While Greg Biffle earned the pole and led earlier in the race, A.J. Allmendinger pulled ahead to lead 54 laps.  But it was the Dodge of Keselowski who led 231 laps before pulling into Victory Lane for the second consecutive race at Bristol.

Image courtesy of http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/

Many fans said it was just a fluke win, but I’d prefer to say that he proved the haters wrong.  It was no easy undertaking to pass on this track and hold off the likes of Kenseth over the final 50 or so laps.

The early wreck on the front stretch of Bristol, when Regan Smith got into the back of Kasey Kahne, and turned him into the bottom barrier, left Smith to sit crossways in the middle of Turn 2. Inevitably the next pack of cars— Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Marcos Ambrose and Kyle Busch—had absolutely nowhere to go and a pileup ensued.  Only Harvick returned to the race with any positive results, finishing 11th. The others spent much time in the pits for major repairs.

Four-time champion Jeff Gordon tangled with teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. late in the show, sending Gordon hard into the outside wall, resulting in a 35th-place finish – dropping the Chevy driver down three spots to 23rd overall.

Gordon was clearly unhappy, while Earnhardt didn’t regret what happened, stating it surely wasn’t a hard hit or intentional.

In the end the results scrambled the points standings.  Biffle and Harvick stayed first and second, but Edwards dropped eight positions to 14th and Kenseth moved up two spots to third place.

Pushing his car to the limit, Stewart made a three-wide pass on a late restart and held off Jimmie Johnson in the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, winning at a track that was the site of his biggest disappointment in 2011.

Timing the restart perfectly, Tony Stewart dove to the edge of the apron and ducked under the two cars in front of him. With one bold move, the defending Sprint Cup champion was on his way to a redemptive win Sunday at Las Vegas.

Qualifying seventh at Las Vegas, Stweart took his first lead on lap 135, beating Jimmy Johnson on a restart. He lost the lead briefly on a cycle of green-flag pit stops and quickly regained it. Stewart turned back a challenge by Brad Keselowski and pulled away from Johnson on a final restart with four laps left to take the checkers at one of the few tracks he hadn’t won at.

Johnson Despite starting from the back of the field, Johnson didn’t take long to get the No. 48 car to the front, though, challenging Matt Kenseth for the lead by lap 83.

Having never won in a backup car, Johnson overtook Kenseth 16 laps later and stayed there until Stewart beat him on a restart on lap 134. The five-time Sprint Cup champion stayed within range and was third coming out of a caution with 17 laps, then quickly passed Biffle for second.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a disappointing finish after leading more laps in one race than he did in all of the 2011 NASCAR season.

What really had him riled up was what he believed to be a lack of respect by Mark Martin while trying to pass him.

“To me, there’s an unwritten etiquette that when the guy is running the top even if you are clearing or passing him … I’m coming 10 mph faster off the top of the race track, you stay low,” he said. “Don’t knock a half second off my lap time being a jerk about it. Stay low. You are going to get it in the next corner and the position is going to be yours.”

Earnhardt finished 10th after leading 70 laps early in the race — 18 more than he did in 2011

With his victory at Arizona, Hamlin also took over the early-season points standings, leading Greg Biffle by six points, Kevin Harvick by eight points, and 10 points over last weeks Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth, who finished 13th in  Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500.

Hamlin, who finished ninth in the Cup standings last season with one victory, said, “We’ve still got work to do.  “I honestly feel like it’s going to be, realistically, two months before we’re totally clicking and knowing exactly what each other is saying,” Hamlin said.

Mark Martin, who claimed the pole for Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500, lost grip in the turn early in the race and never recovered.  Martin finished the race in 9th with 71 points, just 18 points behind Hamlin’s 89 points.

Next Week we travel to Nevada for the Kobalt Tools 400 at the Las Vagas Motor Speedway.

