Busch takes the checkers in the NCWTS North Carolina Education Lottery 200
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Kyle ‘Rowdy’ Busch claimed the checkers in his 28th career Camping World Truck Series Race. Busch, led the last seven laps in Friday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He joins driving legends Mike Skinner and Jack Sprague in second place on the all-time truck series win list. However, for Busch, the numbers do not stop there. He brings his NASCAR career total to 97 wins. This monumental number puts Busch in the elite company of Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip, and tied for third in NASCAR wins.
The race win did not come easy for the defending race winner. Busch spun early, but used his talent to keep the No. 18 green NOS Tundra off the wall, losing only a few positions on the racetrack.
Kyle Busch Motorsports in conjunction with Speedway Children’s Charities raced in remembrance of 10-year-old Zahra Baker, who was tragically murdered last September. A photo of Baker adorned the passenger side window of Busch’s No. 18 truck. Following his win, Busch dedicated his win to her memory.
The Charlotte Motor Speedway was not kind to the Camping World Truck Series Drivers. Point’s leader Matt Crafton was collected in an early caution involving Max Papis and Brendan Gaughan. Crafton’s misfortune opened the door for rookie Cole Whitt to lead the point standings as the trucks leave Charlotte and head to Kansas in two weeks.
Defending champion Todd Bodine and veteran wheeler Ron Hornaday were both victims of cautions during the race. The field collectively brought out 10 caution flags.
Polesitter Timothy Peters, No. 17 GearWrench Red Horse Racing Toyota claimed the pole for Friday’s race, in his 100th career start. However, his night came to a quick end after his machine struck the outside wall.
Sprint Cup Series driver Clint Bowyer powered his Kevin Harvick owned entry to a second place finish. Rookie Cole Whitt backed up his Dover finish with a great third place run. James Buescher and Ron Hornaday rounded out the top five. Sixth place belonged to Johnny Sauter. Post race activity on the track saw Hornaday and Sauter in a heated discussion about on track racing. Austin Dillon, Parker Klingerman, Justin Marks and Brad Sweet rounded out the top 10.
Formula 1 Champion Kimi Raikkonen strapped into the No. 15 Perky Jerky Toyota Tundra owned by Kyle Busch Motorsports for his NASCAR debut on 1.5 mile oval of Charlotte Motor Speedway. Raikkonen joined past Formula 1 drivers Nelson Piquet Jr. and Max Papis in Friday night’s internationally charged event.
“I really want him to have success,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said of Raikkonen’s debut. “I hope that he runs well and enjoys his experience. I like to see people come in and get opportunities. I like to really see people that come in and have never seen our sport, heard about it and maybe heard good and bad things come in here and leave with a great impressions,” Earnhardt continued. “That makes me feel proud of being a part of it for as long as I have. I think that he will get a good impression. I think he’ll enjoy what he is going to get himself into.”
Raikkonen qualified in the 31st starting position and finished his evening in the 15th finishing spot.
“Expectations for Kimi (Raikkonen) tonight are pretty simple,” said car owner Kyle Busch. “Just try to get him to run all the laps, try to get him to gain some experience, get out there with some other trucks, try to drive the truck a little harder, and get a feel for it.”
The opportunity to have Raikkonen drive for Kyle Busch Motorsports came about after his agent contacted the team. The discussions were quick and Charlotte was the track of choice. This is just preliminary and there are not indications that Raikkonen will move to a Nationwide team anytime soon.
Kyle Busch Wins North Carolina Lottery 200 After Going For A Spin
When there’s a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event, you always have to watch for Kyle Busch as he will be in the thick of the action. Tonight was no exception, as despite spinning out on lap 52, Busch won the race. It was his fourth win this year in seven truck races and 28th truck win the year.
“I had an angel riding with me with Zarah Baker,” Busch said. “I didn’t have the truck to beat there at the end, Clint was strong, but we were able to do it. I’m not going to lie but its odd how things work out”
“We spun out; we only lost 3 or 4 spots. We came to pit road, got four tires. Eric made some changes and got me something that was a lot better …more drivable. I was able to drive back up there.”
