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Brad Keselowski Steals Win in Final Restart of DAV 200 Honoring America’s Veterans

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SM Staff
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Photo Credit: Noel Lanier/SpeedwayMedia.com

Kyle Busch looked to have the race won as he had dominated in leading numerous laps throughout the whole day. He even saw the white flag out of his windshield. Though before he could reach the white flag, the caution would fly due to Alex Bowman running out of fuel. As a result, there would be a green-white-checkered.

The restart would bring forth a battle between Busch and Brad Keselowski, with Keselowski grabbing the lead with a pass to Busch’s inside through turn one. Keselowski would then lead the rest of the way en route to scoring the victory in the DAV 200 Honoring American’s Veterans at Phoenix International Raceway. It marks Keselowski’s 32nd career victory and his fifth win of the 2014 season.

“That was kind of a shame. He had the race won before the yellow came out so I can understand him being upset about it,” Keselowski commented. “We never gave up and the yellow came out and we were able to get to victory lane. I’m really proud of everyone at Team Penske. Way to finish it out for the year! I had a lot of fun driving this car, humbled over the last few years of driving this car. Hopefully we can pull this off tomorrow.”

Kyle Busch would finish second, not scoring his fourth straight victory in a row at Phoenix. For Busch, it’d be another disappointing day with his 24th top 10 of the season. Busch would tell MRN Radio post-race that it’s “pretty pathetic that NASCAR throws these Kyle Busch cautions. It’s old & aggravating.”

After having to get out of the car early last week due to sickness, Elliott Sadler would be feeling much better this weekend en route to finishing third, followed by Ty Dillon and Chase Elliott. As a result of holding a 52 point lead heading into next weekend’s final race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Elliott clinched the 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series Championship.

“Just honestly disbelief,” Elliott commented. “I’ve never been apart of anything like this, and just to have the opportunity to work these guys has been a blessing to just be here. I don’t know what to think. I don’t even know how to feel right now. I didn’t know if I was allowed to do a burnout, but I did one anyone. This is pretty cool. I really appreciate Regan and the way he raced me all year.”

Elliott becomes the first rookie to a win championship, as well as the youngest champion at the age of 18 years, 11 months and 18  days. With his father Bill already having won a championship, the Elliott family becomes the fifth father-son duo to be champions.

Erik Jones would finish sixth after winning last night’s truck race, followed by Brian Scott, Brendan Guaghan, Trevor Bayne and Regan Smith.

At the beginning of the race, the focus was right front tires as both Brennan Newberry and Landon Cassill suffered a flat tire, resulting in heavy contact with the outside wall.

“I’m fine – I think I am used to it now,” Newberry commented. “I think it’s part of the race track there, it’s real slick in the center. Right off the get go, I think we overused the tire, put too much brake into it and the tire blew. This is my favourite track and unfortunately we’re out of it early, but thankful for the opportunity.”

Toyota NNS Phoenix Post-Race Notes & Quotes 11-8-14

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Chase Elliott Crowned 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion

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JR Motorsports Championship Notes Package

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Jeff Gordon Will Have Competitors Seeing Red as he Races in Axalta’s Automotive Color of the Year 2015

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Toyota NCWTS Phoenix Post-Race Notes & Quotes

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Erik Jones Lights up the Night in the Lucas Oil 150 in Phoenix

By
Michelle Lippold
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Photo Credit: Jonathan Ferrey/NASCAR via Getty Images

No lights, two red flags, no problem. Not for tonight’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series winner Erik Jones. What a night it turned out to be for Jones after starting on the pole, his second pole in 17 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races. The win also brought home team owner Kyle Busch and Kyle Busch Motorsports win number 13 in the series, seven of the victories won by Busch and the third win of the season for Jones.

At first it was unclear if the race would get underway due to a power outage at the track which affected the lighting. After a delay of about 75 minutes, the lights came on and the racing began but the race ended early after another power outage on Lap 126. The outages were widespread and affected areas other than the track so NASCAR called the race early for safety reasons and decided not to run the scheduled 150 laps.

Jones dominated in his KBM Toyota, leading 114 of the 126 laps and capturing his fourth career win in the series. He also won this same race last year.

In his post-race interview Jones stated, “It’s pretty cool to pick up another win at Phoenix. It’s a great way to top off the year for me in this truck and just a good way to start off the 2015 season.” A happy Jones went on to say, “It’s just an awesome night, I feel like we had a dominate truck and could definitely have brought it home.”

The race had its share of incidents as well, particularly, in the beginning laps, including a wreck at the start of the race on the opening lap that caused an accordion affect that essentially took out John Wes Townley, German Quiroga and Justin Jennings. The race finally went green on Lap 19 but two laps later, Ben Rhodes spun and brought out the second caution. The race restarted on Lap 27 but shortly after, Spencer Gallagher and Timothy Peters made contact, Peters hit the wall and collected Jeb Burton. The result of all these accidents was that out of the first 33 laps, 28 were run under caution.

The fourth caution of the night came on Lap 39 and brought out the first red flag, after Joey Coulter’s Chevrolet blew a tire and hit the outside wall. His truck had to be taken off the track on a roll-back.