Qualifying

Driving the No. 55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota, Mark Martin didn’t need a second qualifying lap Saturday as he claimed the pole for Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500.  With a speed of 136.815 mph, Martin toured the one mile “D”-shaped oval in 26.313 seconds, beating Tony Stewart by a mere .133 seconds. Martin’s 52nd-career pole position and his second at Phoenix, the beloved NASCAR veteran was so excited after claiming the pole that he actually climbed atop the door of his blue and white racing machine and saluted the fans — just as though he had actually won the race.
Martin turned his pole-winning lap on a track that was warmer and slicker than it was during Friday’s practice sessions.  He will be joined on the front row by Tony Stewart with conditions that suit Stewart’s driving style.  “I always like it when it’s hotter and slicker” said Stewart, the 2011 Sprint Cup Series champion.  With a comfort zone dead center on a warm and slick track, could Tony Stewart be the one to take the checker at the Subway Fresh Fit 500?  We’ll have to watch and see.

Starting Lineup

Here’s the complete starting lineup for Today’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 :

1.  Mark Martin, Michael Waltrip Racing No. 55 Toyota

2.  Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 Chevrolet

3.  Regan Smith, Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Chevrolet

4.  Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet

5.  Juan Pablo Montoya, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet

6.  Ryan Newman, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 39 Chevrolet

7.  Greg Biffle, Roush Fenway Racing No. 16 Ford

8.  Kevin Harvick, Richard Childress Racing No. 29 Chevrolet

9.  Joey Logano, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota

10.  Kasey Kahne, Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet

11.  Jeff Burton, Richard Childress Racing No. 31 Chevrolet

12.  Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota

13.  Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota

14.  Marcos Ambrose, Richard Petty Motorsports No. 9 Ford

15.  AJ Allmendinger, Penske Racing No. 22 Dodge

16.  Clint Bowyer, Michael Waltrip Racing No. 15 Toyota

17.  Bobby Labonte, JTG Daugherty Racing No. 47 Toyota

18.  Aric Almirola, Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Ford

19.  Kurt Busch, Phoenix Racing No. 51 Chevrolet

20.  Paul Menard, Richard Childress Racing No. 27 Chevrolet

21.  Jamie McMurray, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing No. 1 Chevrolet

22.  Landon Cassill, BK Racing No. 83 Toyota

23.  Dave Blaney, Tommy Baldwin Racing No. 36 Chevrolet

24.  Carl Edwards, Roush Fenway Racing No. 99 Ford

25.  Martin Truex Jr., Michael Waltrip Racing No. 56 Toyota

26.  Matt Kenseth, Roush Fenway Racing No. 17 Ford

27.  Scott Riggs, R3 Motorsports No. 23 Chevrolet

28.  Brad Keselowski, Penske Racing No. 2 Dodge

29.  Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet

30.  Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet

31.  Casey Mears, Germain Racing No. 13 Ford

32.  David Reutimann, Tommy Baldwin Racing No. 10 Chevrolet

33.  Josh Wise, Front Row Motorsports No. 26 Ford

34.  David Ragan, Front Row Motorsports No. 34 Ford

35.  J.J. Yeley, Robinson-Blakeney Racing No. 49 Toyota

36.  David Gilliland, Front Row Motorsports No. 38 Ford

37.  Michael McDowell, Phil Parsons Racing No. 98 Ford

38.  Joe Nemechek, Nemco Motorsports No. 87 Toyota

39.  Robby Gordon, Robby Gordon Motorsports No. 7 Dodge

40.  Brendan Gaughan, Richard Childress Racing No. 33 Chverolet

41.  Travis Kvapil, BK Racing No. 93 Toyota

42.  Mike Bliss, FAS Lane Racing No. 32 Ford

43.  David Stremme, Inception Motorsports No. 30 Toyota

Phoenix International Speedway

See you in victory lane!

First came the rain delays which caused the Daytona 500 to be postponed first until Monday afternoon, and ultimately until Monday evening. For the only time in its 54 year history the Daytona 500 was pushed off for a total of 36 hours.

