Two in a row; Stewart wins and takes over points lead
For the second week in a row, Tony Stewart stretches his fuel and finds victory lane, this time at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, becoming the second driver to win the first two races of the Chase (Greg Biffle – 2008). This was Stewart’s 41st career and eighth victory with Stewart-Haas Racing.
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[/media-credit]Clint Bowyer ran out of gas with two laps remaining, giving the lead and win to Stewart. The ending was similar to last fall when Stewart ran out of fuel on the final lap and Bowyer passed him for the lead and win.
“If that’s not a flip-flop from last year, I don’t know what is.” Stewart said. “I know exactly what that feels like. I know exactly how he feels right now. I saw him slowing down the back and I thought, ‘Oh, no, you’re kidding me’. That’s not the way you want to win it.”
Along with last weeks Chase opening win at Chicagoland Speedway, Stewart now finds himself in the series points lead for the first time during the ‘Chase’ since he won the title in 2005. He leads by 7 points over Kevin Harvick.
“It’s way too early to start counting chickens.” Stewart said.
Brad Keselowski finished second, Biffle third, Jeff Gordon fourth and Brian Vickers finished fifth.
Keselowski had his best career finish at the mile long flat track.
“I hate these fuel mileage races. We like to run hard and go. We had a really fast car that could have been second or third no matter what, but I just wish it didn’t come down to that. I would have liked to see how hard we could have run and see if we could have caught them.” Biffle said.
“I’m proud just to get through what looked to be a rough weekend with an awesome finish. I’m proud of my Miller Lite Dodge team. Getting the right adjustments in the car all race and doing all those things that it takes. It’s been a good roll.” Keselowski said of his second place finish.
Chase drivers Matt Kenseth finished sixth, Carl Edwards eighth, Kyle Busch 11th, Harvick 12th, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 17th, Jimmie Johnson 18th, Kurt Busch 22nd and Ryan Newman finished 25th.
“We had a fast car all day. I was real happy with the car. Real competitive. Got to race up front. We had a real good car.” Earnhard Jr. said. “We had a flat tire that cost us a lot more track position and I had another flat in the last couple laps there. Just didn’t hit nobody or nothing; just had too much camber or something in the front right.”
Gordon he led a race high of 79 laps but had to conserve fuel to make it to the finish.
“I’m just glad we finished fourth. It is tough conditions to race in (saving fuel). I don’t think that we wanted to see back-to-back fuel mileage races like this, but, it is kind of the name of the game these days.” Gordon said. “There at the end, conserved fuel. It is something that we need to be better at. We did it and we made it and we finished fourth so we’ll take that. We made some gains in points. But, not necessarily overall to the leader.”
The series heads to Dover International Speedway next weekend for the third of ten ‘Chase’ races.
| Unofficial Race Results | |||||
| Sylvania 300, New Hampshire Motor Speedway | |||||
| http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=28 | |||||
| ========================================= | |||||
| Pos. | St. | No. | Driver | Make | Points |
| ========================================= | |||||
| 1 | 20 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | 47 |
| 2 | 16 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | 43 |
| 3 | 4 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 41 |
| 4 | 7 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | 42 |
| 5 | 3 | 83 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | 40 |
| 6 | 27 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | 38 |
| 7 | 26 | 6 | David Ragan | Ford | 38 |
| 8 | 23 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | 36 |
| 9 | 31 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | 36 |
| 10 | 17 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | 35 |
| 11 | 8 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 33 |
| 12 | 6 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | 33 |
| 13 | 18 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | 31 |
| 14 | 24 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | 30 |
| 15 | 2 | 4 | Kasey Kahne | Toyota | 30 |
| 16 | 9 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 29 |
| 17 | 12 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | 27 |
| 18 | 10 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 27 |
| 19 | 15 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | 25 |
| 20 | 14 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | 24 |
| 21 | 13 | 43 | A.J. Allmendinger | Ford | 23 |
| 22 | 5 | 22 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | 23 |
| 23 | 25 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 21 |
| 24 | 21 | 5 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | 21 |
| 25 | 1 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 20 |
| 26 | 11 | 33 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | 19 |
| 27 | 32 | 38 | J.J. Yeley | Ford | 17 |
| 28 | 19 | 0 | David Reutimann | Toyota | 16 |
| 29 | 28 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 15 |
| 30 | 29 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | 14 |
| 31 | 40 | 32 | Mike Bliss | Ford | 0 |
| 32 | 33 | 34 | David Gilliland | Ford | 12 |
| 33 | 30 | 51 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 34 | 42 | 71 | Andy Lally * | Ford | 10 |
| 35 | 22 | 36 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | 9 |
| 36 | 39 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | 0 |
| 37 | 35 | 66 | Michael McDowell | Toyota | 7 |
| 38 | 34 | 30 | David Stremme | Chevrolet | 6 |
| 39 | 41 | 37 | Josh Wise | Ford | 0 |
| 40 | 36 | 7 | Robby Gordon | Dodge | 4 |
| 41 | 43 | 46 | Scott Speed | Ford | 0 |
| 42 | 37 | 13 | Casey Mears | Toyota | 2 |
| 43 | 38 | 55 | Travis Kvapil | Ford | 0 |
Cole Whitt Wide Open
What makes Cole Whitt, driver of the No. 60 for Turn One/Red Bull Racing in the Camping World Truck Series, tick? Whitt explains it simply as running his life on and off the track “wide open.”