Meanwhile, it was Clint Bowyer who finished second after leading the final laps before passed by Busch with seven to go.
“Yeah, it was just too loose,” Bowyer said. “Its unfortunate. You know, you draft so big there and he just got by me. I tried to get back to him. They deserved to win today, but I didn’t give it to them.”
Rookie Cole Whitt finished third to take over the points lead, one point over Johnny Sauter.
“Our team has just been so constant each week,” Whitt said. “The Cup guys have always been strong. We’ve just been consistent, beating the guys that we need to beat. It feels pretty good to run third to those guys and do well. We’re just going to keep racing like we are, go for wins and do what we can.”
James Buescher came home fourth after changing a battery with 65 to go, while Ron Hornaday came home fifth after spinning on lap 22.
After the race, Hornaday had a heated discussion with Johnny Sauter, who came home sixth, due to contact that happened near the end of the event.
“He told me it was a good race, I guess,” Hornaday said. “He told me I blocked him, but he didn’t know that I was three-wide. The truck got loose there and we got three-wide and he booted me there.”
“Just close racing there and I had a run and you just can’t stop there,” Sauter said. “It hurt our night pretty good as it put a pretty big gouge in the front of the truck.”
Austin Dillon finished seventh, followed by Parker Kligermann, Justin Marks and Brad Sweet.
Kimi Raikkonen, making his first ever NASCAR start, would finish the night in 15th.
The night saw a record-tying 10 cautions as a lot of trucks were loose all night long causing single truck and multiple truck incidents.
The action started right away as on lap 10, Todd Bodine spun and made contact with the inside wall on the backstretch. Hornaday was the next to spin on lap 22 and then on the restart, Miguel Paludo had an engine let go. Then the winner, Busch spun on lap 52, followed by Timothy Peters getting in the wall on lap 63 while trying to pass Sauter.
Just past halfway with 65 laps to go, Brendan Gaughan got into the wall and behind him, Jamie Dick and TJ Bell made contact trying to avoid. Gaughan would be apart of the next wreck with 59 to go as he was slowing down, Max Papis would cut across the nose of Matt Crafton, taking them all out. With a wounded truck, Dick would find the wall, both with 49 to go and 39 to go. The last caution came out with 28 to go when David Starr got into the wall and cut a tire.
The next Camping World Truck Series race is Saturday June 4th at Kansas Speedway at 2pm EST.
Steve Wallace and Michael Annett See Light at the End of the Tunnel Leading to Iowa
As Steve Wallace and Michael Annett put Dover in their rear view mirror and head to the stand alone Nationwide race in Iowa, the teammates of Rusty Wallace Racing agree that they both see the light at the end of the tunnel for Rusty Wallace Racing.
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[/media-credit]“Well, I’ll tell you the whole deal,” Wallace, driver of the No. 66 5-Hour Energy Toyota, said.”We thought we were going to start the year pretty good.”
“We got a new teammate this year and built a bunch of new race cars,” Wallace continued. “We thought we were going to be really fast and felt like we had a pretty good idea going into this year.”
“But as it turned out we didn’t,” Wallace said. “And we really, really struggled early there in the year.”
Wallace’s teammate Michael Annett, driver of the No. 62 Pilot Flying J Toyota, could not agree more with the assessment of their early going this season.
“We went into the season doing a ton of stuff thinking we had the best thing we could bring to the track,” Annett said. “And then we unloaded and realized we had a lot of work to do.”
Both drivers and teams went back to the drawing board and after multiple meetings and changing up some personnel, they hit on another idea. They signed up one of the Cup drivers, David Reutimann, to help them shake out the problems on their team.
“We went to Nashville and we ran a third car with David Reutimann,” Wallace said. “He had a completely, way different, odd-ball set up and it ran really, really good.”
“He ran good and I struggled so we went back to the shop and we mended all the set ups and ever since then our cars have unloaded a lot better,” Wallace continued. “We’re still not where we need to be but we’re definitely going in the right direction.”
“We’re getting better and better,” Wallace said. “It’s exciting knowing that we’re not so lost as we were before.”