Then came the fire. A bizarre crash, even by racing standards, involving a race car and a jet dryer truck which resulted in a huge jet fuel fire across the track.  It all happened when Juan Pablo Montoya’s car broke and skidded sideways into a truck equipped with a jet dryer. The dryer truck holds a 200-gallon tank filled with jet fuel to power the jet engine used to dry and clean the track of debris during caution periods.  The fire caused yet another delay of more than two hours as track workers attempted to douse the flames and make the track race worthy.Track workers had to wash the track with laundry detergent, rinse it with fire hoses, and then dry the asphalt with leaf blowers.

In the end it was Matt Kenseth who emerged as the winner of the 2012 Daytona 500.
“It feels great,” Kenseth said after earning $1.58 million for his second career Daytona 500 victory.

Just as he did three years ago, the Roush Fenway driver claimed NASCAR’s biggest race on a day when the weather — among other things — was as staunch an opponent as anything he would face on the track at Daytona International Speedway. Kenseth provided Roush with its 300th victory at NASCAR’s national level, and himself with a second Daytona 500 title to go along with his Cup Series championship from 2003. A lot has changed for Kenseth since he last rolled into Victory Lane at Daytona — he went through several crew chiefs before finally clicking with veteran Jimmy Fennig, endured some sponsor changes, and even now doesn’t have enough primary backing for the full season. Roush has committed to run the No. 17 out of his pocket this season if he has to.

Earnhardt made a slingshot move around Greg Biffle to run second in the 54th running of the Great American Race at Daytona International Speedway. Biffle came home third, followed by Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton.
“The thing that comes into my mind is that NASCAR can’t catch a break,” Earnhardt said. “We’re trying to deliver, and we just have some unfortunate things happen such as the rain delay, potholes in the track a couple years ago or whatever, things like that. And we’re a good sport, and we’re just trying to give a good product, and it’s unfortunate that our biggest event was delayed, but I think everybody worked hard to put out a good product tonight, and it was good for us.”

Meanwhile, if NASCAR gets the Daytona 500 in this evening, aired on Fox, it could likely produce record ratings for an event that’s coming off one of its most compelling seasons.  NASCAR had a strong SpeedWeeks, and the return of pack racing. With Danica  Patrick winning the pole for the Nationwide Series race and many multi-car accidents in this seasons Bud Shootout, the combination is sure to be a success for racing fans.  With several intriguing story lines on tap, NASCAR is hoping to capitalize on the success of last season’s down-to-the-wire championship race between Edwards and Stewart.

Sunday’s rain-out was merely a minor inconvenience for the drivers. It’s the support staff around each of them that suffered the most — and will suffer more if Monday’s rescheduled 12:01 p.m. start can’t go off as planned because of more rain that’s in the forecast.

“I know this sucks for fans sitting in the stands because they’ve got to sit in the rain. But for us, we go in our motor homes and entertain ourselves,” said A.J. Allmendinger.   Crew chiefs were in complete agreement with Allmendinger that the greatest burden of a rain postponement falls on the hauler drivers. Going from Daytona to Phoenix is a tall turnaround anyway, with many teams requiring 40-plus hours of travel time on the road to get from Florida back to North Carolina and then out to Phoenix.  The hauler drivers watch each and every raindrop that falls at Daytona with an increasing feeling of complete despair. They know their week gets even harder with every hour that passes without the 500 being run.

“As far as turnaround time, it will be difficult. Getting the truck back, from that standpoint, it will be difficult. As far as being prepared as a race team, we’ll just have to start doing some of our prep work that we normally do at the shop here at the race track instead. Those are the things we’re working on right now — getting prepared for Phoenix and Las Vegas,” said Jason Ratcliff. (Crew Chief for Joey Logano)

Heavy rain all day Sunday forced NASCAR to postpone the event until 12 p.m. on Monday, February 27, 2012.

