NASCAR/INDY/NHRA/LeMans/Rolex Track Talk
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05-18-2009, 02:25 PM
NASCAR/INDY/NHRA/LeMans/Rolex Track Talk
Track Talk for the weekend of May 15 - 17
THE BIG STORY:Tony Stewart won Saturday night's 25th Sprint All-Star Challenge at Charlotte's Lowe's Motor Speedway, the first victory for his new ownership alliance with Gene Haas. Stewart collected $1 million for the non-points triumph. Matt Kenseth was second, followed by Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards.
Also: Valvoline signed a multi-year contract extension with the Don Schumacher Racing NHRA teams… J.J. Yeley is the interim replacement driver of Jeremy Mayfield's No. 41 Toyota… Greg Hodnett won his first World of Outlaws event in almost five years Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway… Simona De Silvestro won her second career Atlantics race Sunday at Utah's Miller Motorsports Park. I hear that Dirty `Tony dedicated his Win to MCF Race Reporter `Jamie Lynn
NASCAR Sprint Cup SeriesJeff Burton's No. 31 Chevrolet crew won the Thursday night Pit Challenge at 22.115 seconds vs. Reed Sorenson's No. 43 Dodge team's 23.839 seconds. Saturday night at Charlotte, Sam Hornish Jr. won the preliminary 40-lap All-Star Showdown. Jamie McMurray was second and also advanced to the main event. Jimmie Johnson started on the pole and led all 50 green-flag laps in the first segment, including after a mandatory pit stop after 25 laps. But Kyle Busch was the leader after pit stops for the lap 51 restart. He led all of segment two, to a lap-70 yellow. Some pitted, some didn't, with Busch among those staying out. On lap two of segment three, Greg Biffle, Johnson and Hornish bounced off the wall, forcing the first caution. Jeff Gordon passed Busch on lap 12 of the 20-lap segment and stayed in front. A 10-minute pause, allowing crews to adjust their cars, came before the 10-lap final shootout. Johnson spun. On lap 94, Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch and Gordon got three-wide going through the tri-oval and crashed. Gordon was eliminated. Matt Kenseth led until two laps were left, when Tony Stewart got under him, and went on to win by .971 second. He averaged 99.137 mph.
NASCAR Camping World Truck SeriesRon Hornaday Jr. came from a lap down to win Friday night's North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte. Hornaday's Chevrolet got caught when a yellow waved in the midst of green-flag pit stops. He came back to beat Kyle Busch's Toyota by 1.6 seconds. Matt Crafton was third in a Chevy. Mike Skinner's Tundra got upside-down when he spun and was hit by T.J. Bell on lap 34. There were no injuries but the accident forced a red flag. Hornaday averaged 121.125 mph with five yellows for 26 of the 134 laps. Hornaday is 84 points ahead of Skinner (29th).
IndyCar SeriesRookie Robert Doornbos, of Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, was the fastest second-weekend qualifier for the Indianapolis 500. He averaged 221.692 mph. Sunday, John Andretti - in Richard Petty's No. 43 entry - had to bump his way into the field of 33 (28th overall) with a 221.316 mph average. Milka Duno, Nelson Philippe and Ryan Hunter-Reay (220.597 mph) make up the last row. Buddy Lazier, the 1996 winner, didn't qualify.
NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing SeriesTony Schumacher, Del Worsham and Mike Edwards were the pro class winners in Sunday's Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol, Tenn. In Top Fuel, six-time champion Schumacher's Army car ran 3.385 seconds, 310.91 mph vs. Doug Kalitta's 3.879, 303.43 mph. Schumacher tops Antron Brown by 45 points. In Funny Car, Worsham's Toyota Camry went 4.075, 304.67 mph to Tony Pedregon's 4.152, 293.22 mph in a Chevrolet Impala. Jack Beckman qualified No. 10 in the Valvoline/MTS Dodge Charger and lost in round two. Ron Capps is 57 points clear of Worsham. In Pro Stock, Edwards' Pontiac GXP clocked 6.633, 207.72 mph against Greg Anderson's 6.658, 207.94 mph in a Pontiac. Ron Krisher qualified No. 7 in the Valvoline Chevrolet Cobalt and lost in the second round. Jeg Coughlin Jr. is 52 points ahead of Jason Line. Hot Rod Fuller will begin driving Bob Vandergriff Jr.'s Top Fuel car at the Route 66 event.
