Nascar Blog

Here are some great videos from the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, the crowd really seemed to enjoy Tony Stewart taking out Kyle Busch. I know I did.

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Here are videos from the Pocono 500 from Pocono Motor Speedway.

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Posting some stuff I haven’t had a chance to post, here are videos from the Coca-Cola 600 from Charlotte Motor Speedway.

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Here is a pretty good video from Bumpsnotes showing Tony Stewart winning the Talladega 500 today, after most of the Chase drivers have already gone to the garage.

This certainly was a typical race in Talladega, lots of wrecks, lots of lead changes, a record 31 in fact and a record 28 different leaders, and lots of speed. Jeff Gordon looked like he was going to have a good day until he started hanging back to avoid the big one, unfortunately he was collected in a little one that took him out for a few laps to make repairs, he did make it back out to pick up some more points, but, it looked as though his engine them gave out. Finishing 38th is better that last, but it looked like he might’ve been able to make it back into the 20’s had his engine not gone away.

Near the end, Carl Edwards was trying helping Greg Biffle to the front, causing him to spin out to the left, taking out Matt Kenseth and then, they took out Carl Edwards and a bunch of others. So, teammates helping each other out took each other out, should make for a good Monday morning meeting.

At the end, Tony forced Regan Smith, who was making a charge for the lead, below the yellow line, so we all thought that Regan would be allowed to make a move there, and he crossed the line before Tony. Nascar ruled that he could not advance his position, even though several drivers had said Nascar would allow it for this race, and penalized him with a drive through penalty, effectively moving him to the 18th position.

Several competitors, including Johnson, said they had heard that passes below the yellow line would be allowed within sight of the checkered flag. That notion originally stemmed from a ruling that allowed Johnny Benson to improve from third to second at the finish of the February 2007 Craftsman Truck Series race at Daytona.

NASCAR, however, had the final say, and the sanctioning body’s position was clear-cut, though it did appear to contradict statements made by NASCAR spokespersons in the aftermath of the Daytona Truck race.

“You cannot improve your position any time you go below the yellow line,” NASCAR vice president of corporate communications Jim Hunter said. “In our judgment, he [Smith] improved his position, and the penalty for that is a pass-through, so he was moved back to the tail end of the longest line, or 18th position.

“At the drivers’ meeting, we clearly state that you cannot improve your position by going below the yellow line. We do not feel he was forced below the yellow line. We respect Regan’s view, but we made the call, we think it’s the right call and the finish is final.” Source: Stewart wins after NASCAR disallows Smith’s pass

However you view it, it was a pretty exciting end to a race that removed most of the really good competition, here is how they finished:

