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Archive for the ‘Ranting and Raving’ Category

Hey all.  Just got back from vacation the other day.  It was great having no Internet access for over a week!  Anyway, we got ourselves a night race at Atlanta this weekend, not the Darlington Labor Day Classic I know but certainly better than the California Labor Day day race for sure!

Have any of you noticed that the series’ big money winner so far at 5.2 million, Jamie McMurray isn’t even in the top 12?  Hmm … something to be said for consistency.

Starting line-up after the jump.

Oh, and my pick for the win is Jimmie Johnson while my dark horse pick is Jamie McMurray.

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	SPEED	TIME	BEHIND
1	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	Sport Clips	187.380	29.587	Leader
2	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	U.S. Army Reserve	187.070	29.636	-0.049
3	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	Pedigree	187.064	29.637	-0.050
4	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Aflac	186.881	29.666	-0.079
5	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Office Depot / Old Spice	186.881	29.666	-0.079
6	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	186.818	29.676	-0.089
7	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools	186.711	29.693	-0.106
8	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	Huggies	186.711	29.693	-0.106
9	6	David Ragan	Ford	UPS	186.692	29.696	-0.109
10	9	Kasey Kahne	Ford	Budweiser / Valvoline	186.667	29.700	-0.113
11	2	Kurt Busch	Dodge	Miller Lite	186.234	29.769	-0.182
12	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	McDonald’s	186.171	29.779	-0.192
13	00	David Reutimann	Toyota	Aaron’s Outdoors Mossy Oak	186.128	29.786	-0.199
14	33	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	BB&T	186.040	29.800	-0.213
15	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	3M Scotch-Blue Painter’s Tape	185.978	29.810	-0.223
16	43	A.J. Allmendinger	Ford	Insignia HDTV / Best Buy	185.972	29.811	-0.224
17	5	Mark Martin	Chevrolet	Carquest / Go Daddy.com	185.238	29.929	-0.342
18	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation / DuPont	184.911	29.982	-0.395
19	98	Paul Menard	Ford	Quaker State / Menards	184.892	29.985	-0.398
20	82	Scott Speed	Toyota	Red Bull	184.757	30.007	-0.420
21	77	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dodge	Mobil 1	184.726	30.012	-0.425
22	19	Elliott Sadler	Ford	Stanley	184.671	30.021	-0.434
23	46	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	Whitney Motorsports	184.603	30.032	-0.445
24	71	Bobby Labonte	Chevrolet	TaxSlayer.com	184.572	30.037	-0.450
25	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	National Guard / Amp Energy	184.437	30.059	-0.472
26	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	184.431	30.060	-0.473
27	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	Furniture Row Companies	184.333	30.076	-0.489
28	12	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	Penske Racing	184.290	30.083	-0.496
29	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Shell / Pennzoil	184.272	30.086	-0.499
30	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	Crown Royal Black	184.186	30.100	-0.513
31	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	The Home Depot	184.143	30.107	-0.520
32	47	Marcos Ambrose	Toyota	Little Debbie	184.058	30.121	-0.534
33	83	Reed Sorenson	Toyota	Red Bull	183.503	30.212	-0.625
34	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	FrontRowJoe.com	183.097	30.279	-0.692
35	26	Patrick Carpentier	Ford	Air National Guard	183.055	30.286	-0.699
36	37	David Gilliland	Ford	Taco Bell	183.043	30.288	-0.701
37	38	Dave Blaney	Ford	A&W All American Food	182.982	30.298	-0.711
38	36	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	Tommy Baldwin Racing	182.904	30.311	-0.724
39	55	Mike Bliss	Toyota	Prism Motorsports	182.880	30.315	-0.728
40	21	Bill Elliott	Ford	FordParts.com	182.380	30.398	-0.811
41	34	Travis Kvapil+	Ford	Long John Silver’s	181.111	30.611	-1.024
42	7	Kevin Conway+*	Toyota	Extenze	177.573	31.221	-1.634
43	13	Casey Mears	Toyota	GEICO	182.326	30.407	-0.820
Did Not Qualify
44	132	Jason Leffler	Toyota	Braun Racing	181.777	30.499	-0.912
45	09	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	Phoenix Construction	181.562	30.535	-0.948
46	66	Scott Riggs	Toyota	Prism Motorsports	181.123	30.609	-1.022
47	164	Todd Bodine	Toyota	Gunselman Motorsports	181.029	30.625	-1.038

+ Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rookie

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  This week NASCAR is in Atlanta for a night race. After a full day of practice and qualifying, Denny Hamlin captured the pole and Ryan Newman will start P2.

jpmontoya   had a good day today. car felt pretty good, its always fun here in atlanta!!!!

keselowski  Could have qualified better today but they don’t give points for qualifying. Feel good about my cars for the races

KevinHarvick  Been a long day both cars are fairly good in race trim.

TravisKvapil  Kind of a rough day in practice. LJS car was a little off when we got here, we made a lot of adjustments and are much better.

maxpapis  Pleased that Casey made the show in Cup but man he made me sweat it was close.

jjyeley1  well we made it! not as good as we should have. The car was pretty loose thru 3 &4. Todays “Speed Dice” number was 7. congats if you won!

BradCColeman  Look at the starting grid. Is everyone sure this isn’t a cup race?

Have a great weekend and enjoy the race.

   NASCAR Ranting and Raving’s NASCAR Driver Twitter List  

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The Nationwide boys head to Atlanta, GA!  Well, really Hampton, GA.  But close enough.  Atlanta is another one of those fine tracks that hosts all three of Nascar’s premier leagues. 

This week The Camping World guys were in Kentucky so it’s just the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races there this weekend. 

Last year it was Kevin Harvick who won this race.  He’s back again to try to make it two in a row.  That feat has only been done twice in the Nationwide series at Atlanta.  Jeff Burton won back to back in ’06 and ’07.  And King Nationwide Mark Martin won back to back in 97 and 98. 

There are four drivers entered this weekend who have won at Atlanta in the Nationwide Series – Harvick, Matt Kenseth (’08, ’04), Carl Edwards (’05), and Joe Nemechek (’01).  Atlanta happens to be the site of one of the greatest days of my race watching life.  Back in 2000, my favorite driver Jerry Nadeau scored his first and only Sprint Cup victory driving the Michael Holigan #25 Chevy.  I remember losing feeling in my hands I was so excited.  Hopefully everyone reading this has had that moment in their race watching lives.  I’ve had a few, but that was the one that cemented my love for racing forever.

Entry List and more after the JUMP!

Just a few note worthy driver changes:

Ryan Newman returns to the #1 Chevy this week.  Newman has 4 straight DNFs in that car and is looking for a turnaround this week.

Jon Wes Townley returns to the #09 Ford, fresh off it’s first ever victory last week.

Jason Leffler returns to the #10 Toyota, as Kasey Kahne races in the 38.

Matt Kenseth returns to the #16 this week.  Colin Braun remains with the team, but will be pulled from the car in 4 of the last 10 races in favor of Kenseth for 1 more and Erik Darnell for 3.  I happen to know Darnell personally, just not enough for him to pick me out of a crowd.  Darnell raced for one year out at the Slinger Speedway in Wisconsin in an all red #7 car.  He was good, but didn’t stick around for long.  Nice guy who has been shuffled back in Roush’s driver stable in my opinion.

Clint Bowyer returns to the #21 again this week.  Richard Childress has officially combined Morgan Shepherd’s Faith Motorsports with RCR’s Nationwide team, thus forming Shepherd Racing Ventures.  Morgan’s #89 Chevy will get even more RCR support for the remainder of the year.

Eric McClure is back in the #24 after DJ Kennington brought it home strong last week.

Brad Baker is back to start and park the #27 Ford.

David Gilliland will make his first attempt for the #42 Dodge this week.  Parker Kligerman normally runs Team #42.  No word on why Gilly is driving for the part time team.

Kevin Hamlin is in the #61 this week.  Possibly, sorry Probably a start and park effort this week.

That about wraps that up, Join us 6:30pm today, under the lights, from Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Great Clips 300 live on ESPN2! Enjoy!