American Le Mans SeriesOn the one-year anniversary of the debut of his sports car team, Gil de Ferran combined with Simon Pagenaud to win Sunday's two-hour, 45-minute event at Utah's Miller Motorsports Park. The winners started on the pole, pulled out to an immediate lead in their P1 Acura, and cruised to a 73-second triumph over the Acura of David Brabham and Scott Sharp after 103 laps. That was the series' largest victory gap since 2005 at Laguna Seca. In P2, Adrian Fernandez in an Acura got around the Mazda of Butch Leitzinger in the closing minutes for the class win and third overall. In GT2, Patrick Long and Jorg Bergmeister won in a Porsche 911 RSR.
Rolex Sports Car SeriesSunday's Verizon Wireless Festival of Speed (two hours, 45 minutes) at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca went to Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty in a Pontiac-Riley. They finished 7.2 seconds ahead of the Lexus-Riley of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas. Max Angelelli and Brian Frisselle were third in a Ford-Dallara. The winners averaged 85.807 mph after 106 laps. Gurney and Fogarty are eight points ahead of David Donohue and Darren Law (eighth). In GT, the Mazda RX-8 of Nick Ham and Sylvain Tremblay won.
Valvoline Winners Last WeekendTony Schumacher, NHRA Top Fuel class, Bristol. Del Worsham, NHRA Funny Car class, Bristol.
Racer of the WeekDarian Grubb. Tony Stewart's crew chief made the right changes for a 10-lap run to put Stewart-Haas Racing into victory lane for the first time.
Yes, He REALLY Said ThatRoger Penske, on success at the Indy 500. "The one thing it does, I take my license plate that I have on my car, it says, 'Won Indy 14.'" I get to change it to, 'Won Indy 15'. So that's probably the biggest deal for me."
This WeekendIt's the year's most importart racing weekend. The Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 and Monaco Grand Prix run Sunday. NASCAR's Nationwide Series tries Charlotte on Saturday.
Source: Valvoline
THE BIG STORY:Tony Stewart won Saturday night's 25th Sprint All-Star Challenge at Charlotte's Lowe's Motor Speedway, the first victory for his new ownership alliance with Gene Haas. Stewart collected $1 million for the non-points triumph. Matt Kenseth was second, followed by Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards.
Also: Valvoline signed a multi-year contract extension with the Don Schumacher Racing NHRA teams… J.J. Yeley is the interim replacement driver of Jeremy Mayfield's No. 41 Toyota… Greg Hodnett won his first World of Outlaws event in almost five years Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway… Simona De Silvestro won her second career Atlantics race Sunday at Utah's Miller Motorsports Park. I hear that Dirty `Tony dedicated his Win to MCF Race Reporter `Jamie Lynn
NASCAR Sprint Cup SeriesJeff Burton's No. 31 Chevrolet crew won the Thursday night Pit Challenge at 22.115 seconds vs. Reed Sorenson's No. 43 Dodge team's 23.839 seconds. Saturday night at Charlotte, Sam Hornish Jr. won the preliminary 40-lap All-Star Showdown. Jamie McMurray was second and also advanced to the main event. Jimmie Johnson started on the pole and led all 50 green-flag laps in the first segment, including after a mandatory pit stop after 25 laps. But Kyle Busch was the leader after pit stops for the lap 51 restart. He led all of segment two, to a lap-70 yellow. Some pitted, some didn't, with Busch among those staying out. On lap two of segment three, Greg Biffle, Johnson and Hornish bounced off the wall, forcing the first caution. Jeff Gordon passed Busch on lap 12 of the 20-lap segment and stayed in front. A 10-minute pause, allowing crews to adjust their cars, came before the 10-lap final shootout. Johnson spun. On lap 94, Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch and Gordon got three-wide going through the tri-oval and crashed. Gordon was eliminated. Matt Kenseth led until two laps were left, when Tony Stewart got under him, and went on to win by .971 second. He averaged 99.137 mph.