“There is light at the end of the tunnel.”
Annett used almost identical language regarding the difference the third car of Reutimann has made for both he and his teammate.
“We started having our Monday morning meetings and we made a list of what we needed to do,” Annett said. “We did all on the list and moved some people around and added the third car.”
“They went completely different and they were better,” Annett continued. “They just hit on something and from then on we hit on something. Both teams went that direction and from then on, we started running better.”
“All the hard work is paying off and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Annett said. “For awhile there at the beginning of the season, it was a small light but we knew we had the people, the parts and the cars to get the job done.”
“We are getting closer and closer to the end of that tunnel and everything’s finally moving in the right direction.”
While both Rusty Wallace Racing teammates did not have the best of days at last weekend’s race at Dover’s Monster Mile, with Wallace wrecking hard at the end and Annett never quite finding the handling on his car, the duo managed to salvage top-20 finishes when all was said and done.
Both now go to the track designed by their team owner Rusty Wallace, Iowa Speedway, for this weekend’s stand alone Nationwide race. Again, Annett and Wallace agreed that the John Deere Dealers 250 presented by Pioneer might just be their best chance to head to the winner’s circle.
“I have a big bull’s eye on Iowa,” Wallace said. “That’s my favorite track,”
“We had a really good shot there to win last year and had a problem in the pits,” Wallace continued. “We’re taking a brand new car, our best most state of the art piece.”
Interestingly, Wallace will be running for the first time ever the chassis matching his car number, RWR-066, this weekend in Iowa.
“It’s lighter and better and it’s been in the wind tunnel,” Wallace said.” That’s going to be a good deal.”
For teammate Annett, Iowa Speedway is coming home. The Des Moines, Iowa native has already scored an 11th and 7th place finish in 2009 and 2010 respectively at his home track.
“I take a lot of pride in my home track,” Annett said. “With the race just down the road from where I grew up, it’s a fun weekend.”
The teammates are convinced that the Nationwide race, with only two Cup drivers competing, is also the best chance for a Nationwide-only driver to take the checkered flag. And both are motivated by that opportunity to have that Cinderella finish.
“It drives me 100% to be the first Nationwide driver to get a win,” Wallace said. “It makes you feel really good when you can run up front with those guys. That’s what I’m excited about.”
“Trevor Bayne winning that race was amazing because he’s such a young kid and a Nationwide guy,” Annett said. “But Regan Smith winning at Darlington is really something.”
“Steven and I were talking about it and we agreed,” Annett said. “Him winning that race shows that if you do your job right, you can get the job done.”
With both Annett and Wallace headed into a track that means so much to the team owner and father respectively, one question that many have asked is if the two feel any added pressure.
“I get that question a lot,” Wallace said. “Iowa’s a cool track, but not just because my Dad’s involved with it.”
“As far as I’m concerned, we can’t let any of that change the way we approach the weekend at all,” Wallace continued. “We still have to keep our focus on the race.”
“We’ve had a real chance to win there the last two years in a row,” Wallace said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to put our team in Victory Lane and win one for the Nationwide guys.”
Fan events center of All-Star event
The All-Star event kicks off Saturday with a pre-race concert from Country Music Artist Dierks Bentley, presented by Budweiser. Bentley is best known for his song ’Sideways,’ which has been featured as NASCAR’s theme song on FOX. All ticket holders are treated to the pre-race entertainment.
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[/media-credit]A few of the biggest names in NASCAR will display their burnout talents and take center stage in the Pennzoil Ultra Victory Challenge. Defending champion Joey Logano will be joined by Clint Bowyer, Regan Smith, Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski and the Busch brothers. After the top three contenders have been announced, fans will vote for the winner via text messaging.
Race fans will witness the largest high definition television unveiling when the 200 ft by 80 ft tall screen created by Panasonic lights up on the backstretch. The new addition to Charlotte Motor Speedway is the world’s largest HD-TV. The screen will present fans seated along the front stretch with clear viewing and instant replays. The structure weighs in at 332-and-a half tons and will be illuminated by nine million LED lamps.