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Whew, that is one long title!

A couple of quick notes:

Is Austin Dillion that good or has RCR stepped up their truck program?

Kyle Busch wasn’t even supposed to be at this race and now he is … I wonder if it is because the Cup Series will be there next year and he just wants more seat time.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to pry the remote from my kids to watch the race tonight because they’ll be watching Camp Rock 2!

Starting line-up after the jump:

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	SPEED	TIME	BEHIND
1	3	Austin Dillon*	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Remington Arms / Tracker	175.177	30.826	Leader
2	13	Johnny Sauter	Chevrolet	Curb Records	175.160	30.829	-0.003
3	5	Mike Skinner	Toyota	International Trucks / Monaco RV	175.103	30.839	-0.013
4	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	Dollar General / Toyota Tundra	174.882	30.878	-0.052
5	51	Aric Almirola	Toyota	Zyclara by Graceway Pharmaceutica- ls	173.656	31.096	-0.270
6	90	Donny Lia	Toyota	Doug Stringer Motorsports	173.166	31.184	-0.358
7	7	Justin Lofton*	Toyota	VisitPIT.com	173.055	31.204	-0.378
8	33	Ron Hornaday	Chevrolet	E-Z-Go 2Five Street Legal Vehicle	172.745	31.260	-0.434
9	4	Ricky Carmichael	Chevrolet	Monster Energy	172.678	31.272	-0.446
10	88	Matt Crafton	Chevrolet	SealBest / Menards	172.518	31.301	-0.475
11	31	James Buescher	Chevrolet	Wolfpack Rentals	172.441	31.315	-0.489
12	17	Timothy Peters	Toyota	Red Horse Racing	171.663	31.457	-0.631
13	23	Jason White	Ford	ASI Limited / Akzo Nobel	171.537	31.480	-0.654
14	30	Todd Bodine	Toyota	Germain.com	171.472	31.492	-0.666
15	2	Shelby Howard	Chevrolet	Foretravel Motorcoach	171.390	31.507	-0.681
16	60	Stacy Compton	Chevrolet	SafeAuto Ins. Co. / Wyler.com	170.568	31.659	-0.833
17	187	Chris Jones	Chevrolet	Copy Wizard	170.326	31.704	-0.878
18	41	Steve Park	Toyota	Van Dyk Baler Corp. / Bollegraaf	169.763	31.809	-0.983
19	172	John Jackson	Chevrolet	James Carter Attorney / SponsorTheTruck.com	169.561	31.847	-1.021
20	21	David Starr	Toyota	Allegro Marinade	169.539	31.851	-1.025
21	177	Miguel Paludo	Toyota	Germain Racing	169.162	31.922	-1.096
22	47	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	Fuel Doctor USA	169.025	31.948	-1.122
23	182	Paddy Rodenbeck	Chevrolet	Integrity Global Security	168.797	31.991	-1.165
24	192	Dennis Setzer	Chevrolet	fleetHQ.com / BTS Tire & Wheel Distributors	168.581	32.032	-1.206
25	93	Mike Garvey	Chevrolet	S&W Towing	168.345	32.077	-1.251
27	85	Brent Raymer	Ford	Ford. Drive one.	166.940	32.347	-1.521
27	39	Ryan Sieg	Chevrolet	S&W Towing	167.364	32.265	-1.439
28	95	Tim Andrews	Dodge	Team Gill Racing	166.795	32.375	-1.549
29	12	Mario Gosselin	Chevrolet	TireMonkey.com / James Carter Attorney	166.692	32.395	-1.569
30	10	Jennifer Jo Cobb*	Ford	drivenmale.com / DriverBoutique.com	165.680	32.593	-1.767
31	6	Carl Long	Chevrolet	Kisses4Kate.org	165.188	32.690	-1.864
32	46	Clay Greenfield	Dodge	Team Gill Racing	163.498	33.028	-2.202
33	07	Butch Miller+	Chevrolet	SS Green Light Racing	162.338	33.264	-2.438
34	57	Norm Benning+	Chevrolet	Norm Benning Racing	156.408	34.525	-3.699
35	01	Chris Lafferty+	Chevrolet	Koma Unwind Chillaxation Drink	155.204	34.793	-3.967
36	244	Will Kimmel III	Ford	Lucas Oil Products	166.287	32.474	-1.648
Did Not Qualify
37	74	Derrike Cope	Dodge	Becker Law Firm / Charter	166.057	32.519	-1.693
38	89	Mike Harmon	Ford	Blue Ox / Lafferty Performance	164.359	32.855	-2.029

+ Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rookie

via nascar.com

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Hi folks!
These last two weeks have been a madhouse (sadly, not Bowman-Gray) for me. I got called to Portland, Oregon for a consulting gig last week and then while I was there I got a call from a lovely lady named Sheryl who is the founder of  the Helle Nice Foundation. Helle Nice was a French female race car driver in the 1930′s who came over and hit a circuit of race tracks. The Foundation found me and needed emergency research on the tracks that she had raced at during her stay in the good old United States. They were almost all fairground dirt tracks, with a board track thrown in there too. 

My knowledge of the European traditions that inspired early American racing is more attuned to the beginnings of stock car traditions, but I do know my tracks and was able to help out. Before I write my little piece for tonight, I want to give you a few websites. Here is the Helle Nice Foundation; they are laying a memorial marker at Helle’s unmarked grave this weekend in France. And boy, friends, do I wish I could go too! 

Here are some of the folks that helped me out a whole bunch with last minute research. They have some great forums to dig through! Go say hi! 3WidePIctureVault  and the folks over at LocalRaceChat  Actually, I have loads of links to people if anyone is interested. 

Let’s talk a little bit about Georgia and a little bit of a different kind of heritage, shall we?

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Boris Said has been teaching short track kids how to turn right for over a decade. 

Until Sunday, Boris had only one touring series win ever,  the 1998 Craftsman Truck series race at Sonoma.  That year was also the last time Boris Said was an actual full time driver in any NASCAR series. 

Boris has 11 years of Cup Series expirence, but has never driven more than 9 races in a single year.  But that doesn’t mean that Boris is not a great driver. He’s just better known as a Road Course ringer than a full time driver.

Hundreds have received lessons in road racing from Boris Said. It was time for the master to show them how it’s done. After Marcos Ambrose yet again suffered heartbreak in Canada, this time thanks to an electrical problem, it seemed that this was going to come down to Carl Edwards and Robby Gordon.

Jacques Villeneuve and Max Papis looked to challenge the two Cup regulars, but both road ringers were having problems keeping up. Montreal would not allow Edwards to win back to back.  A track bar broke on the no. 60 Ford.  Once it broke, the rear tires began to shift violently in the rear of the car.  Edwards went into the pits, lost a lap and when all was said and done, Edwards was 4 laps down. 

He managed to finish the race, but his 20th place finish put his championship hopes further out of reach. 

Then there was Robby Gordon. Gordon started alongside Max Papis with just 7 to go.  As they hit the turn, Gordon ran Papis right into the grass. This is a move that Mr. Gordon has used to great avail many times in the past. But Papis didn’t relent, he drove through the grass and right back into the path of Gordon. Due to the move, Jason Leffler was hit by teammate Jacques Villeneuve, and Colin Braun was collected.

Caution. 

Gordon was now running low on gas, but felt he could make it.  That was until Trevor Bayne got into J.R. Fitzpatrick and Jason Leffler blew up, causing a red flag. You could make the case that Gordon’s move caused both accidents, since Leffler blew because of the damage he took in that wreck. 

The incident would be Gordon’s undoing.  When the feild got back under way, Gordon ran out of gas.  He would finish 14th, two laps down. Ambrose just may have smiled.

That set up a wild finish that saw Boris Said in the Zaxby’s Ford battling with Max Papis in the Rheem Chevy, and Jacques Villeneuve in the Dollar General Toyota.  Boris and Papis would battle side by side to the flag, where Boris would out run Papis by a fender. 