NASCAR Camping World Truck SeriesRon Hornaday Jr. came from a lap down to win Friday night's North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte. Hornaday's Chevrolet got caught when a yellow waved in the midst of green-flag pit stops. He came back to beat Kyle Busch's Toyota by 1.6 seconds. Matt Crafton was third in a Chevy. Mike Skinner's Tundra got upside-down when he spun and was hit by T.J. Bell on lap 34. There were no injuries but the accident forced a red flag. Hornaday averaged 121.125 mph with five yellows for 26 of the 134 laps. Hornaday is 84 points ahead of Skinner (29th).
IndyCar SeriesRookie Robert Doornbos, of Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, was the fastest second-weekend qualifier for the Indianapolis 500. He averaged 221.692 mph. Sunday, John Andretti - in Richard Petty's No. 43 entry - had to bump his way into the field of 33 (28th overall) with a 221.316 mph average. Milka Duno, Nelson Philippe and Ryan Hunter-Reay (220.597 mph) make up the last row. Buddy Lazier, the 1996 winner, didn't qualify.
NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing SeriesTony Schumacher, Del Worsham and Mike Edwards were the pro class winners in Sunday's Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol, Tenn. In Top Fuel, six-time champion Schumacher's Army car ran 3.385 seconds, 310.91 mph vs. Doug Kalitta's 3.879, 303.43 mph. Schumacher tops Antron Brown by 45 points. In Funny Car, Worsham's Toyota Camry went 4.075, 304.67 mph to Tony Pedregon's 4.152, 293.22 mph in a Chevrolet Impala. Jack Beckman qualified No. 10 in the Valvoline/MTS Dodge Charger and lost in round two. Ron Capps is 57 points clear of Worsham. In Pro Stock, Edwards' Pontiac GXP clocked 6.633, 207.72 mph against Greg Anderson's 6.658, 207.94 mph in a Pontiac. Ron Krisher qualified No. 7 in the Valvoline Chevrolet Cobalt and lost in the second round. Jeg Coughlin Jr. is 52 points ahead of Jason Line. Hot Rod Fuller will begin driving Bob Vandergriff Jr.'s Top Fuel car at the Route 66 event.
American Le Mans SeriesOn the one-year anniversary of the debut of his sports car team, Gil de Ferran combined with Simon Pagenaud to win Sunday's two-hour, 45-minute event at Utah's Miller Motorsports Park. The winners started on the pole, pulled out to an immediate lead in their P1 Acura, and cruised to a 73-second triumph over the Acura of David Brabham and Scott Sharp after 103 laps. That was the series' largest victory gap since 2005 at Laguna Seca. In P2, Adrian Fernandez in an Acura got around the Mazda of Butch Leitzinger in the closing minutes for the class win and third overall. In GT2, Patrick Long and Jorg Bergmeister won in a Porsche 911 RSR.
Rolex Sports Car SeriesSunday's Verizon Wireless Festival of Speed (two hours, 45 minutes) at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca went to Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty in a Pontiac-Riley. They finished 7.2 seconds ahead of the Lexus-Riley of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas. Max Angelelli and Brian Frisselle were third in a Ford-Dallara. The winners averaged 85.807 mph after 106 laps. Gurney and Fogarty are eight points ahead of David Donohue and Darren Law (eighth). In GT, the Mazda RX-8 of Nick Ham and Sylvain Tremblay won.
Valvoline Winners Last WeekendTony Schumacher, NHRA Top Fuel class, Bristol. Del Worsham, NHRA Funny Car class, Bristol.
Racer of the WeekDarian Grubb. Tony Stewart's crew chief made the right changes for a 10-lap run to put Stewart-Haas Racing into victory lane for the first time.
Yes, He REALLY Said ThatRoger Penske, on success at the Indy 500. "The one thing it does, I take my license plate that I have on my car, it says, 'Won Indy 14.'" I get to change it to, 'Won Indy 15'. So that's probably the biggest deal for me."
This WeekendIt's the year's most importart racing weekend. The Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 and Monaco Grand Prix run Sunday. NASCAR's Nationwide Series tries Charlotte on Saturday.
Source: Valvoline
Last edited by Space; 05-18-2009 at 02:27 PM.
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