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[/media-credit]Whitt’s exposure to his now wide open racing style started at a very young age. And, as with many drivers in the various levels of NASCAR, he credits his family with initiating him in the sport.
“I’d say who got me hooked is my cousin Brandon,” Whitt said. “He used to race and got me started in go kart racing and then moved up into the stock car world with late models.”
“I watched him race the trucks a lot while I was just racing go karts,” Whitt continued. “I’d say my cousin Brandon got me my real start, but my dad and my grandpa all raced so, it’s really been in my family.”
While Whitt’s cousin may have gotten him going in the wide open world of racing, his dad is the one that he credits for his competitiveness in the sport.
“My dad helped me be competitive,” Whitt acknowledged. “A lot of my good characteristics come from my dad.”
“He’s a hard worker,” Whitt continued. “He just raised me that way, to be competitive and be at the top.”
In learning to race wide open, Whitt not only credits his father with being his mentor along the way but also mentions several other racing mentors. Tops among them are Cory Kruseman and Jon Stanbrough, both from the sprint car racing world.
“There have been a lot of people that have helped me along the way,” Whitt said. “I’d say my dad definitely got me my main start. My cousin helped me out.”
“But even along the way in sprint car ranks there are people like Cory Kruseman, who helped me find my way to Indiana and got me my start with Skeeter Ellis,” Whitt continued. “As I was racing out there, I became friends with Jon Stanbrough, who is the ‘King of Indiana’, in sprint racing.”
“I became friends with Jon and we really hit it off,” Whitt continued. “We became good friends and had a lot of good battles throughout our career. Jon helped me out a lot.”
With his support wide open, when did the light bulb go off for Whitt so that he knew that racing would be his career of choice? The young rookie Truck Series driver has an interesting response.
“I don’t think the light bulb has gone off yet if racing is it for me,” Whitt said. “Trust me, if I can do it, I want to do it.”
“The problem is actually being able to do it,” Whitt continued. “It’s hard.”
“So, I’m not saying necessarily this is it for me,” Whitt said. “But at the same time, this is what I want to do for sure.”
“As a kid racing go karts and I was doing good, winning races and championships, it was so much fun just enjoying all that with my family,” Whitt continued. “That was the time where I really wanted to race. That’s when it all happened for me.”
Progressing from his early sprint car racing roots to being wide open in the Truck Series, Whitt has seen his share of ups and downs, especially in this his rookie year. Yet Whitt remains steadfast as well as confident in his abilities.
“You can never quit,” Whitt said. “If it was easy, everybody would do it.”
“Racing is a hard sport,” Whitt continued. “There are ups and downs.”
“Obviously, the days that are great are the days you live for,” Whitt said. “But then the days that are bad, you just want to come back and redeem yourself and be that much better.”
“You love to hate it,” Whitt continued. “It’s tough but it’s almost like an obsession to me.”
Throughout his racing obsession, Whitt has had moments to remember, as well as moments that have broken his heart.
“I’d say probably the pole at Darlington was my best moment,” Whitt said. “Also, running second to Kyle (Busch) at Dover was good.”