Something the ESPN announce team failed to tell you was that not only was it Boris Said’s first Nationwide victory, but it was also RAB Racing’s first ever Nascar Victory.  The 09 has never won in 53 starts. 

I loved this race, but ESPN let me down big.  They talked to Papis, who was great as always, and Villeneuve, then gave a very weak interview with Boris Said before cutting to basketball.  Not to mention the very weak qualifing coverage.  There was no more then 6 cars on track at the same time during qualifing, yet ESPN failed to show every driver making a lap.  When Papis and Ambrose were out there, we didn’t even see Keselowski or Logano make a run.  Of the 46 cars making a lap, we saw maybe 20 of them.  It was incredibly biased and quite dissapointing.  They failed to talk about the fact that some of these guys had to race in on time, and even failed to tell us who failed to qualify.  I had to go online just to see that Stanton Barrett, Kevin O’Connell and Canada’s own Pierre Bourque failed to make the race.  What a joke.  Bad broadcasting failed to take away from a one of a kind race though.

Results and more after the JUMP!

Keselowski had one of the hardest fought top 5′s I’ve seen all year.  There was nothing left of Keso’s car when he crossed the line, and I’m pretty sure if they would of had one more lap, that car would have fallen apart.  The 2011 debut of Andrew Ranger and Justin Marks was rather uneventful.  Both were out before lap 14. 

The race for the top 30 got a bit more interesting.  With Boris Said winning, that propelled the RAB Ford from 28th up to 24th in owner points.  A bad day by both the 35 and 81 kept Keller in and McDowell out.  Here’s how they stack up:

That’s all for this week.  Join us next week when the Nationwide Boys head to Atlanta for the Great Clips 300.  Enjoy!

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This week the Nationwide Series heads North to Montreal.  This is one of the dates that I have circled on my Nationwide Schedule.  It does happen to be funny that the series that actually goes outside of the US is called Nationwide and the Sprint Cup drivers never go north or south of US borders.  The Montreal race does offer Canadian Drivers a chance to be seen on the big screen in America.  I’ll get to our Canadian Brothers after the jump.  This race, now in it’s 4th year running, has only once been won by a Canadian driver.  Ron Fellows took it in 2008. Carl Edwards is the defending champion of this race.  It’s road course racing at it’s best.

Entry List and more after the JUMP!

Canadian Patrick Carpenter will attempt to qualify the 00 for Michael Waltrip Racing. 

Victor Gonzales returns to the 05 this week.

Canadian J.R. Fitzpatrick returns to the 7 this week.

Robby Gordon will be making his first Nationwide Attempt of 2010 in the 07 Chevy.

Boris Said returns to the 09 this week.

Alex Kennedy returns to the 23 this week.

Canadian D. J. Kennington will try to qualify Eric McClure’s 24 Ford this week.  Kennington drove last year for the 81 team in 6 races.  His one race for Specialty Racing last year was here at Montreal where he crashed out of the event.

Parker Kligerman will race Brian Keselowski’s 26 this week.

I’ve very excited about this one, It’s the return of two time Canadian Tire Champion Andrew Ranger.  We have all seen Ranger’s Tide/Walmart 27 car on the side of Nascar R&R.  Ranger drove at Montreal last year in the 11 Toyota and finished 3rd.  He drove for the now defunct FitzBradshaw racing in 2008, where he made 5 starts with a best finish of 19th at Bristol.  Ranger will be driving in the Baker Curb #27 DODGE. Meaning that Ranger will not only take his Canadian Tire Number to Nationwide, he will also take his Manufacturer.  Keep an eye on Ranger this week.  He could wind up taking this one.

Kevin O’Connell will make his first attempt in the 31 this year.  O’Connell raced at Elkhart Lake earlier this year for Baker Curb but blew and engine.

Canada’s best chance at a victory this week is Jacques Villeneuve.  He returns to the 32 this week. 

Italy’s Max Papis will drive Kevin Harvick’s 33 Chevy this week.  Papis has a great chance of showing that he belongs in Nascar with a good run here.

Tony Ave returns to the 35 this week.

Stanton Barrett returns to the 41 this week.

