a 10th-place car, that’s always a good day.”

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Posted on by Staff Report

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Posted on by Staff Report

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Posted on by Staff Report

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Posted on by Staff Report

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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