“But another good moment would be Charlotte, when we ran third,” Whitt continued. “It was the last run of the day and we were running eighth to tenth.”
“We jumped up to the high groove and worked our way up to third at the end,” Whitt said. “I was pretty proud of that moment too.”
As wide open exciting as his career has been, Whitt also has had his moments of heart break.
“There’s been a few,” Whitt said. “Missing the show at Daytona was crazy and one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had.”
“And also another heart break was blowing the motor at Texas running fourth,” Whitt continued. “And we were running fourth at Atlanta and blew a motor.”
“It seems like we can’t get any luck,” Whitt said. “The days that we run tenth to twelfth all day, nothing can go wrong.”
“You’re sitting there thinking ‘Why couldn’t the motor blow up on a day like that instead of when we’re running up front?’
“I guess that’s part of rookie luck and a first season,” Whitt continued. “You’ve got to pay your dues, just hopefully long enough to cash them in.”
Whitt admitted that he also has some interesting ways to cope with these vagaries of the sport. He not only throws himself into fishing and hunting, but channels all of his energy right back into his racing career.
“My life is pretty much all racing,” Whitt said. “When I’m at home, I go to the shop every day and work on the truck.”
“I grew up that way,” Whitt continued. “My dad wanted me to be ‘hands on.’ It makes me appreciate my equipment more and my team appreciates me working with them.”
What does Whitt want to accomplish for the remainder of this 2011 season? The rookie has only one thing on his mind.
“Hopefully we can get a win,” Whitt said. “We’ve been chasing that win since the beginning of the year.”
“I want to be a front-runner,” Whitt continued. “When I walk through the gate, I want people to know that I’m the guy to beat and that I have a fast truck.”
“More than anything, I want to get a win and win this rookie championship.”
While Whitt focuses on running wide open for the win and the rookie championship, he also acknowledged the need to think, at least briefly, about his future. And that is unfortunately wide open as well.
“I don’t know,” Whitt said simply. “It’s going to be a weird and pretty crazy off season.”
“The rumors started flying this year earlier than they ever have,” Whitt continued. “It’s kind of tough. I really don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“Hopefully we can finish off the season strong and move on to something different,” Whitt said. “Racing is all I’ve ever done.”
“It’s the only way of life that I understand.”
Kyle Busch Spanks Truck Field at New Hampshire
Kyle Busch, driving the No. 18 Toyota/Traxxas Toyota, spanked the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with a dominant win in the 16th annual running of the F. W. Webb 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
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[/media-credit]This was Busch’s 30th career win in 99 Truck races and he now ranks second on the all-time series wins list. Busch also achieved another record, leading 165 laps, the most ever in a 175 lap Truck race at New Hampshire.
This was Busch’s 104th national series win. And with that domination, Busch also scored a perfect driving rating of 150.
“We just had a great truck,” Busch said in the understatement of the race. “We worked hard and I want to say ‘hi’ to my wife who is working at home in Charlotte.”
“It was fun for us but probably not for others.”
Busch not only dominated the field but he also started from the pole, his 12th in 99 the Truck Series competition. Rowdy Busch was so dominant that only six trucks finished on the lead lap.
“These guys on this Kyle Busch Motorsports team did a great job,” Busch said. “We unloaded a little bit off but we just had to get the feel where I liked it.”
“I felt really good with it,” Busch continued. “To be able to qualify first and set sail on our own agenda really meant a lot.”
Eric Phillips, Busch’s crew chief, agreed wholeheartedly with his driver.
“Like Kyle said, we were off a little bit so we tried something different,” Phillips said. “We made steady progress through both practices and then the truck was pretty good the rest of the weekend.”
Busch acknowledged that he has had other dominating performances, such as leading every lap at Phoenix in the Nationwide race earlier in the year.
“I never thought of that actually,” Busch said. “I think I led 190 or 192 laps of a Nationwide race here too one time.”
“So, that’s cool,” Busch said. “Certainly Phoenix and Loudon, when I can hit it right, I can hit it right. I’m really, really good.”
Young Austin Dillon, in the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, ran second for most of the race to Busch. And that is exactly where he finished.
This was Dillon’s second top-10 finish in three races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He also now leads the point standings by just two over James Buescher.