Currently 7th in ARCA points, driver Justin Marks will make his first 2010 Attempt in the Baker Curb 43 Ford. Marks raced in 5 races last year for Braun Racing’s 10 Toyota but didn’t fare to well. 

Marcos Ambrose will return to the track this week in the 47 Toyota.  I know I said that Watkins Glen was Ambrose’s final race for JTG Daugherty in the Nationwide Series, but they made a liar out of me.  Ambrose will run Little Debbie colors this week.

Joey Scarallo will make his 3rd attempt in Nationwide as he returns to the 52 Chevy this week.

Kyle Kelley returns with his 59 team this week.

Canada’s own Pierre Bourque will make his first ever attempt at a Nationwide Race in the 61 Ford.  Bourque is currently 11th in the Canadian Tire Point Standings.

2009 Trans Am Champion and current SCCA driver Tomy Drissi will make his first ever NASCAR attempt this week.  Drissi will drive a second MacDonald Motorsports entry this week.  Drissi owns an advertising firm that makes movie displays for Cinemas.  That may be why Wall Street: The Movie is the sponsor of the 82.

Currently 3rd in the K&N Pro Series Points, Paulie Harraka will make his first ever Nationwide race this week as he drives for Joe Nemechek in the 87 Chevy.  Harraka has 3 wins in the K&N series, so don’t count him out just because he’s in the NEMCO Chevy.

Canada’s Ron Fellows, the guy who won this race two years ago, will be in the Canadian Tire 88 Chevy for JR Motorsports.  Fellows finished 2nd at Watkins Glen, 6th at Elkhart Lake, both in the 88.  Fellows is not one to count out of this one.  Ron has 4 career Nationwide wins.

Brett Rowe will pilot the 89 this week, as Morgan Shepherd is in the 21 this week.

With Harraka in the 87, Joe Nemechek will drive a second NEMCO Chevy this week.  The 97. If Jeff Green makes it in on time, Joe Nemechek would be able to use a Past Champions Provisional if Joe can’t qualify on time.

Wow, I’m outta breath.  That was a lot of different drivers this week.  This is your last chance to see great Road Course Racing this year, so don’t miss it.  Tune in Sunday at 2pm eastern to ESPN2 for the Napa Auto Parts 200 from Montreal, Quebec, Canada and the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.  Enjoy!

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It took Kyle Busch 28 starts in 2008 to tie a single season record for wins in the Nationwide Series with 10.  Sam Ard is the other driver to do that feat.  In 2010 it only took 20 races for Kyle to tie his and Sam Ard’s record.  That leaves another 12 starts for Kyle to try and break the record. 

Busch fought hard to secure his second win of the week at Bristol and ended up sweeping the weekend. There is no doubt that Busch is making a case for himself as best Short Track Racer alive today today. Love him or hate him, Busch commands respect.  He may lack the stoic poise that we come to expect from a champion, but there is no doubt that he is one of the top 5 racers of this generation.

Kyle could very well be the first in a new line of NASCAR Champions. The type that ooze personality and refuse to fit into the cookie cutter mold of Champ.  But lets not forget, Dale Earnhardt wasn’t your average champ. Nor was Jeff Gordon or Darrell Waltrip. They were all outspoken and often disliked. That’s not even mentioning their shared ‘Move of get Moved’ mentality of racing.

But this article isn’t about what Kyle may be able to do. It’s about what Kyle did on Friday at Bristol. It was a wild race, fitting of the Bristol name.  Although it didn’t always seem that way.

It appeared that everyone was going to behave up until lap 84. That’s when Kasey Kahne, Justin Allgaier and Trevor Bayne decided to take it three-wide into turn three. Robert Richardson was slow in the high lane, when Allgaier checked up into the side of Kasey Kahne.  Both hit the wall and Kahne rode the wall.  Kasey’s day was done, but Allgaier’s was far from over.  With 93 laps to go, Lap traffic almost ended Clint Bowyer’s day as Sean Caisse and Joe Nemechek spun together. 

I agree with everything ESPN had to say on Friday evening up until a certain point. They claim that Mike Wallace “Checked up” and clipped Bowyer’s front end, sending Wallace into Caisse and Nemechek. I say that Clint checked and spun Wallace.