It was a spectacular way to kick off the 2012 NASCAR season at Daytona which culminates with next Sunday’s Daytona 500, but by the end of the shootout sparks were flying, a four-time Sprint Cup champion was involved in a massive crash and went barrel-rolling, and the winner prevailed in a photo finish.  Get your 2012 Daytona 500 Champion Gear at the NASCAR Superstore!

Kyle Busch defeated three-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart by 0.013 seconds – which is the closest finish in the history of the Budweiser Shootout.

So what are two things that we learned from the 2012 Bud Shootout?

I. The Pack is back but so is the danger

After fans vocally disapproved of tandem-style of racing, NASCAR changed the rules to minimize that form of racing. That meant a return to pack racing, where most of the cars raced in large groups before the race could be settled. However, the return of pack racing also meant much more danger, which was never more evident that on Lap 73 when Jeff Gordon slammed into the wall and slid on its roof before flipping wildly down the track before coming to rest upside-down.

Ironically, Jeff Gordon started the crash when he ran into the back of the Kyle Busch’s Toyota.  Jimmie Johnson, Gordon’s teammate, ran into the side of him, sending the Chevrolet upside-down into its wild barrel roll 2½-3 times.  Eight cars were involved in the crash which mangled some of the race’s top contenders.

Stewart was leading at the start of the green-white-checkered flag restart. Marcos Ambrose drafted to the lead with a push from Brad Keselowski. But Kyle Busch pushed Stewart to the lead and the two cars distanced themselves from the pack before Kyle Busch perfectly timed his move to nip Stewart at the finish by mere inches.

The victory in the season’s first race helped Busch achieve redemption from the way his season ended last year when he was suspended by NASCAR officials after intentionally wrecking Ron Hornaday in November’s Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Despite losing the race by mere inches Stewart — an outspoken opponent of pack racing in the past — was glad to see its return.

“It is definitely a lot more fun and I was a lot more eager to be engaged in the race this way than in the two-car deal,” Stewart said. “I had fun racing at Daytona again. I had more fun as a driver tonight than we did in the past. This is better than having to stare at the back of a spoiler for 500 miles. We had more control as drivers today. Look at the history of this race — they always crash cars here. Everybody complained about two-car stuff and it’s better. It’s the Bud Shootout — everybody pushes the envelope. You don’t have to worry about the standings in this race. You have to be aggressive tonight.”

Not only was there plenty of aggressive racing, but the race winner had two spectacular saves when his Toyota was out of control, but he was able to gather it and keep it out of the wall.  Why not Check Out Our Clearance Items at the NASCAR Superstore!

II. A learning experience for next Sunday

NASCAR wanted to put racing back in the hands of the drivers and Stewart believes it’s up to the drivers to keep from ramming into the back of a lead car with the left front in an attempt to bump draft. And while Saturday night’s race had its moments of thrills, pack racing increases the level of risk. That is why it is important for all the drivers to get a handle on what they can do and what they can’t do before heading into the biggest race of the season.

“It’s back to a chess match, instead of sitting there and hanging on like we did before,” Stewart said. “Historically, you have always seen this race be one where everybody sees what they try to get away with and use it as a practice session. Everybody, no matter the outcome, learned something they can take into Thursday’s qualifying races and take into next Sunday.” Stewart explained how he drove the race differently in the first 25-lap segment compared to the final 50 laps.

“In the first 25-lap segment, we tried to take it easy and watch guys and pay attention to what they were doing more than our car and watch the trial and error process of what they could get away with and what they couldn’t,” Stewart said.

Busch found the perfect time to unleash the slingshot pass and register the win.

“There were situations that got really tense and hectic but you just do the best you can at that particular moment,” Busch said. “Sometimes we were pushing three deep in the middle and I was spinning on the straightaway. There will be more cars, 50-times more pressure-packed an intense because it is the Daytona 500 and everybody is going for all it is worth.”

