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Speed Takes on Miles to Fight Two Causes and That Speaks Volumes

Photo by David Yeazell for SpeedwayMedia.com.

Go Green Racing is making its third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start of the season this weekend. (Tim Andrews made the debut) with Scott Speed who will be piloting the No. 79 Ford Fusion Sunday afternoon at Dover International Raceway.

This weekend while at Dover, the team announced that Koma Unwind and “Team Kyle” will be the primary sponsors with a special paint scheme on board.

The special paint scheme is to honor seven-year-old Kyle, of St. Clair of Scarborough, ME. He [Kyle] was born seven weeks early, suffers from a lung disease; and he has severe immobility.

“My association with the ‘Team Kyle’ program means a lot to me. It puts things in total perspective and I am looking forward to putting a smile on Kyle’s face by having a good run here in Dover this weekend.” -Scott Speed

Kyle has had over forty-five surgeries and, has spent much of his life in hospitals. His family has recently been able to bring Kyle home using hospice care.

Prior to the Darlington race, Go Green Racing team owner, Archie St Hilaire met Kyle and said, “I had the chance to meet Kyle and his family a couple of weeks back and he is truly an amazing boy. The strength and love he has is contagious. I hope we can get our car into the race and put on a good show for Kyle.”

Go Green Racing and “Team Kyle” are also encouraging fans to show their support for Kyle by following “Team Kyle” on his Facebook page: http://ow.ly/bjK05

Fox will air the FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks on Sunday, June 3rd at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Can Hendrick Motorsports Be Stopped At This Point?

[media-credit id=38 align=”alignright” width=”236″][/media-credit]Does this current NASCAR season remind you of 2005? Roush Racing vs Hendrick Motorsports ring any bells? At this point in the 2005 season, Greg Biffle already had four race victories. He won at Auto Club, Texas, Darlington, and Dover. Carl Edwards had at Atlanta. Kurt Busch had a race win at Phoenix, and Mark Martin topped it off with an All-Star win. Hendrick Motorsports in 2005? Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon were both doing well at this point. However; it is also after this point that Gordon hit a big bad luck streak that led to him missing the Chase. The difference for Gordon this season is that he’s had nothing but bad luck it seems minus three top-10 finishes at Phoenix, Texas (ironic), and Charlotte.

Fans will agree with me that Gordon has had great cars all year along minus Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Charlotte. Gordon had a pretty bad car at Vegas, but his team managed to get him a 12th place finish. Gordon had a good car, but not a great car at Phoenix and also at Charlotte.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been the surprise of the season.  Jr’s been up near the front of the points all season long.  Jr’s consistency has been really helpful and that is something that we haven’t seen from him since 2008. Every driver eventually will have a bad race, but we haven’t seen a terrible finish for that no.88 team yet.

Kasey Kahne, like Gordon, started off the season backwards, but many say now that Kahne is one of the hottest drivers on the track as he is racking top-5 finishes and showed it with his third Coca-Cola 600 win. Now, what about Johnson? He started off with that nasty crash after completing the first lap at the Daytona 500. That was unfortunate. Johnson has also had a pretty decent year. The problem for Johnson is mistakes. We have seen more mistakes from his pit crew from these past 2 seasons than ever before. If Chad Knaus wants them to be competitive when the Chase comes, I suggest that they work better at that.  Johnson broke a long winless streak after scoring his 2nd Southern 500 victory. If Johnson’s team can start finishing in the top-10 on a weekly basis and not have a random hiccup in the middle of that, then I think the no.48 team will definitely be a threat to the Roush train.

Is it only a matter of time before Gordon finds his stride? Before the Coca-Cola 600, Gordon had finished outside the top-20 for five consecutive races. For a guy that should be a six-time champion in the sport that is just incredible bad luck, but with his 7th place finish at Charlotte last weekend, is this the beginning of the recovery cycle for the no.24 team? Gordon can only hope, but he will have a good starting position for the race tomorrow.

If you think about it, Hendrick Motorsports has won the last four races. Johnson won the All-Star Race and Darlington. Earnhardt Jr. snagged the All-Star Showdown and Kahne got the 600. Is Gordon next to win? Can Hendrick Motorsports be stopped?

My prediction is simple, Johnson and Kasey Kahne will head into the Chase 1 and 2. Notice how I didn’t mention Jr.? For those of you who are new to the sport, we have a seed system based on wins and right now to me it looks like Jr.’s team is focused more on consistent finishes rather than go that extra yard for a victory. I say Gordon will make the Chase, but it’s definitely not going to be an easy ride.

Logano Puts on Monstrous Nationwide Show; Stenhouse Jr. Wrecks Out of Points Lead

[media-credit id=62 align=”alignright” width=”223″][/media-credit]Joey Logano put a whipping on the Monster Mile, dominating most of the race and leading laps to score his first Nationwide win ever at the Dover track, as well as the coveted Miles the Monster trophy.