Bringing home second place was NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points leader, Matt Crafton who also started the race in second. Crafton is in the perfect position to bring home another championship if he can finish 21st or better next week at Homestead. If he does he will be the first driver to win two consecutive championships in the truck series.

Crafton also was one driver that would have liked to have seen the green flag fly again after that second red flag when the power went out again.

Crafton commented, “I would have liked to have seen this thing go all the way tonight.” He continued saying, “I know if I could have gotten track position on him we could have beat him, I truly believe it. I’m tired of finishing second to that damn 51 though.”

Third place went to Cole Custer and fourth place went to Ryan Blaney, who is second in the points. Ben Rhodes finished fifth followed by Darrell Wallace Jr. in sixth and John Hunter Nemechek in seventh place.

Austin Dillon, Johnny Sauter and Tyler Reddick finished in eighth through 10th, respectively.

The top five in the championship points standings are:

1) Matt Crafton  798

2) Ryan Blaney  -25

3) Darrell Wallace Jr.  -46

4) Johnny Sauter  -59

5) Timothy Peters -93

The next and final race for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be the Ford EcoBoost 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway Nov. 14 at 8 p.m. ET.

 

Denny Hamlin Wins Coors Light Pole Award at Phoenix

By
Angie Campbell
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Photo Credit: Noel Lanier

Kurt Busch under Investigation Following Allegation of Domestic Assault

By
Angie Campbell
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Photo Credit: Noel Lanier

NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Kurt Busch is being investigated after an allegation of domestic assault against his ex-girlfriend, Patricia Driscoll.

The Dover (Del.) Police Department issued the following statement:

The Dover Police Department can confirm that an investigation is being conducted based on an allegation of domestic assault that is alleged to have occurred in the City of Dover involving Mr. Busch. These allegations were brought to the Dover Police Department on Wednesday, November 5th at 2:00PM. At this time, the department is still investigating the victim’s claims and will not have any further comment on this matter in order to preserve the integrity of the case. The Dover Police Department will release further information as it becomes available. We appreciate the public’s and media’s patience in this matter and are confident that the department is taking the proper investigative steps to ensure the case is resolved appropriately.

Multiple reports state that Patricia Driscoll said the incident occurred inside Busch’s motor home during the Dover International Speedway race weekend in September. Driscoll filed court documents Wednesday asking that a judge order Busch to have no contact with her and to stay away from her. She is reportedly also asking that Busch undergo a psychiatric evaluation and an evaluation by a certified domestic violence treatment agency.

In the documents Driscoll alleges that, “He (Busch) was verbally abusive to her and said he wished he had a gun so that he could kill himself.”

Driscoll said Busch called her names and accused her of “having spies everywhere and having a camera on the bus to watch him.” He then jumped up, grabbed her face and smashed her head three times against the wall next to the bed, the documents say.

The documents further state that Driscoll says she pushed Busch away and ran from the bedroom, going to a nearby bus to put an ice pack on her head and neck. She said the incident caused her severe pain, difficulty breathing and bruising on her neck.

Busch’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, issued a statement Friday afternoon saying Busch would cooperate fully with the investigation.

“The Dover Police Department has been informed that Mr. Busch will fully cooperate with their investigation,” Hardin said, “and he expects to be vindicated when the entire truth of the situation comes to light. This allegation is a complete fabrication by a woman who has refused to accept the end of a relationship, and Mr. Busch vehemently denies her allegations in every respect. At this time, we intend to have no further comment in the media out of respect for the Dover Police Department’s desire to conduct a thorough investigation without a media circus.’’

Busch is at Phoenix International Raceway this weekend in preparation for the upcoming Sprint Cup race but has made no statement concerning the allegations.

Mike Arning, a spokesperson for Busch’s team, Stewart-Haas Racing, issued a statement which said, “This is an allegation Stewart-Haas Racing takes very seriously, but we’re still gathering all of the facts and are not in a position to comment in greater detail.’’

NASCAR responded to the incident with a release from Brett Jewkes, NASCAR Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer, as follows, “NASCAR is aware of the investigation involving driver Kurt Busch. We recognize the seriousness of this matter and are actively gathering information from all parties, including law enforcement authorities and Stewart-Haas Racing. It would be inappropriate for NASCAR to comment further on this matter until we have more information.”

Driscoll is president of the Armed Forces Foundation and Busch has participated as a spokesperson for the organization.

Pat LaFrieda, chairman of the board of the Armed Forces Foundation issued a statement saying, “I want to, first and foremost, express the direct support from the Board of Directors of the Armed Forces Foundation to Ms. Driscoll. For more than a decade, Ms. Driscoll has been a tireless worker and advocate for our nation’s service members, veterans, and military families. The Foundation will continue working to support service members, veterans, and military families and we ask that Ms. Driscoll’s privacy be respected. Given the serious nature of the allegations, the Foundation has suspended its association with Mr. Busch.’’

A hearing in the case is scheduled for Dec. 2.

CHEVY NSCS AT PHOENIX TWO: Jeff Gordon Press Conf Transcript

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