SM Archive

NASCAR SPRINT SHOWDOWN – Earnhardt Nation can breathe a sigh of relief. It may have just been a qualifying event for a non-points race, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. has won a race. And he won it in commanding fashion, leading all 40 laps of Saturday’s Sprint Showdown to transfer to the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

A.J. Allmendinger (No. 22 Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) Finished 2nd “I can’t believe the luck of this race team (smiles). A flat tire before we come to green, I mean, we’ve got to do something to change our luck up, that’s unbelievable."

Sprint announced this evening that Bobby Labonte, driver of the No. 47 Kingsford Toyota, has won the 2012 Sprint Fan Vote and is now in the field for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race taking place at Charlotte Motor Speedway tonight.

ARIC ALMIROLA – No. 43 Smithfield Ford Fusion – “We were just too tight. It was a good effort by everybody on our Smithfield Ford, but that restart didn’t help us much. Burton’s car wasn’t as good that second stint and I kept getting hung on the bottom of him."

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series defending champion Tony Stewart is an avid outdoorsman who loves to hunt and fish. Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris and National Wild Turkey Federation CEO George Thornton recognized his commitment to the outdoors with a seven-foot-tall brass-and-wood statue. Stewart will pilot a special National Wild Turkey Foundation paint scheme in tonight’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

Sam Hornish Jr. (No. 12 Detroit Genuine Parts Dodge Challenger) Qualified 2nd HOW WAS YOUR QUALIFYING RUN? “The run was good in our Detroit Genuine Parts Dodge. We’ve had a good start to the season. To be fourth in the points with some of the holes that we’ve dug ourselves so far this year, we feel pretty good about it."

New to the Charlotte Motor Speedway menu for 2012, Levy Restaurants, the speedway's food partner, is serving up deep-fried cupcakes, among other things.

BURNOUTS – Kasey Kahne, Joey Logano, AJ Allmendinger, Brad Keselowski and Clint Bowyer will compete in this evening’s Pennzoil Victory Burnout Challenge at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Ron Hornaday, making his eighth start at Charlotte Motor Speedway, conserved fuel to finish fifth in the N.C. Education Lottery 200 on Friday night. This was Hornaday's sixth top-five finish in eight starts at the 1.5-mile quad-oval and Joe Denette Motorsports' first top-five finish of the 2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season.

Max Gresham and the No. 24 Joe Denette Motorsports team didn't get the results they expected in Friday night's N.C. Education Lottery 200 and, as a result, left Charlotte Motor Speedway with a 24th-place finish in the fifth event on the 2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule.