Stenhouse wins a wild one!
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[/media-credit]Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) NRA American Warrior 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Stenhouse passed Kevin Harvick with one lap and half to go to win his fourth race this season and his first race at Atlanta.
“We had a great Cargill Beef Mustang and the engine was strong under the hood. Doug Yates has been working really hard on that. I just had to get down on him as tight as I could. I’m glad we could make the end of the race interesting because he killed us for the first 194 laps. He killed us, but it was cool to get him on that restart. Kevin is a great driver and it was fun to go up against him.” Stenhouse said.
Stenhouse Jr. now has six career NNS victories and all have come in Mustang (three at Iowa, one each at Las Vegas, Texas and Atlanta).
Brad Keselowski finished second, Kevin Harvick third, Elliott Sadler fourth and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top-5.
“I tried to make a move on Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.) coming to the white and he blocked it so I figured I’d just give him a push and he took that push and just ran with it and got in front of Kevin (Harvick). I couldn’t keep back up with him. Maybe if I had another lap but who knows.” Keselowski said.
Kyle Busch captured his first pole as a team owner and led the first lap. Harvick started third and was not happy because he felt Busch delayed the start of the race and told his crew chief that he would just wreck the No.54 if he did that again.
The No.52 car of Joey Gase slammed the wall into one and two. It looked like it was a mechanical issue and nobody came into the pits only because only three laps had been run. Blake Koch took his No.00 to the garage.
They restarted the race with Stenhouse leading them to the green. Stenhouse cleared everybody into turn 1 with drivers going three wide to get as many positions as they could. The green flag did not last long when the No.41 car of Fain Skinner was spraying oil everywhere on the backstretch. Nobody went down to the pits because they only have five sets of tires and they didn’t want to waste them.
On lap 12, drivers Carl Long, Josh Wise, Mike Harmon, Chase Miller and J.J Yeley had already started and parked.
They restarted on lap 16 with Stenhouse being the on the top spot. Stenhouse gets a little ground on the leaders while Harvick, Busch and Kahne were fighting for second. Harvick ended up with the spot. Harvick was closing into turn 4 and on lap 18 he took the race lead coming out of two. Harvick just flew past everybody and by lap 45, he was over 10 seconds from second place of Stenhouse.
Green Flag Pit stops started to occur with the No.88 of Cole Whitt came in and got four tires. Stenhouse came in and got a chassis adjustment and four tires. He was two tight everywhere but especially in turns 1 and 2. Sadler went down pit road complaining about his right rear was gone. He also said that he was too loose and he wanted a air pressure adjustment and four tires and he was gone. Keselowski took a trip down the pits and said he was free in to three and other then that, he was fine. He got four tires but was speeding on pit road and had to come down again. When he was coming down to serve the penalty, he was speeding again and had to come in for a stop and go. Harvick was on pit road and he was very happy! He got four tires and no changes and was on his way. Kahne came in saying he was loose in the right rear but other then that, he was tight everywhere. They fixed him and he was on his way. He also sped on pit road and all sped coming into to serve his penalty.
About five laps later after green flag stops, Caution cam out for the third time. Reed Sorenson and Robert Richardson Jr. were battling for position and it looked like Sorenson moved up and Richardson Jr. tapped his corner panel. There was only seven cars on the lead lap with Whitt making the eighth by getting the lucky dog. Busch came in and got a rubber in the right front. Harvick stayed out and trapped all the people who were one lap down, due to green flag pit stops.
They restarted the race on lap 72 with Harvick still leading. He just has a rocket ship and just blew past everybody into turn 1. Travis Pastrana got up to 9th place and is having a very good run. Keselowski is running 17th and he has told his team he is bad loose.
They had the fourth caution of the race when the No.18 of Denny Hamlin blew a tire in turn 2. The leaders cam in to pit for their second stop of the night! Stenhouse came in wanting to put a rubber in saying he has no right rear grip. Allgaier came in and said he was tight and had no side bite. He got a wedge and a air pressure with four tires and was off. Sam Hornish Jr came in and was free and wanted a air pressure adjustment. He got that four tires and fuel. Our leader went in and said exactly what he said last time: He loves it! He got four tires, fuel and left.
Harvick lead them to the green flag and pulled away just like he has done the entire night! On lap 104 Harvick’s lead was about 6.5 seconds. He has had a magic car tonight.
The fifth caution cam out on lap 107 when the No.38 of Kahne cut a tire and shredded it all over the track. Kahne was two laps down due to the pit road penalties. – Allgaier, Michael Annett, Pastrana and a few others drop onto pit road under the caution. The leader of Harvick did not. They will all need to make one more pit stop before the night is over.
The green flag went back to green with Harvick leading and he pulled away like he has done all day. He has had amazing car and yesterday he wrote on twitter that he was having a okay car in cup and had to work on his NNS car. Well I think he worked on it!
Harvick lead for six more laps until the next caution came out when the No.14 of Eric Mcclure cut a tire in turn 2. This has been the third tire cut. The leaders came down to pit stop for their 2nd to last pit stop. Stenhouse Jr came in and got four tires and was a five on a scale of 1 to 10 loose. He also got fuel and was out of there. The No.3 car of Austin Dillon says his car is the best that they have had today. He got four tires and fuel and was the second off pit road. Harvick got four tires telling the crew not to change anything but tires and fuel. Pastrana did not pit and will be the leader when we get back to green.
Pastrana lead the field back to the green but that didn’t last long. Harvick went three wide into one and gotten the top spot and started to pull away from the No.99. Stenhouse was trying to catch up but Harvick is too dang fast. Pastrana was running ninth with 32 laps to go when he hit the wall with a tire going down. It was the fourth tire down tonight!
Final green flag pit stops came with 26 to go with the No.54 of Busch as the first one to come in. He said he just could not find the car today. He got some wedge and four tires with some fuel and was leaving right when Harvick was starting with his pit stop. Harvick said the car is amazing and all he wanted was four tires and fuel and he was gone. Stenhouse got in right behind Harvick and got a chassis adjustment with four tires and fuel. Sadler came in and got a chassis adjustment. He said he was still loose in and he didn’t want any changes.
Everybody went in to pit except for Keselowski and Allgaier. They were both trying to wait for a caution so they can come in and get fresher tires. They got it. The caution came out for debris in turn 1 with Allgaier breathing a sigh of relief on his radio. They down on pit road and got fresh tires.
They went back to green with eight laps to go with Kevin Harvick leading. Stenhouse was trying to catch him but there was wreck behind them. James Buescher got a little high, Patrick hit the bumper and turned him. Patrick then went down and collected Mike Bliss who spun and collected Kyle Fowler.
harvick had the dominate car all night, but Keselowski pushed Stenhouse to the lead in the final lap and Harvick drifted back to finish third.
“The 22 is gonna be a great Ford teammate next year. He pushed us down that front straightaway. He had the new tires on and definitely helped us get to the win.” Stenhouse said.
| Unofficial Race Results | |||||
| NRA American Warrior 300, Atlanta Motor Speedway | |||||
| http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=24 | |||||
| ========================================= | |||||
| Pos. | St. | No. | Driver | Make | Points |
| ========================================= | |||||
| 1 | – | 6 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 47 |
| 2 | – | 22 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | 0 |
| 3 | – | 33 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 4 | – | 2 | Elliott Sadler | Chevrolet | 40 |
| 5 | – | 31 | Justin Allgaier | Chevrolet | 40 |
| 6 | – | 3 | Austin Dillon * | Chevrolet | 38 |
| 7 | – | 54 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 0 |
| 8 | – | 88 | Cole Whitt * | Chevrolet | 36 |
| 9 | – | 12 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Dodge | 35 |
| 10 | – | 43 | Michael Annett | Ford | 34 |
| 11 | – | 11 | Brian Scott | Toyota | 33 |
| 12 | – | 18 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 0 |
| 13 | – | 7 | Danica Patrick | Chevrolet | 31 |
| 14 | – | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | 30 |
| 15 | – | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Chevrolet | 29 |
| 16 | – | 81 | Jason Bowles * | Toyota | 28 |
| 17 | – | 1 | Mike Wallace | Chevrolet | 27 |
| 18 | – | 19 | Tayler Malsam | Toyota | 26 |
| 19 | – | 4 | Danny Efland | Chevrolet | 25 |
| 20 | – | 40 | Erik Darnell | Chevrolet | 24 |
| 21 | – | 14 | Eric McClure | Toyota | 23 |
| 22 | – | 44 | Mike Bliss | Chevrolet | 22 |
| 23 | – | 30 | James Buescher | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 24 | – | 124 | Benny Gordon * | Toyota | 20 |
| 25 | – | 108 | Kyle Fowler | Ford | 19 |
| 26 | – | 199 | Travis Pastrana | Toyota | 19 |
| 27 | – | 50 | David Starr | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 28 | – | 38 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 29 | – | 70 | Tony Raines | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 30 | – | 171 | Matthew Carter | Chevrolet | 14 |
| 31 | – | 23 | Robert Richardson Jr. | Chevrolet | 13 |
| 32 | – | 198 | Reed Sorenson | Ford | 12 |
| 33 | – | 15 | Timmy Hill | Ford | 0 |
| 34 | – | 89 | Morgan Shepherd | Chevrolet | 10 |
| 35 | – | 10 | Jeff Green | Toyota | 9 |
| 36 | – | 100 | Blake Koch | Chevrolet | 8 |
| 37 | – | 41 | Fain Skinner | Ford | 7 |
| 38 | – | 46 | Chase Miller | Chevrolet | 6 |
| 39 | – | 174 | Mike Harmon | Chevrolet | 5 |
| 40 | – | 42 | Josh Wise | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 41 | – | 171 | Carl Long | Chevrolet | 3 |
| 42 | – | 47 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 43 | – | 52 | Joey Gase * | Chevrolet | 1 |
MWR locked and loaded for the Chase
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[/media-credit]Michael Waltrip Racing has never placed one their cars in the Sprint Cup Series Chase for the Championship, they’ve never had a driver finish in the top 10 in points. But after Sunday night’s race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, the AdvoCare 500, MWR could check one of those off their list by having both of their full-time drivers locked into the 2012 playoffs.
It’s just a small part of the many feats that the organization has accomplished this season. A season that includes five poles and winning with a driver not named David Reutimann. And they did so on a road course. Clint Bowyer won at Sonoma in June, his first win with his new No. 15 5-Hour Energy team.
Then on Friday they resigned Martin Truex Jr. to a new contract extension. Bowyer is already signed through 2014. For Truex, resigning with MWR takes a weight off his shoulders as he remains with a company he’s helped turn around. A company he wants to stay with and is determined to win with.
Only natural after all that MWR has gone through. Truex noted the hard work, the ups and downs and the vast improvement. He has yet to win in 2012 but there have many great opportunities. Now as the Chase approaches Truex just wants it all to keep going and with him ending up in Victory Lane.
“We’re right there. We’ve been close – we’ve been capable of winning races all year long, we just haven’t finished the deal,” said Truex. We’ve run second a bunch of times and we’ve had the car to beat two or three races and we didn’t do everything right.
“It takes a lot of things to go your way to win a race. On the days where we’ve had the fastest car out there, we didn’t have the cautions go our way or maybe pit strategy or the way the cycles went, but we’ve had the speed and we’ve got the team that’s capable of doing it for sure.
“For now, it’s just a matter of getting the first one out of the way and quit worrying about it and go after a bunch of them.”
Starting Sunday in Atlanta, what’s considered NAPA’s backyard. Entering the event Truex and Bowyer are both searching for more bonus points toward the Chase. They sit fifth and sixth in points respectively. Both can clinch their Chase spots on Sunday, depending on how their competition fairs.
Once they do so, it will be a huge boost for MWR. The organization, which runs three cars, have been a bright spot this season. Truex and Bowyer are running for the championship and would put MWR in the Chase for the first time. The third car, split between Waltrip, Mark Martin and Brian Vickers, has also been a contender. Making MWR a team that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Truex and Bowyer continue to prove critics wrong, those who doubted the success they would find with MWR. With all drivers now signed and ready for the future, the focus can turn towards matters at hand. And Bowyer is ecstatic that he and Truex will continue to work together.
“That’s a huge announcement for all of us at MWR, getting him signed and getting that sponsor signed back up for three mores years, it’s very, very important,” said Bowyer after Truex’s announcement. “Huge sponsor there in the sport of NASCAR. They bought all the races and that’s unheard of in today’s day and age. We’re very proud to have three great primary sponsors on all three MWR cars.
“Martin and I both raced back in the Nationwide days together and had a lot of fun pushing each other and racing each other very hard. See a lot of that same relationship going on right now where we’re pushing each other, work together well, our teams and crew chiefs, engineers – everybody just works really hard and pulls in the same direction at MWR.
“Making sure that we have all that locked up for multi years is very good for everybody at MWR.”
Both Truex and Bowyer have made the Chase before. Truex has finished a career best 11th in points, in 2007, but hasn’t finished been in the top 15 since. Bowyer has a career best third place, also in 2007, and feels that the last few weeks compared to the competition, they’re sitting pretty.
“Moving into the Chase with a lot of confidence, a lot of momentum and I think that’s crucial,” Bowyer said on Friday. “You have to be able to do that. Some of the first races of the Chase are some of my best race tracks as a driver, so it’s so important to get things going and get them started off on the right foot. Looking forward to Chicago and New Hampshire and hopefully getting things started with a bang.”
Truex just wants to capitalize on a year that has him feeling the best he’s ever been. A year that has already been successful but can only get better.
“I certainly feel like I’m better than I’ve ever been,” said Truex at Atlanta, the site of the second to last Chase race. “Obviously as a driver I don’t think you ever stop learning and we continue to get better year in and year out, but I feel like the past couple of years being a struggle they way they’ve been has really helped me stay motivated, stay focused and really be able to reach our goals this year because of that.”
Truex starts 28th and Bowyer starts 30th in Sunday’s race.
Front Row Motorsports Teams with local business and US Military
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[/media-credit]David Gilliland will being driving his No.38 Ford Fusion at Atlanta this Labor Day during the Advocare 500 with special attention to a local business and the US Military, both having ties to local towns just outside of Raleigh, NC.
House-Autry Mills, based in Four Oaks NC is making its first appearance in NASCAR as a primary sponsor, as well as celebrating its 200th anniversary. Gilliland’s No.38 will also have as an associate sponsor on the decklid, Military Missions in Action (MMIA), based in nearby Fuquay-Varina, NC.
Fo
unded in 1812, House-Autry Mills manufactures breaders for chicken, pork, seafood, vegetables, hushpuppys, cornbread and biscuit mixes, and a line of sauces to compliment America’s favorite baked and fried goods.
MMIA was founded in 2008 by a retired US Coast Guard with a commitment to assisting disabled veterans along with supporting active servicemen and women.
For more info on the efforts put forth by MMIA visit: www.MilitaryMissionsInAction.org.