Although strong throughout much of the race, Logano pitted under caution and had to battle back against teammate Ryan Truex in the last twenty laps to score the checkered flag.

“I was frustrated as soon as the caution came out and we lost our track position,” Logano said. “Once we got to second and he (Truex) got caught in lapped traffic, I was able to pass cars, take the lead and get the win.”

“When you lead it, think you gave it away, and then get the win, it’s good.”

“It’s been four or five years and I have never gotten a win here,” Logano said. “It’s the coolest trophy you can win. It’s awesome to finally get it.”

The driver of the No. 18 Dollar General Toyota led the parade of Joe Gibbs Racing drivers with teammates Ryan Truex and Brian Scott in second and third respectively.

Although Truex gave a very gutsy performance to finish second, especially after just having had surgery for appendicitis, he was not a happy camper.

He was particularly upset with lapped traffic, which slowed his run and allowed Logano to pass him.

“I’m not happy,” the driver of the No. 20 Grime Boss Toyota said. “It’s second and I’m not happy with it.”

“We had a winning car,” Truex said. “I hate to blame it on someone else, but it’s just stupid.”

“I probably could have picked a better lane around them,” Truex said of the lapped traffic. “It’s just frustrating.”

“I wish I could have got a win,” Truex said. “It was too close to come in second.”

As unhappy as Truex was, the third member of the Joe Gibbs Racing triumvirate, Brian Scott was most pleased with his third place finish. Scott did admit, however, that he probably could learn some lessons from his younger teammates.

“We had a really good Dollar General Toyota all day,” Scott said. “This one’s for JGR with a one, two, three finish.”

“It’s fun to be up there and racing our teammates for the win,” Scott continued. “I’m a young kid myself at 24, but Ryan and Joey, who are younger than me, can show me a few things.”

“Really happy to bring back a top-5 finish after all we’ve been through this year,” Scott said. “Hopefully, it’s a huge confidence booster for the team.”

Kurt Busch, in the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports, finished fourth and Justin Allgaier, in the No. 31 Brandt Chevrolet, rounded out the top five. These two drivers, however, were none too happy with one other, having some words after the race on pit road.

“We just agreed to disagree on a few things at the race track,” Allgaier said of the incident with Busch. “Great day for the Brandt Chevrolet.”

“Glad we finished in the top-five; that was the first one for us this season,” Allgaier continued. “It was definitely a good day.”

Austin Dillon, driver of the No. 3 American Ethanol/New Holland Chevrolet, was the highest finishing rookie, scoring the sixth spot.

“It was a good run,” Dillon said. “We made sure our car was good for the race and it was.”

“It was just way too tight in traffic,” Dillon continued. “We didn’t have the car to get up there like Joey did.”

Troubles abounded, however, for points leader Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. when he lost control of the No. 6 Cargill Beef Ford Mustang and hit the wall hard on lap 27. The young driver took full responsibility for the wreck.

“I just lost it,” Stenhouse Jr. said. “I wasn’t up on the wheel and just kind of riding around until that competition caution and just got behind on the steering.”

“It was driver error, totally my fault,” Stenhouse continued. “We will have to go back take a weekend off and get ‘em at Michigan.”

Stenhouse, Jr. was able to get back out onto the track but his car looked more like a modified car than a Nationwide car. He finished a disappointing 32nd and fell to second in the point standings, twelve behind Elliott Sadler.

Yet in spite of being the new points leader, Elliott Sadler was also not amongst the happy camper drivers as far as his finish.

“Our run today was not what we were looking for,” Sadler said. “To finish seventh is kind of disappointing.”

“We had to fight back from a lucky dog but definitely not the day we wanted at Dover,” Sadler said. “We have homework to do before we come back in the fall.”

“We are the points leader and we’re very happy to be back in the points race,” Sadler continued. “But we know as a team that the 6 car is going to run good every week and is not going to have problems every week.”

“But it does feel good to be back in the middle of this thing,” Sadler said. “As a team, we just have to keep fighting and keep improving.”

Unofficial Race Results
5-hour Energy 200, Dover International Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/n2s/race.php?race=12
=========================================
Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
=========================================
1 2 18 Joey Logano Toyota 0
2 1 20 Ryan Truex Toyota 43
3 5 11 Brian Scott Toyota 41
4 9 54 Kurt Busch Toyota 0
5 7 31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 40
6 11 3 Austin Dillon * Chevrolet 38
7 6 2 Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 37
8 3 33 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 0
9 14 30 James Buescher Chevrolet 0
10 15 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 34
11 23 43 Michael Annett Ford 33
12 12 22 Parker Kligerman Dodge 0
13 10 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 31
14 19 88 Cole Whitt * Chevrolet 30
15 30 81 Jason Bowles * Toyota 29
16 20 19 Tayler Malsam Toyota 28
17 28 14 Jeff Green Toyota 27
18 27 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 26
19 21 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 25
20 13 199 John Wes Townley Toyota 0
21 34 23 Jamie Dick Chevrolet 23
22 18 39 Josh Richards Ford 22
23 22 38 Brad Sweet * Chevrolet 21
24 32 50 T.J. Bell Chevrolet 20
25 4 Brad Teague Chevrolet 19
26 36 52 Joey Gase * Chevrolet 18
27 29 40 Erik Darnell Chevrolet 17
28 124 Tim Bainey Jr. Chevrolet 0
29 35 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 15
30 17 7 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 14
31 26 41 Timmy Hill Ford 0
32 4 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 12
33 8 44 Mike Bliss Toyota 11
34 174 Mike Harmon Chevrolet 10
35 37 171 Matt Carter Chevrolet 9
36 175 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 0
37 24 42 Josh Wise Chevrolet 0
38 16 47 Scott Speed Chevrolet 0
39 25 10 Kevin Lepage Toyota 5
40 31 108 Tim Andrews Ford 4
41 15 Blake Koch Chevrolet 3
42 33 46 Matt DiBenedetto Chevrolet 0
43 0

Martin captures the NSCS pole at Dover

[media-credit id=26 align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Mark Martin captured the pole for Sunday’s FedEx 400 at Dover International Speedway with a lap of 158.297 mph.

“I knew the conditions were looser than they were in our mock qualifying run yesterday and I didn’t want to ask him because I didn’t want to get concerned. I knew that I only had to make it one mile without wrecking and I was going to drive to the limit and slightly beyond and I felt like I did that.” Martin said.

This was Martin’s 54th career Sprint Cup pole and the third of the season in just 10 race starts.

“I can’t sit on these poles without the fastest race car and MWR and Rodney Childers in particular and the guys on our team are doing that. We won one little challenge today and that was to sit on the pole and that gives us a good starting position and a good pit stall, but the whole race is completely dictated by how your car handles in race setup.” Martin said.

Jimmie Johnson qualified second, Ryan Newman third, and Clint Bowyer qualified fourth.

“I got to the gas, I got through (turns) one and two so good that I got to the gas pretty early and three and four and just drove it pushing into it and kind of killed my lap.” Bowyer said.

Matt Kenseth qualified fifth.

“Our speed was okay but we just have kind of been struggling a little bit with it. We don’t have it quite right for balance. I feel like I got everything there was to get but we just have to keep looking to get our stuff improved a little bit here. I feel like this is one of our better tracks but we are just kind of missing something a little bit this weekend.” Kenseth said.

Series points leader Greg Biffle qualified 7th.

“The car was sliding up the track a little bit. It seemed real slick to me and then the 55 went and ran that kind of lap. I guess it is only a tenth. If he entered a little different or the car hooked the bottom and he went to the gas really early that would make a difference. Seventh isn’t bad and I feel good about tomorrow. I think we have a good car.” Biffle said.

Starting Lineup
FedEx 400, Dover International Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=13
===========================================
Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time
===========================================
1 55 Mark Martin Toyota 158.297 22.742
2 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 158.263 22.747
3 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 158.235 22.751
4 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 158.047 22.778
5 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 157.985 22.787
6 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 157.867 22.804
7 16 Greg Biffle Ford 157.839 22.808
8 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 157.839 22.808
9 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 157.611 22.841
10 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 157.549 22.85
11 20 Joey Logano Toyota 157.542 22.851
12 43 Aric Almirola Ford 157.494 22.858
13 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 157.418 22.869
14 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 157.405 22.871
15 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 157.363 22.877
16 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 157.343 22.88
17 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 157.329 22.882
18 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 157.178 22.904
19 99 Carl Edwards Ford 157.061 22.921
20 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 156.822 22.956
21 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 156.822 22.956
22 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 156.781 22.962
23 22 AJ Allmendinger Dodge 156.637 22.983
24 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 156.563 22.994
25 179 Scott Speed Ford 156.488 23.005
26 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 156.46 23.009
27 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 156.27 23.037
28 34 David Ragan Ford 156.216 23.045
29 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 156.121 23.059
30 38 David Gilliland Ford 155.723 23.118
31 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 155.676 23.125
32 30 David Stremme Toyota 155.266 23.186
33 98 Michael McDowell Ford 154.912 23.239
34 249 J.J. Yeley Toyota 154.672 23.275
35 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 154.559 23.292
36 119 Mike Bliss Toyota 154.559 23.292
37 33 Stephen Leicht* Chevrolet 154.48 23.304
38 32 Reed Sorenson Ford 154.096 23.362
39 10 David Reutimann Chevrolet 154.024 23.373
40 13 Casey Mears+ Ford 153.866 23.397
41 36 Dave Blaney+ Chevrolet 153.702 23.422
42 93 Travis Kvapil+ Toyota 153.584 23.44
43 23 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 154.48 23.304