1 34 20 Tony Stewart Toyota Subway / Home Depot 195/10 190 Running
2 5 15 Paul Menard Chevrolet Johns Manville / Menards 175/5 190 Running
3 16 6 David Ragan Ford AAA Travel 170/5 190 Running
4 17 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet AT&T Mobility 165/5 190 Running
5 35 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Jack Daniel’s 155/0 190 Running
6 32 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Cheerios / Betty Crocker 150/0 190 Running
7 11 66 Scott Riggs Chevrolet Hunt Brothers Pizza 151/5 190 Running
8 42 7 Robby Gordon Dodge MAPEI / Menards 142/0 190 Running
9 20 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools 143/5 190 Running
10 40 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge MONOPOLY at McDonald’s 139/5 190 Running
11 7 78 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Furniture Row/DenverMattress.com 135/5 190 Running
12 14 00 Kenny Wallace Toyota Champion Mortgage 132/5 190 Running
13 3 8 Aric Almirola Chevrolet U.S. Army 129/5 190 Running
14 2 5 Casey Mears Chevrolet Pop-Tarts / CARQUEST 126/5 190 Running
15 37 18 Kyle Busch Toyota Pedigree 123/5 190 Running
16 43 96 Ken Schrader Toyota DLP HDTV 115/0 190 Running
17 23 45 Terry Labonte Dodge Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil 112/0 190 Running
18 4 01 Regan Smith Chevrolet DEI / Principal Financial Group 109/0 190 Running
19 25 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA AUTO PARTS 111/5 187 Running
20 39 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 108/5 179 Running
21 33 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 105/5 177 Running
22 29 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar 97/0 176 In Pit
23 30 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Memorex 99/5 176 Running
24 22 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M 96/5 174 Running
25 13 42 Juan Montoya Dodge Texaco / Havoline 93/5 173 In Pit
26 31 17 Matt Kenseth Ford DEWALT 90/5 173 Running
27 1 28 Travis Kvapil Ford Academy Sports + Outdoors 87/5 173 Running
28 15 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet AMP Energy “Ride With Dale Jr.” / Nat’l Guard 84/5 173 Running
29 12 99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot 81/5 173 Running
30 6 33 Mike Wallace Chevrolet Realtree “Driven to the Outdoors” 73/0 169 Running
31 21 84 Mike Skinner Toyota Red Bull 70/0 160 Running
32 28 26 Jamie McMurray Ford BernzOmatic Fat Boy 72/5 159 Running
33 27 21 Jon Wood Ford Motorcraft 64/0 154 Running
34 8 70 Tony Raines Chevrolet iQ Drive 61/0 148 In Pit
35 9 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 63/5 134 Running
36 38 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Budweiser 60/5 112 In Pit
37 19 44 David Reutimann Toyota UPS 52/0 110 Out of Race
38 26 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 54/5 104 In Pit
39 36 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Express 51/5 98 Running
40 41 38 David Gilliland Ford Ford. Drive one. 43/0 68 Running
41 10 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 45/5 68 Running
42 18 109 Sterling Marlin Chevrolet Miccosukee Resort & Gaming 37/0 68 Out of Race
43 24 12 Ryan Newman Dodge Samsung HDTV / Alltel 34/0 48 Out of Race

Here are the points standing for the 12 drivers in the Chase for the Cup:

1 — Jimmie Johnson 5718 Leader 30 5 5 12 18
2 — Carl Edwards 5646 -72 30 1 6 14 22
3 — Greg Biffle 5641 -77 30 2 2 11 14
4 — Jeff Burton 5619 -99 30 0 1 6 16
5 +2 Clint Bowyer 5566 -152 30 0 1 5 14
6 -1 Kevin Harvick 5547 -171 30 0 0 6 15
7 +4 Tony Stewart 5515 -203 30 0 1 10 15
8 -2 Jeff Gordon 5486 -232 30 3 0 10 14
9 — Matt Kenseth 5473 -245 30 0 0 8 17
10 -2 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 5469 -249 30 1 1 9 14
11 +1 Kyle Busch 5387 -331 30 2 8 15 17
12 -2 Denny Hamlin 5383 -335 30 1 1 9 15

I know this is a late posting, but I just wanted to make sure I commented on a couple things before they were too far in the past. The first was that attempted pass on Jimmie Johnson by Carl Edwards to win the race. I figured out why it didn’t work for him, he let off the gas, he had too. Anytime I have pulled a move like that in a Nascar race in any video game, you have to hold it too the floor and try to keep your momentum up, if, at any point, he let off the gas to straighten himself up, then that is where he screwed up.

Here’s a video with Carl talking about it.

It was one hell of a try in my opinion and hopefully we can see more all out action like this in the future. Nascar.com even put up an article with drivers with similar moves and stories here called Drivers respect Edwards’ last-lap effort at Kansas.

The other thing I thought was hilarious was when Tony Stewart wrecked himself when he tried to spin Brian Vickers during this race, because, earlier Vickers had kind of blocked Stewart in the pits, so I think he was trying to spin him as payback. Check it out.
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Not sure what happened at this [tag]USAC[/tag] race in Indy, but Tony was pretty upset about something. Of course, it doesn’t take much to get Tony upset, but the USAC officials should’ve ejected him right there, I would not take that from anyone, those officials have got more important stuff on their minds like safety and making sure the race is run fairly. If I was Nascar, I would be talking to him about it as well, being that he will be a car owner next year as well as a driver, he needs to know the lines not to cross right now, such as putting your hands on a low paid official, any official, in any way shape or form is not allowed.