“We were in there every lap,” Dillon said. “We even got to lead a lap which was good for our points deal.”
“Championship has been on our mind all year,” Dillon said. “I feel like we’ve had a great truck to beat each and every week.”
“We’re finally stringing some finishes together.”
Kevin Harvick, behind the wheel of the No.2 JEGS Chevrolet, came in third. Although his fifth top-10 finish in six races at New Hampshire, Harvick was frustrated with the racing.
“It was like a parade,” Harvick said. “It was a terrible race with everybody following each other around.”
“I got stuck behind the 88 there and lost half a track,” Harvick lamented. “It was just really hard to pass.” Track position was king.”
Ron Hornaday, Jr., driving the No. 33 Cooked Perfect Meatballs Chevrolet, finished fourth and Johnny Sauter, in the No. 13 SafeAuto/Carrier Chevrolet, rounded out the top five.
Miguel Paludo, behind the wheel of the No. 7 Stemco Duroline Toyota, was the top-finishing Sunoco rookie. Paludo started from the 15th position and ended the race in the 10th spot.
“It was a good day for us,” Paludo said. “The two tires in the end was a better call for us. I’m proud of our guys and I’m proud to be in the top ten in a race like this.”
Joey Coulter, driving the No. 22 RCR Graphics Center Chevrolet , was probably the most frustrated driver on the ‘Magic Mile.’ Coulter qualified third, was moving his way up through the pack, and even led a lap in the race.
Unfortunately, Coulter was penalized twice for being too fast on pit road and finished his race in the 11th position.
Matt Crafton, James Buescher, Todd Bodine, Timothy Peters and rookie Miguel Paludo rounded out the top ten finishers, sixth through tenth respectively, in the F. W. Webb 175.
| Unofficial Race Results | |||||
| F.W. Webb 175, New Hampshire Motor Speedway | |||||
| http://www.speedwaymedia.com/truckseries/race.php?race=19 | |||||
| ============================================== | |||||
| Pos. | St. | No. | Driver | Make | Points |
| ============================================== | |||||
| 1 | 1 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 0 |
| 2 | 4 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 43 |
| 3 | 2 | 2 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 4 | 5 | 33 | Ron Hornaday | Chevrolet | 40 |
| 5 | 14 | 13 | Johnny Sauter | Chevrolet | 39 |
| 6 | 10 | 88 | Matt Crafton | Chevrolet | 38 |
| 7 | 8 | 31 | James Buescher | Chevrolet | 38 |
| 8 | 11 | 5 | Todd Bodine | Toyota | 37 |
| 9 | 9 | 17 | Timothy Peters | Toyota | 35 |
| 10 | 15 | 7 | Miguel Paludo * | Toyota | 34 |
| 11 | 3 | 22 | Joey Coulter * | Chevrolet | 34 |
| 12 | 12 | 62 | Brendan Gaughan | Toyota | 32 |
| 13 | 7 | 6 | Justin Lofton | Chevrolet | 31 |
| 14 | 16 | 81 | David Starr | Toyota | 30 |
| 15 | 18 | 60 | Cole Whitt * | Chevrolet | 29 |
| 16 | 17 | 151 | German Quiroga | Toyota | 28 |
| 17 | 34 | 23 | Jason White | Chevrolet | 27 |
| 18 | 19 | 29 | Parker Kligerman * | Dodge | 26 |
| 19 | 22 | 4 | Ricky Carmichael | Chevrolet | 25 |
| 20 | 13 | 9 | Max Papis | Toyota | 24 |
| 21 | 23 | 32 | Blake Feese | Chevrolet | 23 |
| 22 | 21 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Chevrolet | 22 |
| 23 | 26 | 261 | Wes Burton | Ford | 21 |
| 24 | 6 | 8 | Nelson Piquet Jr. * | Chevrolet | 20 |
| 25 | 32 | 57 | Norm Benning | Chevrolet | 19 |
| 26 | 31 | 173 | Austin Russell | Dodge | 18 |
| 27 | 20 | 170 | Jeff Agnew | Chevrolet | 17 |
| 28 | 25 | 66 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 29 | 24 | 93 | Josh Wise | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 30 | 30 | 7 | Butch Miller | Chevrolet | 14 |
| 31 | 28 | 296 | Todd Peck | Chevrolet | 13 |
| 32 | 27 | 87 | Chris Jones | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 33 | 29 | 174 | Mike Harmon | Ford | 0 |
| 34 | 33 | 175 | Bobby Santos | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 35 | 36 | 10 | Jennifer Jo Cobb | Ford | 0 |
Ron Silk Makes Whelen Modified Magic with Third Win
Ron Silk, driver of the No. 6 TS Haulers/Calverton Tree Farm Chevrolet, made three times a charm with a win in the New Hampshire 100 on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. Silk, from Norwalk, Connecticut, started the race from the pole.
