Kenseth joins Busch and Johnson with second win

( via chronicle.augusta.com)

Kenseth acquired his second victory of the season, leading 163 of 267 laps at Kansas Motor Speedway.

Kenseth who battled all race long, took the lead on Lap 218 and had to hold off Kasey Kahne on the last lap and only beat him by .151 seconds. 

"It was kind of like musical chairs", said Kenseth. "You had to be out front when the music stopped. Our car was very fast in clean air. It was reasonable in dirty air, but it wasn't quite good enough to catch all them guys and pass' em." (via Nascar.com)

Kyle Busch sweeps at Texas

(via latimes.com)

Kyle Busch didn't just win the NRA 400 in the Sprint Cup Series, but he also won the day before in the Nationwide series, giving the him the weekend sweep.

Busch finished slightly better than the 56 machine of Martin Truex Jr, by a little more than half a second. Busch won both the Sprint Cup and the Nationwide races by grabbing the pole position in qualifying. 

The pole position in the Sprint Cup race gave Busch the first pit stall, and allowed him to beat out Martin Truex of the pits after a late caution for debris on the racetrack.

(blog.mysanantonio.com)

Johnson gets his 8th victory at Martinsvile

( via king5.com)

 

 

 

 

Jimmie Johnson not only won his eighth grandfather clock, one of the most unique trophies in all of NASCAR, but he did so in dominant fashion. 

Johnson, who started from the pole position, led 346 out of 500 laps, and never falling lower than than the fifth position all day. Also, with the win, Johnson retook the points lead for the championship, going up 6 points on last year's champ, Brad Keselowski.

With this win, it also gave Rick Hendrick twenty victories at Martinsville, breaking the tie between him and Richard Petty who owns Petty Enterprises.

Nascar's First Weekend off

(via www.thinkingbrian.com)

The boys (and girls) were off this week for Easter, leaving them time to enjoy themselves but allowing all of us a peek, by using social media such as Twitter.

Jimmie Johnson-Johnson tweeted out several things, such as getting ready for a triathlon by riding on his bike with #Backyardtrails. He also was on the Ellen Show and took a picture of new dog carriers that she gave to him on the show.

Jeff Gordon- According to nascar.com author Farrah Kaye, Gordon and his family were going skiing. No destination was given though.

Dale Earnhardt Jr- Also according to the same author, Junior was said to not like that they had the weekend off with the fact that he was on a five race top 10 streak before the break. Earnhardt then said that he would just spend the week with family and friends.

Kasey Kahne- On March 27, Kahne tweeted out he did a commercial for Time Warner Cable with Ian Poulter and Victor Cruz. On March 30, he then tweeted out a picture of his view from his boat.

Next week, they'll be at Martinsville, Virginia, and as famous tv NASCAR announcer Darrell Waltrip would say..."Boogity, Boogity, Boogity! Let's go racing boys!"

Busch wins in Fontana after Hamlin and Logano collide

(via nascar.com)

Bitter rivals from last weekend, Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin, were going at it again. Only this time, it was for the win at the Auto Club 500 in Fontana, California.

Problem was, they were battling so much, that Kyle Busch overtook both of them as they crashed into each other with less than a lap to go. This left Logano into the outside wall, and Hamlin violently crashing into the inside barrier, that caused him to be airlifted to the nearby hospital.

After the race, Logano ended up in a shoving match again, only this time with another driver, Tony Stewart. Stewart was upset about the last restart where Logano blocked him from getting out in front of both him and Hamlin, and potentially winning the race.

"I'm tired of these guys doing that stuff, especially out of a kid that been gripping about everybody else, and then he does that the next week, " Stewart proclaimed, referring to Logano complaining about other drivers' similar moves. "He sent Denny to the hospital and screwed our day up. He's talked the talk, but he hasn't walked the walk yet." (sports.yahoo.com)

If you ask me, this Logano-Hamlin rivalry has gone into another dimension. I'm sure Logano didn't mean to send Hamlin to the hospital, but at the time, he told reporters that Hamlin got what he deserved, when asked about the wreck.

The fight with Stewart is silly though. Stewart really doesn't have a leg to stand on when he gets upset at Logano for blocking him from taking the lead away at the end of the race. Everybody wants to win Tony. And sure deep down, Tony would have done the same thing to Logano if the two traded places.

Kahne finally wins in Bristol; Hamlin and Logano feud

(via king5.com)

It took 19 tries, but Kasey Kahne finally won at Bristol, a track he felt needed to win at to validate his career.

Kahne who battled last year's champ, Brad Keselowski, won after a late race caution with less than forty laps to go. "Feels really good to win at this place," Kahne said. "Such a tough track over the years. This is a big race for me. When you race in the Sprint Cup Series, Bristol is a race you want to win."(via sports.yahoo.com/news/nascar.html)

This was a great win for Kahne. I've been to Bristol many of times, and have watched him over the years there. When he first started he couldn't hardly pass anybody on the track and would eventually go laps down. Eventually, over the years he and his team figured out how to get poles at Bristol and have a fast car. But in racing, it's not always those who have the fastest car win the race. Sometimes it a combination of having a fast car, having good pit stops, and a little luck.