Maybe a good punishment would be to park his driver as pushing and getting violent with any official should end your day.

Added: Just saw this on the Nascar section at AOL Fanhouse, Stewart has been fined $10,000 for the incident and Tony Stewart Racing was placed on probation for the rest of the USAC season.

Tony Stewart was fined $10,000 Monday for what the U.S. Auto Club deemed unsportsmanlike conduct during a midget race last week at O’Reilly Raceway Park. Tony Stewart Racing also was placed on probation for the remainder of the USAC season.

Stewart reportedly knocked a radio headset off the head of one USAC official and shoved another following a ruling Thursday involving Stewart’s car, driven by Tracy Hines. Stewart Fined $10,000 for Conduct

Tony Stewart won the Busch Nationwide race today in Daytona, beating Kyle Busch and, you guessed it, Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the end of the race, with Busch blocking Jr. to finish second. Kyle also came in second the night before in the truck series race, losing to Todd Bodine and driving past Johnny Benson for second. Appears tomorrow’s race is going to be a good one, with Kyle and Dale running so well every time they get in a car, they are going to be hard to beat.

Polesitter Tony Stewart repelled a strong challenge from teammate Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win the Camping World 300 Nationwide Series race Saturday at Daytona International Speedway.

Stewart surged to the lead on Lap 117 of 120 and stayed there as the rest of the field diced for position behind him. On the final lap, Busch blocked Earnhardt’s last-ditch attempt to improve his position and all but assured the victory for Stewart, who crossed the finish line .259 seconds ahead of Busch, with Earnhardt .412 seconds back.

Brian Vickers ran fourth, followed by Matt Kenseth, rookie Bryan Clauson, Greg Biffle, Denny Hamlin, David Ragan and defending series champion Carl Edwards. Source: Stewart starts, finishes first in N’wide season-opener

This is a quick first post for 2008, here are the Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart videos that everyone is looking for from this years Daytona racing action.

2008 Bud Shootout Practice - Small One #2

Posted to Nascar Racing Videos on February 12, 2008

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2008 Bud Shootout Practice - Stewart VS Busch Part 1

Posted to Nascar Racing Videos on February 12, 2008

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2008 Bud Shootout Practice - Stewart VS Busch Part 2

Posted to Nascar Racing Videos on February 12, 2008

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Here are some links to articles discussing the crash, the pit road incident, and both meetings with Nascar and what happened inside.

Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch placed on probation for six races

NASCAR warns Stewart, Busch to avoid each other

Tony Stewart is sitting in the cat bird’s sear right now, as most of the leaders and those in the chase had already pitted and were riding around in the back before the red flag came out to stop the race because of rain. If the race is stopped right now, Tony would have around a 45 point lead over 2nd place, and would be leading by over 110 points over Gordon, the series leader coming into Kansas.

Note: As I type this, they are trying to dry the track, as the rain has slowed, but has not quit completely.

Well, I finally was able to see the Prelude to the Dream race at Eldora speedway tonight, they replayed it on Speed, and I got to see all the heat races and the main. It was pretty exciting watching Jeff Gordon come up and take position after position and then the lead from Carl Edwards, but, Gordon didn’t keep the lead for long as Edwards pulled the same move on him, diving down to the bottom and sliding up in front of each other for the pass.

And they were right, all these guys drove their hearts out for the Victory Junction Gang charity, I only wish I would’ve paid for it when it was on pay per view, but we didn’t get to for some reason, I don’t recall why. With Jeff Gordon running up front and vying for the lead after not being in one of these cars for 16 years, you have to give him props, he is a legend on motor sports and hopefully we will see him win his fifth Nascar championship this year.

Ken Schrader ran great, coming close a few times to getting around Gordon, Stewart ran great until the wreck between him and Kasey Kahne, and Juan Montoya running great for being in one of these cars for the first time. Really, really some impressive racing, and I am planning on taking that week off, getting there early, camping out and watching the Prelude next year.