TONY STEWART, NO. 14 MOBIL 1/OFFICE DEPOT CHEVROLET – SIDELINED WITH AN ENGINE ISSUE ON LAP 174 - HAVE YOU FIGURED OUT WHAT IT WAS YET? “I’m not sure. It’s something that is not a norm for sure. I appreciate everybody at the Hendrick engine department. We had three different engine tuners down there trying to get it fixed for us. It wasn’t for a lack of effort."
Making his first start in the No. 7 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra on Saturday at Michigan International Speedway, Parker Kligerman set his sights on a solid finish to bring home after his crew worked countless hours to put together his Tundra for competition over the past week. New pavement on the two-mile asphalt oval created pack racing that relied heavily on drafting, much like restrictor plate racing. Kligerman put his driving skills to work and raced tight with the lead pack from the drop of the green flag, allowing him to pull away with a fourth place finish.
WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE? "Marcos Ambrose is just driving over his head. I don't know if it is because he won last week, he's got extra pressure or what. He's been doing it all day. He's almost wrecked four times that I've seen. Unfortunately, four tires are better than two, and I was four. We're going to get this Furniture Row Chevy fixed up and get it back out on the race track, and get what we can."
Kyle Busch’s schedule included double-duty this weekend, preparing his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car from Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, and racing his own Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) Nationwide Series car at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.
James Buescher scored his seventh top-five finish of 2012 at Michigan International Speedway (MIS), leading five laps and maintaining the third position in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) driver point standings, just six points outside of the lead. A combination of stellar handling and fuel strategy gave Buescher and the No. 31 Wolf Pack Rentals team the edge needed to finish fifth in the VFW 200.
The No. 3 Chevrolet team is tied for first in the Camping World Truck Series owner championship point standings, with the No. 22 team seventh in the standings and the No. 2 team ninth.
Miguel Paludo earned his second top-10 finish of 2012 at Michigan International Speedway in his debut pairing with new crew chief Jeff Hensley. Paludo ran in the top-five for most of the second half of the 100-lap event before varying pit strategy resulted in a 10th-place finish in the VFW 200.
Although his final finishing position might not show it, Ron Hornaday proved why he's a four-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) champion in Saturday's VFW 200 at Michigan International Speedway.
Michael Annett started the Napa Auto Parts 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve from the 33rd position. After running just a few laps, Annett reported that something seemed to be amiss under the hood and he felt like all seven cylinders were not firing properly.