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Brian Scott Survives Wreck-Fest To Score Second Truck Win

[media-credit name=”Tom Pennington/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]Brian Scott survived the wreck-fest in Phoenix and scored his second Camping World Truck Series victory after a battle with the young Kyle Larson on a green-white-checkered finish. Larson had the lead late before a caution set up the wild finish.

The race itself was great throughout. However; there was a point in the race where there was six consecutive cautions. six green laps were run during that time frame. Cautions breed cautions.

Jeff Choquette hit the wall hard off turn-2 to bring out the first yellow of the race, but then Todd Bodine received major front-end damage after a Jason White spun out.

Parker Kligerman followed suit on the very next green flag as he got loose and Matt Crafton was left helpless as he plowed into the accident. Kligerman was visibly upset with himself, but high-fived his crew and apologized for his mistake.

The chaos ensued as Nelson Piquet Jr. got loose on the very next restart in Turn 3 and wiped out both Ron Hornaday and Johnny Sauter. Piquet was a heavy favorite to pull out a victory here in the desert.

Eventually someone had to lost their temper after another caution. German Quiroga got loose entering turn-1 and plowed the No.2 Chevrolet Silverado of Brendan Gaughan from behind and both hit the wall very hard. Gaughan emerged from the truck and screamed things at Quiroga that probably nobody wants to hear. In Gaughan’s interview, he claimed that he spoke fluent Spanish and the kid simply “screwed up”, but no apology came from Gaughan. Quiroga was very apologetic and admitted to losing the handle of his No.51 truck.

James Buescher came into this race as the points leader and kept it despite losing a tire late in the race. Brian Scott survived the madness for his second Truck Series victory. His last victory came at Dover in 2009 in the AAA Insurance 200.

Tune in for coverage of the Nationwide race tomorrow on my Twitter @SirRyanTheOHara.

Unofficial Race Results
Lucas Oil 150, Phoenix Int’l Raceway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/truckseries/race.php?race=21
=========================================
Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
=========================================
1 3 18 Brian Scott Toyota 0
2 6 4 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 43
3 17 22 Joey Coulter Chevrolet 41
4 8 17 Timothy Peters Toyota 41
5 2 29 Ryan Blaney Ram 39
6 14 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 38
7 4 33 Cale Gale * Chevrolet 37
8 1 30 Nelson Piquet Jr. Chevrolet 37
9 11 27 Ryan Truex Chevrolet 0
10 22 6 Justin Lofton Chevrolet 35
11 23 135 Matt Merrell Chevrolet 33
12 13 119 David Mayhew Ram 0
13 27 9 John Wes Townley * Toyota 31
14 15 32 Miguel Paludo Chevrolet 30
15 21 3 Ty Dillon * Chevrolet 30
16 32 99 Bryan Silas * Ford 28
17 9 31 James Buescher Chevrolet 27
18 33 8 Todd Peck Toyota 26
19 34 57 Norm Benning Chevrolet 25
20 5 88 Matt Crafton Toyota 24
21 26 23 Jason White Ford 23
22 10 9 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet 22
23 19 2 Brendan Gaughan Chevrolet 0
24 18 151 German Quiroga Toyota 20
25 16 13 Johnny Sauter Toyota 19
26 30 174 Brian Weber Chevrolet 18
27 7 7 Parker Kligerman Toyota 17
28 12 11 Todd Bodine Toyota 16
29 36 5 John King * Ford 15
30 20 297 Jeff Choquette Chevrolet 14
31 24 225 Stephen Leicht Chevrolet 0
32 31 93 Dennis Setzer Chevrolet 12
33 25 7 Ross Chastain * Chevrolet 11
34 35 84 Chris Fontaine Chevrolet 10
35 28 38 Chris Jones Chevrolet 9
36 29 0 Blake Koch Ford 0

Lap by Lap: Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway won by Brian Scott

[media-credit name=”Christian Petersen/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”283″][/media-credit]In a late green white checkered, Brian Scott would take the lead from Kyle Larson and lead the final laps to win the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway for Kyle Busch Motorsports’ first win of 2012.

 

Lap 1 Nelson Piquet Jr. grabs the lead early while Scott clears Ryan Blaney for second

Lap 2 Piquet Jr. leads Scott, Blaney, Crafton, Gale, Buescher, Peters, Truex, Larson and Mayhew.

