Allgaier wins at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photography, Inc.” align=”alignright” width=”223″]
[/media-credit]Justin Allgaier got redemption! Allgaier won the 6th Annual NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) NAPA Auto Parts 200 presented by Dodge at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in one of the craziest races but perhaps the best of the season so far.
Allgaier bumped Jacques Villeneuve on the final lap to score his first NNS victory this season and his third career.
Sam Hornish Jr. finished second, Jacques Villeneuve third, Elliott Sadler fourth and Ron Fellows rounded out the top-5.
“Prior to that caution where we got spun out, you know, we were catching the 22 (Jacques Villeneuve) and felt like we had something for it. I felt like we had a winning car today, we just didn’t get the win. All in all, the guys did a great job. Another lap and I think I would have had the 31 (Justin Allgaier). To be able to come back from where we were at and have those kinds of problems I feel pretty good about it.” Hornish Jr. said.
Alex Tagliani started on the pole for the first time in his short career. Tagliani only completes one or two races a year due to racing in Indy full time. Tagliani led the first lap with Hornish Jr. following closely behind him.
Sadler headed to the pits after the first lap so that they could make it on only two pit stops. Everybody had to come in within the next 20-25 laps so that they could also make it a two stop race. Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Allgaier made their stops on lap 3.
Nobody else pitted until lap 18 when Fellows came in and took four tires and fuel. Danica Patrick and Cole Whitt came in and took four tires but while that was happening, the No.14 of Eric McClure stopped in turn 9 and the No.23 car spun right in front of of Villeneuve, bringing out the caution.
Everybody that did not pit during green, came in. Hornish Jr. got some tape off so that they would not heat up the brakes. Villeneuve took four tires and told his team that he is holding his good stuff back for the very end.
Patrick restarted as the race leader on lap 21 and started to pull away from her teammate Fellows and Sadler. Patrick had a 1.067 lead when the No.41 car of Timmy Hill stopped in turn 6, bringing out the second caution of the afternoon. Sadler came in during the yellow and got four tires along with Stenhouse Jr.
Patrick led the field to the restart on lap 27 with everybody scrambling for position behind. Kyle Busch went three wide into turn 2 and got the second position and almost got the lead from Patrick, but Patrick went hard into the corner and was able to keep the position.
Couple laps after the restart, Busch, who never completed one lap on the track in his career and Allgaier pitted for four tires since they were on different pit strategies than the rest.
The Caution came out for the third time on lap 33 when the No.23 car of Dexter Stacy hit the wall and stopped in turn 6. Fellows came in and got tires but he was the only one to pit.
Patrick was the leader once again and lead them to the green on lap 37. Partick was starting to pull away but somebody threw a shoe, yes a shoe, out onto the race track and Patrick ran over it. Patrick told crew chief Tony Eury Jr that she was feeling like the steering wheel was about to fall off and she couldn’t control it. Eury Jr. told her to pit if she could not control it or if she could, hold on for another 9 laps.
Villeneuve took the lead in turn 7 and started to pull away. Patrick said that something is going back and forth in her car. It moves when she turns,brakes,turns everything. The caution came out on lap 46 for debris on the track.
Pit stops happened on lap 47 with the top-5 looking like this, Villeneuve, Patrick, Tagliani, Billy Johnson and Hornish Jr. Patrick got four tires and the crew looked under the car which they found a bar hanging loose. They went behind the wall to fix the problem.
Sadler was in the lead when the race was restarted on lap 49. Andrew Ranger, Allgaier, Mike Wallace and Kyle Kelley round out the top-5.
Ranger, Sadler and Fellows all went into pit road for their finals stops. They rejoined the field in 25th, 26th and 27th. Villeneuve retook the lead with 20 laps to go but still did not pit. Allgaier went in a lap later and took four tires and fuel. Cole Whitt went to the garage with a lost cylinder.
Busch came in on lap 58 and got four tires and fuel.
The caution came out with 14 laps to go when the No.81 of Jason Bowles wheel hoped in the turn and spun into the gravel trap, bringing out the 5th caution of the day. Villeneuve was told by his team to shut the car off to save fuel. They were planning to go the rest of the way without pitting.
Hornish and Villeneuve restarted the race. Everyone went into turn 1 beating and banging. Michael McDowell went hard into turn 2 and collected Hornish Jr. Both drivers drove away but a lap later the No.59 of Kyle Kelley went into turn 1 and spun, collecting Patrick, Wallace and Hornish Jr.
One lap later Tagliani was leading when Villeneuve went for the lead into one, caught his back bumper and kept in the gas until he spun him out. Tagliani slipped back to eighth after the spin.
