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Kyle Busch Continues Dominance; Burton Crashes Again

[media-credit name=”Photo Credit: Noel Lanier” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Kyle Busch was blistering quick last evening as he set the track record in winning the pole and his dominance of the weekend continued as he led practice this morning with a blistering lap of 26.55. Busch ran 35 laps during the session. Denny Hamlin was second quickest to make it a clean sweep for JGR Racing. Hamlin ran 14 laps and set a lap of 26.67. Both are favorites to win the race this weekend.

Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski, and Joey Logano rounded out the top-5. Truex is starting on the outside of the front row for the race tomorrow. Keselowski struggled during his qualifying lap primarily due to the cloud coverage in the area, but ran 24 laps and was very happy with his run. Joey Logano has had decent cars here in the past, but has never really been there at the end of the race to show it. He starts tomorrow in 15th, behind Keselowski.

Paul Menard, Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top-10. Bowyer is the last driver other than the top two that still has a mathematical chance to win the Chase. He sits 36 points back. For those who follow the old system, Johnson leads Keselowski by 19 points, and Greg Biffle by 46.

Speaking of Jimmie Johnson, he has not had a good weekend so far. He struggled in practice this morning, only running as high as 24th on the sheets with a fastest lap of 26.91. He is a 4-time winner here in Phoenix and it just seems like he hasn’t completely gotten used to the new surface despite finishing in the top-5 here in the spring.

[media-credit name=”Photo Credit: Noel Lanier” align=”alignright” width=”234″][/media-credit]Jeff Burton has also had a weekend to forget. He wrecked his primary car on Friday, and had brake issues on his No.31 in practice today. Burton’s team opted to change chassis on the No.31 and will use their backup for the Cup event tomorrow. At the time of the accident, Burton was 20th quickest on the track.

Is this going to be a JGR weekend? We shall see tomorrow!

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.