Lap 6 Mayhew passes Larson for ninth

Lap 7 Paludo passes Larson for 10th

Lap 9 Scott passes Piquet Jr. for the lead

Lap 23 Scott leads Blaney, Crafton, Piquet Jr., Gale, Buescher, Peters, Mathew, Truex and Sauter

Caution Jeff Choquette gets into the wall after a flat right front tire……pit stops. Buescher pulls close to the wall; Scott takes two tires, though reports possible motor issue. Scott leads Peters, Dillon, Kligermann off pit road.

Restart lap 42. Scott leads as Dillon grabs second ahead of Peters and Kligermann

Caution lap 44 John King gets into the wall

Restart lap 48. Dillon and Scott side-by-side for the lead. Scott clears Dillon off of turn four.

Caution lap 49 wreck on the front stretch after Jason White has some issues, collecting Bodine

Restart lap 54. Dillon and Scott side-by-side for the lead. Dillon grabs the lead…..Caution. Kligermann got into the wall. Kligermann gets loose underneath Blaney, collecting Crafton.

Restart lap 56……Caution as Piquet Jr. turns Sauter into the wall while battling for position, collecting Hornaday

Restart lap 73…..Dillon pulls ahead of Scott off of turn two

Caution lap 74 Gale goes around after getting loose underneath Blaney. Piquet Jr. gets the lucky dog…..leaders Ryan Truex stays out, inheriting the lead. Top seven trucks stayed out.

Restart 72 laps to go as Truex holds the lead.

71 laps to go Peters gets into Truex down the front straight, Truex saves it.

70 laps to go Truex leads Peters, Mayhew, Larson, Dillion, Scott, Gaughan, Blaney and Buescher

68 to go Truex leads Lofton, Peters, Larson, Mayhew, Gaughan, Dillon, Scott, Blaney and Buescher; Scott passes Dillon for seventh

64 to go Scott and Dillon pass Gaughan for sixth and seventh after Gaughan got into the wall slightly

60 to go Mayhew and Blaney pass Gaughan for eighth and ninth while Coulter passes Buescher for 10th after Gaughan gets sideways and Buescher slows to avoid

59 to go Truex leads Lofton, Peters, Larson, Scott, Dillon, Blaney, Guaghan, Coulter and Buescher. Sieg 11th with Mayhew 12th after Mayhew got loose.

54 to go Lofton and Peters pass Truex for first and second

52 to go Scott passes Truex for third

49 to go Lofton leads Peters, Scott, Truex, Larson, Dillon, Blaney, Coulter, Gaughan and Buescher.

48 to go Caution Truex runs out of room trying to get around the lap truck of Mike Harmon and spins him. Blaney made slight contact with Harmon. Lofton pits as the leader for four tires.

42 to go Peters battles with Larson and Scott for the lead three-wide down the back – Larson grabs the lead through turns three and four. Quiroga gets into Gaughan, collecting Dillon. Gaughan expressed his displeasure with Quiroga. Red flag.

Restart 36 laps to go as Larson holds the lead while Scott passes Peters.

35 to go Larson leads Scott, Peters, Coulter, Seig, Buescher, Blaney, Piquet Jr., Truex, Mayhew

32 to go Truex passes Piquet Jr for eighth; Gale passes Mayhew for 10th; Busecher passes Seig for fifth

31 to go Gale passes Piquet Jr. and Truex both to move up to eighth

30 to go Larson leads Scott, Peters, Coulter, Buescher, Seig, Blaney, Gale, Piquet Jr. and Truex

27 to go Scott and Larson get side-by-side off of turn two; Larson drives it deep into turn three, holding Scott off as Scott slid up due to Larson’s move

17 to go Dillon, who came into the night second in points, falls a lap down to race leader Kyle Larson

16 to go Larson leads Scott, Peters, Coulter, Buescher, Seig, Blaney, Gale, Piquet Jr., Truex

8 to go Seig passes Buescher for fifth; Blaney passes Buescher for sixth

6 to go Lofton gets into Truex, passing him for 10th

3 to go Caution – Buescher gets into the wall after a flat right front tire

Restart 2 to go Brian Scott passes Kyle Larson for the lead through turns one and two

Brian Scott wins the race! Larson. Coulter. Peters. Blaney. Seig.