If Wallace checked, he would have bounced off the wall and Bowyer would have drove right by him. That didn’t happen. What did happen was that Wallace was running his line and Bowyer tried to tuck under him and misjudged the amount of room. Bowyer turned Wallace, but not intentionally.  It’s possible that Wallace slowed and that’s why Bowyer clipped him, but ESPN seemed to either miss this point or discarded it entirely.

With 60 laps to go Justin Allgaier got wide and T-Boned Josh Wise. Allgaier would eventually have to take his Verizon entry to the garage.

With 32 to go, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch were battling for the lead. Busch completed the pass low, then tried to cut in front of Keselowski. Kyle got wide and let out of the throttle. Brad never was able to ‘whoa’ the car down completely.  Kesolowski could have let of the gas and they both could have continued.

But instead, Busch got hit and he brushed the outside wall. He came back down and spun Kesolowski to the inside.  Now, Brad didn’t deserve that for what he did to Kyle, but Kesolowski has made several enemies and made a lot of mental errors since beginning his NASCAR career. Perhaps this was mere karma.

With 25 to go, Joey Logano got a bad restart and the field gobbled him up. He almost took Dale Jr with him, but instead got turned by Jason Leffler. Not Jason’s fault, since Logano was three-wide by himself.  Joey spun and the field bunched up behind him. Reed Sorenson, Paul Menard, Steve Wallace, Michael Annett, Bowyer, and Keselowski were all tangled up. The latter had considerable damage to his rear but was able to finish the race in 14th.

With 15 to go, Brian Scott and Brendon Gaughan were victims of a bad check up from Reed Sorenson.  This set up a great 10 lap shootout for the win, in which the damaged no. 18 Toyota was able to dominate

Race Results and more after the JUMP!

I know that there is no way that so many guys had brake problems.  The 36, 26, 91, 90, 73, and 0 all start and parked.  It’s sad when you think about the fact that McClure, Morgan Shepherd, and Ryan Hackett would have tried to finish the race.

We found out that as long as Nascar doesn’t try to limit the amount of Cup guys in the Nationwide Series that Carl Edwards will attempt to run the full season in 2011.

Robby Gordon has announced that he will attempt the Montreal Race and K&N pro series driver Paul Harraka will drive Joe Nemechek’s 87 Chevy at Montreal.  Why am I talking about Montreal? Because next week the Nationwide Drivers will head to our Northern Neighbors for the NAPA Auto Parts 250 from Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.  This is another great chance to see some awesome Road Course racing.  Expect to see some of our Road Ringers out there again.  I really hope that eventually we get to see a Cup race up in Canada.  Check back later in the week for a Preview of the Napa Auto Parts 250.

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“Busch took advantage of Brad being on probation and wrecked him. It isn’t fair!”

That is how the pro-Brad Keselowski – or rather, the anti-Kyle Busch sect of NASCAR fans has expressed it’s displeasure with the Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s method of winning Friday night’s Food City 250 at the Bristol Motor Speedway. In their view, Busch, knowing full and well that Keselowski would be unable to pay back Busch’s “dump and run” without risking NASCAR sanction, exploited Keselowski’s plight and sent the Penske Racing Dodge for a ride.

First of all, to think that – on a track where laps are turned at a 16-second clip, or faster - Busch had enough time to process that thought and act upon it as quickly as the entire situation on lap 219 played out is ludicrous.

Second of all, even if he had, it is a situation Keselowski created for himself.

Over the last three months of the 2009 season, Brad Keselowski could have charitably been described as a weapon. While his chief nemesis was Busch’s Sprint Cup teammate, Denny Hamlin, it seemed that Keselowski raced without much regard for who he ran into and where they – and the cars behind them - ended up.

Exhibit A, perhaps, would be the Kroger 250, held at Memphis Motorsports Park – an event Keselowski won after creating no fewer than three accidents with what could arguably be called over-the-top aggressiveness, three-quarters of a mile short track or not.