Notable Facts About this Year’s Daytona 500

Former IndyCar Series driver Danica Patrick makes her NASCAR Sprint Cup series debut in the Daytona 500 and, after Stewart Haas Racing was able to acquire last year’s Top 35 points from Dave Blaney at Tommy Baldwin Racing, Patrick is guaranteed to be in the starting lineup. Patrick’s fastest lap was 191.975 mph (46.881 seconds), .344 seconds slower than Biffle.

“I want to be good at Daytona,” Patrick said. “I know there’s a lot of a tracks on the schedule, but when it comes to choosing this one or another one I’ve been to, I’m coming to Daytona, because I want to be good here.”

After next Sunday’s Daytona 500, Patrick won’t compete in another Cup race until Darlington in May. She will run the entire NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule as she competes for the championship in that series.

The first official race of the 2012 NASCAR Season –The Bud Shootout — is ready to get things started in spectacular fashion, and under new guidelines. It’s certain to be an exciting event with 25 drivers running for the top spot without any concern of losing Sprint Cup points.

The place is Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.  The date is Saturday, February 18^th, and the time is 8:00 p.m. ET

The field is set, but it has actually been revised. That’s because while practicing on Friday night, there was a five-car crash involving Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch and AJ Allmendinger.  As such it results in drivers having to start from the back of the pack and all drivers having to go to backup cars.

Bud Shootout Lineup

1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Jamie McMurray
3. David Ragan
4. Greg Biffle
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
6. Joey Logano
7. Carl Edwards
8. Jeff Burton
9. Ryan Newman
10. Jeff Gordon
11. Tony Stewart
12. Denny Hamlin
13. Clint Bowyer
14. Jimmie Johnson
15. Kasey Kahne
16. Michael Waltrip
17. Marcos Ambrose
18. Kevin Harvick
19. Matt Kenseth
20. Paul Menard
21. Juan Pablo Montoya
22. Kyle Busch
23. Brad Keselowski
24. Kurt Busch
25. AJ Allmendinger

It is predicted that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will take the checkered flag because he always runs strong at Daytona. This year will likely be no different.

Because NASCAR Officials have made steps to move away from the two-man racing that the Daytona saw last year, fans can expect to find drivers utilizing pack racing. Jr. excels at pack racing at Daytona, and he will show that in a big way right off the bat.

On Monday, NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton and Sprint Cup Series director John Darby held an informal competition update at the NASCAR Research and Development Center to outline some of the competition changes for the 2012 season. The pair touched on a variety of subjects, and said that when it came to the Daytona 500, the fans have spoken and NASCAR is listening.

According to Pemberton, more than 80 percent of NASCAR fans objected to the two-car tandem style at Daytona, leading NASCAR officials to make a variety of changes.

“In the grand scheme of things our biggest responsibility is to give the most exciting Daytona 500 we can to the fans, and you don’t do that by eliminating all the components it takes to put on a good race,” Darby said.  Daytona 500 fans have grown accustomed to seeing a large pack of race cars battling over 500 miles and anything that has ventured away from that has been met with bitter criticism.

40% of the fans hated the two-cat tandem, while another 40% wanted to see a mix of styles. The biggest thing the fans didn’t like about two-car tandems is that they want to see my driver win a race. With tandem racing I can’t do that. I can see you push me to victory but I can’t win the race by myself.

The common consensus among the majority of fans is that they want it to be back to one driver against 42. Racing style is often cyclical, but the tandems never caught on with fans, Pemberton said. “There was a time when they didn’t like the pack racing then they watched it and liked it and wanted to go back,” Pemberton said. “We’ve had different types of racing over the years and once the novelty wore off on the two-car tandems it never gained momentum at all.”

The large packs at this year’s Daytona 500 will be a treat for the 80 percent of fans who disapproved of two-car drafts, but will the on-track product be markedly more exciting? Darby doesn’t think so.