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[/media-credit]This was Silk’s second career victory at the ‘Magic Mile’, his third win of the season and his seventh career win.
“The car was really great right from the beginning,” Silk said. “After we didn’t make any adjustments at the pit stop, I was happy with the car. It got a little bit better throughout the race and I was able to get up there to the lead.”
Silk said that pit strategy was important throughout the race, especially with the green flag runs, as well as the red flag rain delay.
“It was definitely the right time to pit,” Silk said. “It went green for awhile. It would have been pretty tough to wait longer to take tires and get back through the field.”
“I was confident,” Silk continued. “We’ve had a good car here all year.”
Todd Szegedy, behind the wheel of the No. 2 Wisk Detergent/A&J Romano Construction Ford, finished second. This was Szegedy’s second win at New Hampshire and his 14th top-10 in 19 starts at New Hampshire.
“Second is a phenomenal finish for us,” Szegedy said. “But we certainly didn’t have a second place car.”
“We’ve got our homework to do,” Szegedy continued. “It’s fortunate we got second place but why were we so far off and basically struggled. It was a struggle for me to stay in the top five.”
“That green-white-checkered, we started fourth,” Szegedy continued. “I had momentum and I knew I could push Ronnie. But I had absolutely zero for him.”
The third place finisher was Justin Bonsignore, from Holtsville, New York. The driver of the No. 51 M3 Technology Chevrolet scored his best finish ever at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Bonsignore was the 2010 Sunoco Rookie of the Year on the Whelen Modified Tour. He finished fourth in August, so this third place finish was also his career best.
“It was pretty eventful,” Bonsignore said. “The air cleaner came off about 20 laps in and we rode around until the yellow came out for the rain.”
“We replace that and took tires then and that put us a little bit behind,” Bonsignore continued. “We stayed out and the car was good.”
“Luckily that last restart, we mixed it up on that last lap and came home third.”
“We’re only a second year team,” Bonsignore said. “I’m really proud of what we’ve built.”
“To be contending for wins is really cool to do.”
As is tradition at New Hampshire, the race had its share of drama. One source of drama was the weather, with sprinkles breaking out on the track, delaying the race.
The other source of drama was for the only Cup driver in the competition. After his win disqualification at the last Modified race, Ryan Newman, who qualified fourth, blew the engine of his No. 77 Aggressive Hydraulics/Menards Chevrolet.
Newman finished a disappointing 28th out of 29 spots, after the tell-tale smoke flowed from his race car on lap 60 of the race.
The final drama of the race had to do with the points battle for the Whelen Modified Series championship. Szegedy came into the race leading the points by 12 points over Silk.
“It’s a lot of fun, especially battling with a guy like Todd Szegedy,” Silk said. “He’s a good friend of mine.”
“I kind of kept tabs on him throughout the race today and when I saw he was second, I said ‘Damn, I’m not going to gain too many points today.’
“It’s going to go right down to the wire it looks like,” Silk continued. “It will go right down to the world series there at Thompson (International Speedway).”
“This is how you win a championship,” Szegedy, the other points challenger, said. “You’ve got to use your head, stay out of trouble, and I’m being a nice guy because I want to win that championship.”
After Silk, Szegedy and Bonsignore, rounding out the top five were Ted Christopher, driver of the No. 36 Al-Lee Installations, and Eric Beers, behind the wheel of the No. 45 Horwith Freightliner/John Blewett, Inc.
Erick Rudolph, Zane Zeiner, Mike Stefanik, Matt Hirschman and Eric Goodale rounded out the top ten. Stefanik, who finished eighth, was the ‘comeback kid’ after spinning and going a lap down early in the race.
Dodge’s Brad Keselowski Receives Driver of the Year Award