The prosecution’s star witness could be Hamlin or any number of drivers, but a DA would more likely opt for the fabricators for the many Nationwide teams impacted by Keselowski’s rough riding.

The fabricators for the #88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet that Keselowski had driven would have little defense at all, however, save for a crinkled rear bumper cover sustained at the Homestead-Miami Speedway when Hamlin perfectly played the role of a vigilante crusader right down to the black suit. As Hamlin put it, one would have thought that he, not Busch, had won the Ford 300.

One victim of the Memphis carnage was Carl Edwards, up to this weekend the man who had taken center stage in the the second act of the Brad Keselowski Saga.

Keselowski’s #12 Dodge flying through the air at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, courtesy of Edwards, even made World News Tonight, with Diane Sawyer questioning whether Carl had gone too far. A last-lap clash between the two left fans fuming and Bob Keselowski, Brad’s father and a former racer himself, threatening to take care of Edwards himself.

And yet, one has to consider that the only person who created this situation for Brad Keselowski is Brad Keselowski.

Sure, he can make his martyr-like claims that he will not be pushed around, fenders and fellow competitors be damned, an attitude that served him well in the short term.

However, the long-term side effects of such an attitude and the actions that accompany them will far outweigh any satisfaction Keselowski gained from his Memphis victory, positions he collected with his front-bumper, and the puffed-out chest bravado with which he declared that he was Brad By-God Keselowski and no one was going to cow him.

And as long as he performs as he has thus far on the Sprint Cup side in 2010, where he has been little more than an afterthought since the Atlanta accident, it is unlikely that he will be taken as much more than a big-mouthed kid who’s talent isn’t as fast as his tongue.

There is something to admire about Keselowski’s style, but that “me against the world” mantra grows tired quickly, especially when you haven’t collected a top ten in the big show all season. His 2009 Cup performance, in which he won at Talladega and scored three other top-ten finishes, was left in 2009.

What wasn’t left there was the feelings he created over the course of the final three months of that season, and further proof of that was served on Friday night. One can argue that Kyle Busch might have dumped anyone in that situation, but it also bears consideration that when Busch felt the contact to his rear bumper and glanced off the backstretch wall, the fact that it was Keselowski on the other end played a role in his decision to retaliate.

Besides, had Busch really wanted to crash Keselowski, he had plenty of opportunities as they raced side by side for several laps prior.

To decry that Busch unfairly used Keselowski’s probation against him is baseless. Keselowski’s past over-aggression led him to his current situation, and rather than crying that he is being taken advantage of, his partisans should instead be thankful that a sticker declaring “Open Season” hasn’t been placed onto his race cars and uniforms.

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Thuder Valley.

The very name of Bristol Motor Speedway is reminiscent of danger, excitement and drama. The finishes are some of NASCAR’s most used highlights and the winners go on to become the sport’s most prominent champions.

Wallace, Earnhardt, Gordon and Busch have all tamed Bristol and followed it up with Cup Series Championships. Who joins them on the winner’s list of NASCAR’s hardest ticket?

Find out after the jump!

Bristol was resurfaced between races in 2007 and hasn’t been the same since. Since the renovations, Bristol has become a follow-the-leader affair in the same vein of Texas and Charlotte. But at Bristol, that leader has typically been Kurt Busch.

The elder Busch has absolutely dominated Bristol. Since 2001, Kurt has compiled five wins, six top fives and an average finish of 13.2. His driver rating of 96.1 is the fifth best in the series and a win tonight could have him join Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick as A+ Championship contenders.

Speaking of Harvick, the points leader is coming off a win at Michigan and is now officially locked in the Chase. Harvick could miss the next three races and still start the Chase for the Championship as low as fifth.

Expect Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon to battle for the top ten with pole-sitter Jimmie Johnson (94.5 driver rating) the unlikely dark horse. The official pick of this writer is the streaky Greg Biffle who is the owner of a 101.2 driver rating in the Bristol soup bowl

Pre-race coverage was provided by ESPN Countdown and SPEED Raceday. Live prerace coverage has already begun on ABC. Green flag is set for 7:15 with Marty Reid, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree providing the call.

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