“I was a little bit on the inside and we tangled a little bit. I thought it would be alright so I didn’t get off the gas, I didn’t want the cars behind me to get to me. I ended up turning him around. That’s a shame. That wasn’t my intention.” Villeneuve said.
Caution came out for the sixth time when Wallace spun in the last turn where he wheel hopped and stopped.
They restarted and it was bombs away! The No.33, 30, 44, 12, 18, 54 and more all spun in turns one and two and caution came out due to the No.30 of Tagliani and the No.51 of Jeremy Clements stopped and couldn’t not get re-fired and there was tons of debris.
Everybody was having to save fuel while the track was being cleaned for debris.
They restarted on lap 76 (2 laps after the scheduled laps) with Villeneuve still leading. Everybody made it thru 1 and 2. Things were looking good until Stenhouse Jr. tried to get on the back bumper of the No.22 and spun out and backed into the wall. Derek White also spun from contact from Alex Kennedy.
They final restart of the race was clean. Allgaier got onto the rear bumper of Villeneuve in turn 6, causing his to go wide into the turn. Allgaier made the pass for the lead and never looked back.
“Dodge and Penske gave me an amazing car today. We had the car of the field today. We were untouchable. It makes the end result a little frustrating. We were a little bit low on fuel so I was being careful and as often happens (here) it goes a little bit crazy on the last lap.”
Allgaier thought Villeneuve was having fuel issues.
“I got run in to. It (fuel) was no problem. Into Turn 6 I think it was (Justin) Allgaier (who) just hit me really hard and that was it, which is very frustrating because our car was untouchable.” Villeneuve said.
Sadlers fourth place finish extends his lead in the series standings to 22 points over Stenhouse Jr.
| Unofficial Race Results | |||||
| NAPA Auto Parts 200, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve | |||||
| http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=22 | |||||
| ========================================= | |||||
| Pos. | St. | No. | Driver | Make | Points |
| ========================================= | |||||
| 1 | – | 31 | Justin Allgaier | Chevrolet | 47 |
| 2 | – | 12 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Dodge | 43 |
| 3 | – | 22 | Jacques Villeneuve | Dodge | 43 |
| 4 | – | 2 | Elliott Sadler | Chevrolet | 41 |
| 5 | – | 5 | Ron Fellows | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 6 | – | 18 | Michael McDowell | Toyota | 0 |
| 7 | – | 1 | Mike Wallace | Chevrolet | 37 |
| 8 | – | 60 | Billy Johnson | Ford | 0 |
| 9 | – | 3 | Austin Dillon * | Chevrolet | 35 |
| 10 | – | 54 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 0 |
| 11 | – | 33 | Brendan Gaughan | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 12 | – | 6 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 32 |
| 13 | – | 44 | Mike Bliss | Chevrolet | 31 |
| 14 | – | 19 | Tayler Malsam | Toyota | 30 |
| 15 | – | 87 | Alex Kennedy | Toyota | 0 |
| 16 | – | 40 | Erik Darnell | Chevrolet | 28 |
| 17 | – | 39 | Tim Andrews | Ford | 27 |
| 18 | – | 124 | Derek White | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 19 | – | 14 | Eric McClure | Toyota | 25 |
| 20 | – | 38 | Brad Sweet * | Chevrolet | 24 |
| 21 | – | 159 | Kyle Kelley | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 22 | – | 30 | Alex Tagliani | Chevrolet | 23 |
| 23 | – | 4 | Daryl Harr | Chevrolet | 21 |
| 24 | – | 11 | Brian Scott | Toyota | 20 |
| 25 | – | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Chevrolet | 19 |
| 26 | – | 81 | Jason Bowles * | Toyota | 18 |
| 27 | – | 7 | Danica Patrick | Chevrolet | 18 |
| 28 | – | 43 | Michael Annett | Ford | 16 |
| 29 | – | 199 | Patrick Carpentier | Toyota | 15 |
| 30 | – | 70 | Joe Nemechek | Dodge | 14 |
| 31 | – | 126 | John Young | Dodge | 0 |
| 32 | – | 27 | Andrew Ranger | Dodge | 12 |
| 33 | – | 88 | Cole Whitt * | Chevrolet | 11 |
| 34 | – | 275 | Kenny Habul | Toyota | 10 |
| 35 | – | 23 | Dexter Stacey | Chevrolet | 9 |
| 36 | – | 41 | Timmy Hill | Ford | 0 |
| 37 | – | 153 | Eric Curran | Dodge | 7 |
| 38 | – | 108 | Louis-Philippe Dumoulin | Ford | 6 |
| 39 | – | 15 | Chris Cook | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 40 | – | 47 | Matt DiBenedetto | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 41 | – | 42 | Blake Koch | Chevrolet | 3 |
| 42 | – | 46 | Chase Miller | Chevrolet | 2 |
| 43 | – | 10 | Jeff Green | Toyota | 1 |
Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 21 – Michigan International Speedway – Pure Michigan 400 – August 19, 2012
The summer tour continues this week in the rolling hills of Michigan for the 43rd Annual Pure Michigan 400. The new racing surface at Michigan International Speedway, produced speeds upwards of 210 mph and sent Goodyear’s engineers back to the drawing board. NASCAR was forced to circle the wagons and have a fleet of new Goodyear tires caravanned up to MIS from Charlotte as a result of the blistering speeds. The tires held up and the race at MIS nine weeks ago turned out to be a far cry from the traditional strung out boring-ness that races at Michigan tended to produce.