Kenseth wins at Vegas with Kahne a close second.

(Via examiner.com)

What could possibly be better than winning a race at Las Vegas on your birthday? If you ask Matt Kenseth, he very well may tell you nothing.

That's what happened on Sunday on Kenseth's 41st birthday. With about 30 laps left to go, following a late caution that had Kenseth getting fuel only, while the rest of the lap leaders getting at least two tires and fuel. This propelled him to the front of the field, and gave him just enough of a lead that he could hold off a charging and faster, Kasey Kahne.

With this win, Kenseth shows he's going to be a hard contender to challenge with for the championship at the end of the season, by showing in all three races that he can go to the front and lead laps and even win races.

(via blog.mysanantonio.com)

Johnson comes out on top at Daytona

(via Nascar.com)

All week long, NASCAR analysts and fans alike talked about so many different "favorites" to win the Daytona 500. Danica Patrick, Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart,  and many more names were talked about the ones who would likely win at Daytona.

Hardly anyone thought of what NASCAR analysts call "Ole Five Time", Jimmie Johnson.

As the 500 unfolded, there were several different leaders that looked stout enough to bring home the big trophy. There was Matt Kenseth, who led 86 of the 200 laps, Denny Hamlin who led 33 laps, and Jeff Gordon who led the first 31 laps.

But it was Jimmie Johnson who took the lead at Lap 191 of 200, and never gave up that lead.

With Johnson's second 500 win, he'll look to string another good run together at Phoenix to give himself a bigger cushion in the championship points.

History happens at Daytona Qualifying

(via autoweek.com)

On Sunday afternoon, Danica Patrick made NASCAR history, not only for being the first woman to claim the pole position in NASCAR's top circuit, but claim the pole position at NASCAR's version of the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500.

(via wikipedia.org/budweiser_duel)

She and Jeff Gordon will be on the front row when the Daytona 500 begins. But, what's interesting is that Daytona's version of qualifying is totally different compared to qualifying at any other race. Daytona is different in that when they "qualify" the drivers are really just trying to grab the top 2 positions. The rest of the positions are figured out by the finish a driver has at the  two smaller races that Daytona has called the Budweiser Duels.

These duels are held on Thursday and the order of the drivers starting positions of the Duels are determined by how the drivers qualified on Sunday. In the first race, all of the drivers who qualified in an odd number will be in Duel 1. For example, Dale Earnhardt Jr qualified 11th on Sunday and will start 6th in Duel 1. All while, those who qualified with an even number will be in Duel 2. Such as Kasey Kahne who qualified 6th on Sunday will start 3rd in Duel 2.

It will be interesting Thursday to see who will race their way into a better starting spot or not, and who will just be driving to see what their equipment can do with other cars actually on the track with them.

Although on Sunday, when it all counts, who will it be? Will Earnhardt Jr continue to show that he's a contender at Daytona? Will Gordon be able to use his front row position to win his fourth Daytona 500? Will Jimmie Johnson be able to bring home a second 500 trophy?  Or will Kahne show in his second year under the Hendrick stable that he can win the big one?

Or yet, could it be someone not on Hendrick's team. Either way, it going to be a good one, all the way to the last lap.

(via tireball.com)

Great Expectations for Team Hendrick

On January 23rd, the NASCAR Sprint Media Tour stopped by Hendrick Motorsports and saw four very confident drivers address the media.

Between the four drivers, their owner, Rick Hendrick was seated in the middle. Last year, Hendrick proclaimed at the beginning of the year that all four of his drivers would qualify for NASCAR's playoffs, the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

But this year, he wants the team to strive for more. “As a whole, we’re more confident this year and we feel we have a shot to win this year. We’re as prepared as we’ve ever been,” Hendrick said. “(Last year), we fumbled the ball in the closing minutes of the game. We want to get back to the Super Bowl.” (via Nascar.com)

This is a great accomplishment for any race team, it's very hard to have each of the drivers on a team make the Chase. It'll be very interesting to see if not only all of Hendrick's drivers can not only make the Chase but to see if one of these could possibly bring home the trophy.

If the past can predict, it would be Jimmie Johnson to likely bring home the hardware. Johnson has not only won five titles but they won them in a row from 2006 to 2010.

The next in line would likely be Jeff Gordon. Gordon is a four time series champion winning in 1995, 1997, 1998, and 2001. Although it's been more than decade since Gordon's won the title, he will be on an even slate with the new Gen6 car.

Dale Earnhardt Jr, who was in the mix for the Cup last year will also be a threat. He was found in the top five in the standings throughout the regular season until he finished outside the top 20 in three of the 10 races for the Cup.

Lastly, there's Kasey Kahne. In Kahne's first year under Hendrick's stable, Kahne finished in the top five in the standings. “I don't think we were far off,” Kahne said. “But if we can keep that same drive and same competitiveness that we've had, hopefully we can get right back in that same situation and make a strong run at a championship this season.” (via Nascar.com)

Nevertheless, this could be an even better year for the Hendrick boys, and to Rick Hendrick, that'll meet his expectations.