Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing announced on Tuesday, April that Oriol Servia will drive a second car for the team in the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500.
Kevin Harvick: Harvick finished second at Texas, earning his ninth runner-up finish in his last 10 races. He leads the Sprint Cup points standings by 26 over Joey Logano. “Jimmie Johnson and I have won four of seven races this season,” Harvick said. “Johnson’s win at Texas supports the notion that the Sprint Cup championship is a two-man battle, and I ‘seconded’ that.
Jimmie, and Kevin, and Dale, oh my. Jimmie, and Kevin, and Dale, oh my. Last Saturday night was a good one if you happened to be a fan of one of the above-mentioned drivers. Johnson was the class of the field, leading 128 laps, including the final one.
While the focus was on Schmidt Peterson Motorsports' pair of drivers being on the podium, Team Penske's Helio Castroneves finished in between them on track, crossing the finish line in the second spot. It marks his second straight top-five to start the year after finishing fourth at St. Petersburg two weeks ago.
With 26 laps to go, Erik Jones had a solid restart, clearing both Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to take the lead. He would then cruise the rest of the way to scoring his first career XFINITY Series victory in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. Speaking in the media center afterward, Jones called the victory 'surreal'.
Knowing that cautions were running rapid due to wet conditions and the race was coming within the time distance allowed, James Hinchcliffe and his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team played strategy on Sunday afternoon at NOLA Motorsports Park. That strategy would pay off as Hinchcliffe took the victory in the inaugural Grand Prix of Louisiana.
With Jimmie Johnson's win at the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday night, the 48 team has solidified their status as the team that could possibly dethrone Kevin Harvick's Stewart-Haas Racing team for the Sprint Cup championship in 2015.
Despite having to head down pit road at lap 198 for a loose right rear, Kasey Kahne would recover during the second half of the Duck Commander 500 to post an eighth place finish.
Despite qualifying outside the top 20, Dale Earnhardt Jr. entered the race confident that he would have a good run. That confidence proved true as he crossed the finish line third. However, it wasn't an easy night, though.
Bobby Gossett (No. 44 BSI Racing) might have thought lady luck was not on his side at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park on Saturday when his provisional pole time was disallowed, but she made herself known in the race.
Daniel Hemric continued his consistent road course handiwork with a sixth-place finish on Saturday afternoon at Lime Rock Park and substantially increased his cushion on the provisional Chase cutline.
Christian Eckes notched a gritty fifth-place finish on Saturday afternoon at Lime Rock Park to advance to fourth in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) standings.
