Track Talk Rac'in + Car Tips + more

Reply Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

08-24-2009, 01:57 PM

Space

Thread Starter

Join Date: Jul 2008

Location: Beach`in Florida

Posts: 33,585

Track Talk Rac'in + Car Tips + more

Track Talk for the weekend of August 21 - 23

THE BIG STORY
Kyle Busch won his first Cup race since May in Saturday night's Sharpie 500 lapper at Bristol Motor Speedway. Busch's Toyota held off Mark Martin's Chevrolet by just .098 second. Busch tied Martin with a series-high four wins and closed to within 34 points of Matt Kenseth for the last Chase place. Marcos Ambrose was third, followed by Greg Biffle and Denny Hamlin. Tony Stewart (33d) leads Jimmie Johnson (eighth) by 220 points.
Also: Brian Vickers signed a multi-year contract extension with Red Bull Toyota… Michael Andretti will take full control of what is now the Andretti Green IRL team next year. Current partners Kim Green and Kevin Savoree will control what is now Andretti Green Promotions, which runs the races in Toronto and St. Petersburg, Fla… Former Indy 500 car entrant Jonathan Byrd died at age 57… Donny Schatz won his 100th career World of Outlaws' A-Feature Saturday night at Dacotah Speedway in Mandan, N.D. Craig Dollansky won Friday night at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D.
Return to Top
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Mark Martin, for his 1,000th Cup start, got the pole Friday at Bristol with a 124.484 mph lap. Martin was loose at the start Saturday night so Greg Biffle took the lead. The first yellow came on lap 11 when Joey Logano crashed after contact with Reed Sorenson. Tony Stewart pitted because he was having radio problems and lost a lap. Denny Hamlin forced a yellow on lap 64 with a flat tire. Martin took the lead. Debris from A.J. Allmendinger's car brought out the yellow on lap 136 and Martin Truex Jr. was penalized out of the top 10 because he was too fast in the pits. Bobby Labonte spun to cause a yellow. Debris from John Andretti's car resulted in another caution. On lap 273, Martin let teammate Jimmie Johnson past so he could gain five bonus points. Martin went back around two laps later. On lap 318, though, Johnson passed Martin in traffic and built a small lead. A quick rain shower brought out the yellow with 79 laps to go. Ryan Newman, by taking just two new tires, got the lead for the restart. Johnson's crew had trouble with the right-rear tire and he had to pit again, dropping to 21st for the restart. Kyle Busch went to the front at the green. A multi-car incident sent Kevin Harvick to the garage and Kurt Busch in for repairs. Stewart stalled on the track and had to pit with 50 laps left. Top-five runner Juan Pablo Montoya got a flat tire and then a tire issue on Truex's Chevrolet resulted in a caution. With nine laps left, Michael Waltrip and Clint Bowyer wrecked and the red flag came out to clear the track. The green came with four laps to go. Martin was able to get under Busch, but not clear him. Busch led 68 laps and averaged 84.820 mph with 11 yellows for 76 laps. Johnson wound up eighth, Dale Earnhardt Jr. ninth, and Jeff Gordon 23d. Sorenson started 10th in the No. 43 Valvoline Dodge and finished 19th.
Return to Top
NASCAR Nationwide Series
David Ragan won Friday night's Food City 250 at Bristol, holding off Roush Fenway Ford teammate Carl Edwards on a green-white-checker restart that extended the race distance to 254 laps. Ragan passed Edwards for the lead on lap 199. Poleman Brad Keselowski was third. Kyle Busch had just passed Kevin Harvick for the lead when he was hit by Chase Austin, who was struggling with a tire issue. Busch finished 28th and his advantage over Edwards was cut to 248 points. Ragan averaged 74.216 mph with nine yellows for 60 laps. The race ended under caution.
Return to Top
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Kyle Busch ended Ron Hornaday Jr.'s five-race winning streak in Wednesday night's O'Reilly 200 at Bristol. Busch pitted his Toyota for fuel and tires on laps 36-37 and then stayed out the rest of the 200 laps. He passed Jason White, who led 86 laps, on lap 124. Busch beat Matt Crafton by 2.7 seconds. Hornaday was third. White faded to 14th. Busch averaged 85.968 mph with five yellows for 32 laps. Hornaday leads Crafton by 211 points.
Return to Top
NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series
Sunday's Toyo Tires Nationals at Maple Grove ended with Larry Dixon, Bob Tasca III, Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Eddie Krawiec in the winner's circle. In Top Fuel, Dixon clocked 3.899 seconds, 306.05 mph to Spencer Massey's tire-smoking 8.691, 76.36 mph. Antron Brown leads Dixon by 187 points. In Funny Car, Tasca claimed his second career win with a 4.239, 292.71 mph pass in a Ford Mustang vs. Mike Neff's 4.247, 264.13 mph in a Mustang. Ashley Force Hood was the No. 1 qualifier but an engine explosion forced her into a backup Mustang Sunday. She was DQ'd after a first-round win because the car was underweight. Jack Beckman qualified third in the Valvoline/MTS Dodge Charger and lost in the first round. Tony Pedregon tops Ron Capps by 73 points. In Pro Stock, Coughlin's Chevrolet Cobalt ran 6.634, 207.05 mph to best Johnny Gray's 6.675, 206.61 mph in a Dodge Stratus. Ron Krisher qualified fifth in the Valvoline Chevrolet Cobalt and lost in round two. Coughlin's advantage over Jason Line is 65 points. In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Krawiec's Harley defeated Michael Phillips' Suzuki, 7.138, 185.13 mph to 8.153, 116.81 mph. Krawiec leads Andrew Hines by 189 points.
Return to Top
IndyCar Series
Dario Franchitti started on the pole and led all 75 laps Sunday at Infineon Raceway, his fourth victory of the season. He beat Ryan Briscoe by .2488 second. Mike Conway was a career-best third. Scott Dixon, Graham Rahal, Marco Andretti, Tony Kanaan and others were involved in a first-lap incident. Helio Castroneves and Kanaan later tangled and Castroneves eventually spun out with a broken suspension while running third. Andretti tagged Dixon on the last lap and Dixon wound up 13th and dropped to third in points. Franchitti averaged 94.745 mph with two yellows for seven laps. Briscoe leads Franchitti by four points. Will Power and Nelson Philippe were injured Saturday when Power struck Philippe's spun car. Both drivers suffered concussions. Power suffered compression fractures of the L2 and L4 vertebrae. Philippe needed surgery to repair an open fracture to his left foot.
Return to Top
Formula One
Rubens Barrichello won his first race in five years in Sunday's European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain. Barrichello, 37, started third in his Brawn-Mercedes but had more fuel than poleman Lewis Hamilton. By running longer stints, Barrichello advanced to third after his first pit stop, then claimed the lead after final refueling. Hamilton had a long last stop and finished second, 2.3 seconds behind, in a McLaren-Mercedes. Kimi Raikkonen was third in a Ferrari after 57 laps. Jenson Button was seventh and leads Barrichello by 18 points.
Return to Top
Racer of the Week
Kyle Busch. Truck and Cup winner at Bristol.
Return to Top
Valvoline Winners Last Weekend
David Ragan, NASCAR Nationwide Series, Bristol. Larry Dixon, NHRA Top Fuel class, Maple Grove.
Return to Top
Yes, He REALLY Said That
Mark Martin, on his new racing philosophy. "I can't help if we have a flat tire, or we get caught up in a wreck, or a part breaks, or if rain comes at an inopportune time. I can't help that. So I'm not going to stay awake at night or stress about that, because I'm having too much fun."
Return to Top
This Weekend
Sprint Cup is off, but the Nationwide Series travels to Montreal Sunday. Grand-Am goes there Saturday. IRL goes in Chicagoland with NASCAR Trucks. Formula One is in Belgium. ALMS runs Mosport.

Guaranteed Not to Fai
l

We know our products don't fail, that's why we offer a free engine guarantee for up to 300,000 miles. Protect your engine with Valvoline.
Check it out

On the Road Again

Before you pile the family in the car for the annual summer road-trip, give your vehicle a thorough once-over to make sure nothing needs repair.
Read on

Keeping Your
Cool-ant

A little time, patience and know-how are all it takes to drain and fill your car's cooling system. Here's how it's done.
Learn more

A/C Troubleshooting

Before you head to the repair shop to see why your a/c is blowing hot air, check out these simple tips to help diagnose the problem yourself.
Read about it

I.N. Sider asks, "What happened to driver development programs?" in the new Behind [Closed] Garage Doors column, now posted at Valvoline.com.

I.N. Sider is the pen name for an independent motorsports business-person who has a quarter-century of professional experience working in almost every major North American racing series. The writer is not an employee of Valvoline or Ashland Inc. The column is intended to inform, entertain, and stimulate thought on the contemporary motorsports scene. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of Valvoline or Ashland Inc. "Track Talk" is a summary of the week's racing news and results of nationally televised events. The information has been obtained from on-site reporting plus race telecasts, major news outlets, tracks and sanctioning organizations.