Prior to the main event, Country Music Male Vocalist of the Year Brad Paisley will kick off the All-Star Cast of driver introductions and premiere his video ‘Old Alabama,’ which was shot at the Hendrick Motorsports Complex near the Speedway. The video features NASCAR legends Darrell Waltrip, Jeff Gordon and Rick Hendrick as well as the iconic country group Alabama.
And before the green flag falls, race fans will ’Light Up the Night.’ With some help from Charlotte Motor Speedway and Energizer, race fans will shine flashlights simultaneously in an attempt to break a Guinness World Record. Representatives from the prestigious record holding company will be on-hand to confirm the record. This event is a spin-off from Energizers relationship with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates that has lasted 16 years. ’I can’t wait for this ’Light Up the Night’ promotion,” said Juan Pablo Montoya, “I think it is going to be so cool to see 80,000 people all flashing their brights.”
Under the lights at Charlotte Motor Speedway, men race for bragging rights as a field of past winners and champions battle for a $1,000,000 payday. This year’s event will feature new blood as Trevor Bayne and Regan Smith take the green as first time winners in the Sprint Cup Series. Locked into Saturday night’s main event are past champions and race winners from 2010 and 2011.
The slugfest begins with 28 wheelers vying for two-top finishing positions in the Sprint Showdown. Included in this field is fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr., the Australian Wheeler Marcos Ambrose and the happiest NASCAR driver Joey Logano. Following the checkered flag, the fan vote will be announced. Only those three men will advance to the main event.
The All-Star race features 22 drivers in an all-out dash for the cash. The race is broken down into four-segments. The first 50-lap dash requires a four-tire green flag stop. The second segment is 20 laps, as well as the third. Following the third segment teams must perform a four-tire stop to position themselves for the final 10-laps of no holds barred action.
When the checkered flag falls, the sky will illuminate with a fireworks show. A post race concert will feature Country music star Julie Roberts. She will perform a 30-minute concert debuting her new song ‘NASCAR Party.’ Fans will have the opportunity to step-out onto the front-stretch and join the celebration. “I didn’t think we could pack any more special events for our fans into the schedule on Saturday, but we did with this post-race concert,” said Marcus Smith, President and General Manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Indianapolis 500: Helio Castroneves Tops The Speed Chart on Friday
While Penske Racing driver Will Power led Thursday’s session, it was his teammate Helio Castroneves taking the top spot today with a speed of 228.611mph on the day before pole qualifying.
“Anything is possible,” Castroneves said. “Right now Shell V-Power is working really well in not only the race setup but also the qualifying setup. Qualifying tomorrow will be very tight. I can see that my teammates will be strong ones, and there are other guys doing fast times out there, too. It will be interesting to see what happens in the Fast Nine. I think we will see speeds in the 228 range tomorrow. It is going to be similar weather as today, but if it is a little bit humid, we may lose a little bit of power. I think everybody has something more.
“Today was a fast Friday. Everybody started laying out the wings and going fast. I’m very happy with my boys with the Shell V-Power Pennzoil Ultra car. It was very smooth, especially in the race trim, so I was very happy. We did a lot of laps today, and I wanted to make sure I was happy with the race car. It will probably be the last chance before we go into the race to run in those kinds of conditions. All of my boys were on the same page. As soon as we felt happy with the race trim, race setup, we decided to change and go for it. We had some moments out there. I’ve got to keep moving forward and have a good lap out there tomorrow and have a good day for the entire Team Penske.”
If Castroneves can pull off the pole, it’d be his third Indianapolis 500 pole in a row.
“Just starting pole position would mean a lot,” he said.” This place is fantastic. It’s awesome and tough. It would be great. Records are made to be broke, so I’m not going to focus on that. I’m going to focus on what I need to make it work so we can put the Shell V-Power in the number one spot.”
Alex Tagliani kept up in the charts as he was second fastest at 228.327mph.