Drivers are loving the new surface at Michigan, and with a two-groove racing surface coming into play this weekend, side-by-side racing is surely on the menu this week.
Watkins Glen Recap
It was a wild one last week at Watkins Glen, but in the end I was proved wrong by the recent ‘Master of The Glen’, Marcos Ambrose.
I went out on a limb last week and said it would not be one of the two ‘Road Course Specialists’ in Victory Lane last week, and had that statement shoved in my face on the final lap of the Finger Lakes 355 at The Glen. My Winner Pick, Brad Kesolowski fought hard all day last week and fell victim to the bold driving of Marcos Ambrose on the final lap last week.
The oil down on the track at the conclusion of the race on Sunday was the main story.
“Well the 18, (who was leading the race at the start of the final lap) was oil. Look like he had something wrong there and had the whole track slick as hell. You couldn’t drive it; it was undriveable…Then it came down to just running a whole lap against Marcos. I got in the oil and we’d slip up. He’d get by me and then he’d get in the oil and I’d get by him. Just really good, hard racing; some beating and banging. I think its the way racing should be.” Brad Keselowski said about the situation.
My Dark Horse pick last week considers Watkins Glen International to be one of his ‘Hometown Tracks’. The Mayetta, NJ native started ninth and finished tenth in Sunday’s 90-lap NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International. Quickly climbing through the top-10, Martin Truex Jr. made his way all the way up to third by lap 27. A mid-race mishap for the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota (an empty fuel tank), put the kibosh on Truex’s bid for the victory at the 2.45-mile road course.
Truex commented after the race “We dodged a big bullet there with a 10th-place finish. We had a good car. The NAPA Toyota was fast. We were running third and one lap from pitting and we ran out of gas and the caution came out. So, when we pitted we had to go to the tail end of the longest line and I think there were only 25 laps to go and we were in the tail end of the longest line. We had to pass a lot of cars to get back to 10th.”
Michigan Picks
I’m very glad I’m finishing this week’s column today rather than yesterday. With the drama of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice this morning, my picks would have been far different had I written my column yesterday, rather than today.
Winner Pick
Dale Jr. was the guy I was looking at for the win before this morning’s practice session, but with Jr. forced to a backup car following a spin in practice, it would be a true underdog victory tomorrow afternoon for the No. 88 team. To make things worse for the Steve Latarte and Dale Jr., the wreck happened with less than ten minutes remaining in Final Practice, leaving no time for adjustments to the Hendrick Motorsports backup car.
With the Dale Jr. drama unfolding this morning, I have no choice but to turn to a guy with two wins under his belt at Michigan International Speedway. He’s currently second in points, and has just one win this season. He’s had an up and down last few weeks, and needs a win for seeding purposes for this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup. Greg Biffle was fastest in each of the two final practice sessions this weekend at MIS, and has a great looking car for tomorrow’s Pure Michigan 400.
Dark Horse Pick
Reagan Smith is riding a great looking Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet this week into Michigan, and is coming off back-to-back top tens at the two tracks closest to his hometown of Cato, NY. Michigan International Speedway has not been the kindest of racetracks for Reagan Smith, but that’s not to say he can not change that this week. He boasts a best finish of thirteenth at the two-miler, but was shown eighth fastest on the speed charts this morning in Final Practice. Smith will start the Pure Michigan 400 from the eighteenth starting spot, so he’s got some work to do on Sunday to leave Michigan with a solid finish.
That’s all for this week, so until next time….You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!