Kyle Busch Snags Second Career Phoenix Pole

[media-credit name=”Credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”223″][/media-credit]Kyle Busch captured the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway with a lap of 138.766 mph.  Busch is trying to gain some momentum carrying on to the 2013 season after missing the Chase for the third time in his career.

“We’ll take it and it will be a good starting spot for us. Obviously, getting first pit selection and all that’s good for us. The M&M’s Camry was awesome all day today. Can’t wait for tomorrow. Hopefully, we can get this thing dolled up for race trim and have a good race car come Sunday.” Busch said.

Martin Truex Jr. qualified second and is in the Chase, but is too far back in the lineup to make a charge for the championship as the duo of Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski continue their dominance.

The weather played a huge factor in the qualifying today. A cold front has hit Arizona this past weekend and it ha been raining off and on all day. Areas like Prescott and Flagstaff even saw snow. The cloud coverage disrupted the handling on Jimmie Johnson’s car during his qualifying lap, and he wound up in 24th, his worst qualifying effort since Bristol. Brad Keselowski qualified his #2 Miller Lite Dodge in the 14th position. He also had some trouble on his qualifying lap, but Mother Nature was a little more lenient to Keselowski.

If Keselowski wants to gain any momentum, he needs to do it on Sunday. Johnson is already ten spots behind Brad when the race begins, and he can’t hesitate when Johnson is a 4-time winner at this track.

Spring winner Denny Hamlin will start from the third position. Kasey Kahne (2011 winner of this event), Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch, Paul Menard, Regan Smith, Mark Martin, and Tony Stewart will round out the Top 10 for Sunday’s race.

Notables: Jeff Gordon (11th), Ryan Newman (12th), Carl Edwards (13th), Joey Logano (15th), Clint Bowyer (16th), Kevin Harvick (19th), Greg Biffle (20th), Matt Kenseth (22nd), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (23rd), Danica Patrick (37th).

For you Kyle Busch fans, I asked him in the media center the following question: How important is it for you and your team to get a win before the season is out to carry momentum for 2013?

“I think getting a win would be nice. We don’t necessarily need a win, but we need to finish well these final few races. I think we actually have performed well enough these past couple weeks. We were up there battling Brad and Jimmie at Texas all night long, but we just didn’t have the car in the end and of course we’ve been bitten by fuel in the past, but to win would definitely be a big boost to this team.”

Starting Lineup
AdvoCare 500, Phoenix Int’l Raceway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=35
===========================================
Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time
===========================================
1 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 138.766 25.943
2 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 138.217 26.046
3 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 137.578 26.167
4 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 137.478 26.186
5 43 Aric Almirola Ford 137.211 26.237
6 78 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 137.007 26.276
7 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 136.992 26.279
8 51 Regan Smith Chevrolet 136.872 26.302
9 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 136.867 26.303
10 55 Mark Martin Toyota 136.867 26.303
11 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 136.83 26.31
12 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 136.721 26.331
13 99 Carl Edwards Ford 136.679 26.339
14 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 136.622 26.35
15 20 Joey Logano Toyota 136.488 26.376
16 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 136.436 26.386
17 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 136.359 26.401
18 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 136.353 26.402
19 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 136.271 26.418
20 16 Greg Biffle Ford 136.219 26.428
21 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 136.003 26.47
22 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 135.906 26.489
23 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 135.547 26.559
24 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 135.44 26.58
25 13 Casey Mears Ford 135.211 26.625
26 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 135.171 26.633
27 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 134.948 26.677
28 98 Michael McDowell Ford 134.948 26.677
29 34 David Ragan Ford 134.932 26.68
30 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 134.449 26.776
31 38 David Gilliland Ford 134.374 26.791
32 30 David Stremme Toyota 134.343 26.797
33 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 134.198 26.826
34 144 David Reutimann Ford 134.008 26.864
35 33 Stephen Leicht* Chevrolet 133.62 26.942
36 119 Mike Bliss Toyota 133.576 26.951
37 10 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 132.954 27.077
38 26 Josh Wise* Ford 132.817 27.105
39 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 132.387 27.193
40 191 Jason Leffler Toyota 131.329 27.412
41 32 Timmy Hill Ford 129.945 27.704
42 36 Dave Blaney+ Chevrolet 128.691 27.974
43 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 130.067 27.678