“Our team continues to rise every weekend,” Tagliani said. “When we are in the window when we roll off the truck, we have a great group of people who make it easy to fine-tune the car. Being a one-car team, when we are off the window, it’s not easy, but this week, the car has been strong. With a few aerodynamic changes from last year, the car has been very consistent. It’s been nice just to fine-tune and not reinvent the wheel on our setup. I need to take my hat off to the guys. They have been very meticulous in preparing the car and on a track with high speed like this, it’s crucial. As a driver, you need to be comfortable in the car, and you need to drive it well, but you need to have the car, but if you don’t there’s nothing you can do.”
Tagliani feels that he has a little bit left to give Castroneves a run for his money.
“We have a couple of things left,” he said. “I think we were conservative this afternoon. We made some changes on the car without pushing the limits aerodynamically. I think it’s going be very difficult to do a 228.3 (mph), but it will have to be up there for a one lap go. It’s all about how consistent you can be and what’s your draw. We feel that we are strong, but on the charts, there are a lot of cars that are strong. It’s very difficult to have a good read. We ran very few laps this week, and we tried to run by ourselves to evaluate the right gearing and right downforce and make the right call on ride heights and all of that. I think we can go to bed tonight feeling we have a strong car, but the Ganassis and Penskes look tough. Hopefully when we pull everything out that we think we can, we’ll be right there with them.”
Scott Dixon, meanwhile, was third (228.181) while Castroneves’ teammate Briscoe was fourth at 228.029.
“We worked a lot on race setup, and we concentrated the last few hours today on speed,” Dixon said. “I think we’re looking good for tomorrow, and you should see the usual suspects coming to the top soon.”
“Today was a good day for the No. 6 IZOD Team Penske crew,” Briscoe said. “We completed a lot of laps. We mostly ran race setups, which we needed after all the time we lost earlier in the week. We trimmed out the car at the end of the day and got good speed out of the car, but we haven’t found the limit yet. I’m happy where we finished the day, and we’re excited about tomorrow. It should be a really good day on Saturday for Team Penske.”
Bertrand Baguette rounded out the top five with a speed of 228.028mph.
Simona de Silvestro was at the track on hand after her accident yesterday, though has not been cleared to drive after suffering second-degree burns on her right hand and superficial burns on her left hand.
“Something broke on the rear suspension, and when that happens, you’re just a passenger,” she said. “You can’t really do anything about it, especially when you’re going about 220 mph. I hit the wall and it took forever to land, it seemed, and then it started getting pretty hot out there (because of flames). It was pretty shocking, actually, especially to be on fire. It’s kind of weird because the fuel is splashing on you and you don’t really know what to do. A lot of things go through your head, but you want to get out of the car as quickly as possible. Everyone is working hard to get me back in the car, and I think it’s important for me to get back in the car quickly.
“It just shows how safe the car is. I don’t think a crash like that in any other car I would be standing here. When I got out of the car, I couldn’t believe it because it was so crazy being along for the ride and being on fire – again. I was pretty shocked, but it was nice to be standing. I don’t think I was a good patient in the infield medical center because I was in a lot of pain and I was screaming for water to cool my hands down. They took good care of me and then we went to the hospital, where they said it was second-degree burns. We took the bandages off (this morning) and they were really blistered, and tonight we’re going to check them again and see what they say. They don’t look pretty, so I don’t want to look. I can say I’m pretty lucky to be here.
“It is my goal to get back in the car as quickly as I can. It will be (INDYCAR’s medical team) decision and also mine because it’s pretty shocking. I can move my hands, but it is pretty tight because it pulls the skin. We’ll get some gloves that can fit.”
The day will start tomorrow with a brief practice from 8a.m.-10a.m., followed by qualifying at 11a.m.
During qualifying tomorrow, the top 24 spots in the 33-car field will be available during the traditional four-lap attempts from 11 a.m.-4p.m. with each car having up to three attempts and bumping will begin when the 24 spots are filled. The times from the top nine drivers will be erased at 4pm, though those drivers are guaranteed to start no worse than ninth. Those nine drivers, dubbed the “Fast Nine”, will be required to make at least one four-lap qualifying attempt from 4:30-6pm to set their exact starting spot on the grid.
On May 22nd, positions 25-33 will be available on Armed Forces/Bump Day as bumping will begin once 33 cars are qualified.