Piquet Jr. wins his first Camping World Truck Series race at Michigan
[media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”241″]
[/media-credit]Brooklyn, Mich. – Nelson Piquet Jr. won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday. Piquet Jr. stretched his fuel mileage to 48 laps in route to his first NCWTS victory in 42 career starts.
“It’s finally an amazing moment that I made it in the Truck Series. I think if we were second or third in the championship, I would have been more concerned. But I said, ‘Let’s just go for it,’ and we went for the win.” Piquet Jr. said.
Piquet Jr. is the tenth different winner in the last 10 races for the NCWTS.
Jason White finished second, Dakoda Armstrong third, Parker Kligerman fourth and James Buescher finished fifth.
“Really worked out with good strategy there. We were having problems in the pits today. I did mess up and then the guys kind of messed up a little bit, but to come back and get that good finish it was awesome.” Armstrong said.
Kurt Busch led a race-high 57 laps (of 100) and finished ninth in his first NCWTS start since 2001.
“It was fun to get back in the trucks. I really enjoyed myself out there and wanted to do a good job for Kyle and I think we got that done as far as evaluating our program, his program. I say, ‘Ours,’ because we’re brothers and its fun to do this together.” Busch said.
Todd Bodine lost control of his No.11 truck and crashing the rear end of the truck into the outside wall, ending his day.
“I don’t know what happened on the first deal. I don’t know who pushed up into me or whatever. The aerodynamics on these trucks are so sensitive that you get really aero-pushy and real aero-loose. Got into the corner, probably got aero-tight and pushed into me. It happens.” Bodine said
| Unofficial Race Results | |||||
| VFW 200, Michigan Int’l Speedway | |||||
| http://www.speedwaymedia.com/truckseries/race.php?race=12 | |||||
| ========================================= | |||||
| Pos. | St. | No. | Driver | Make | Points |
| ========================================= | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 30 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | Chevrolet | 47 |
| 2 | 12 | 23 | Jason White | Ford | 42 |
| 3 | 20 | 98 | Dakoda Armstrong * | Toyota | 41 |
| 4 | 11 | 7 | Parker Kligerman | Toyota | 41 |
| 5 | 8 | 31 | James Buescher | Chevrolet | 40 |
| 6 | 5 | 3 | Ty Dillon * | Chevrolet | 39 |
| 7 | 1 | 22 | Joey Coulter | Chevrolet | 37 |
| 8 | 10 | 29 | Brad Keselowski | Ram | 0 |
| 9 | 4 | 18 | Kurt Busch | Toyota | 0 |
| 10 | 3 | 32 | Miguel Paludo | Chevrolet | 34 |
| 11 | 6 | 13 | Johnny Sauter | Toyota | 33 |
| 12 | 14 | 6 | Justin Lofton | Chevrolet | 32 |
| 13 | 9 | 17 | Timothy Peters | Toyota | 31 |
| 14 | 23 | 99 | Bryan Silas * | Ford | 30 |
| 15 | 25 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Chevrolet | 29 |
| 16 | 13 | 88 | Matt Crafton | Toyota | 28 |
| 17 | 22 | 9 | Ron Hornaday | Chevrolet | 27 |
| 18 | 21 | 8 | Ross Chastain * | Toyota | 26 |
| 19 | 18 | 214 | Brennan Newberry | Chevrolet | 25 |
| 20 | 17 | 33 | Cale Gale * | Chevrolet | 24 |
| 21 | 7 | 2 | Tim George Jr. | Chevrolet | 23 |
| 22 | 29 | 10 | Jennifer Jo Cobb | Ram | 22 |
| 23 | 34 | 57 | Norm Benning | Chevrolet | 21 |
| 24 | 15 | 11 | Todd Bodine | Toyota | 21 |
| 25 | 16 | 9 | John Wes Townley * | Toyota | 19 |
| 26 | 26 | 7 | Johnny Chapman | Toyota | 18 |
| 27 | 32 | 27 | Brandon Knupp | Chevrolet | 17 |
| 28 | 31 | 174 | Mike Harmon | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 29 | 24 | 84 | Chris Fontaine | Chevrolet | 15 |
| 30 | 30 | 225 | Stephen Leicht | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 31 | 28 | 93 | Dennis Setzer | Chevrolet | 13 |
| 32 | 19 | 5 | Scott Riggs | Ford | 0 |
| 33 | 27 | 38 | Chris Jones | Chevrolet | 11 |
| 34 | 35 | 175 | Josh Wise | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 35 | 33 | 0 | T.J. Bell | Ford | 0 |








