Teams Without an Assigned 2009 Driver:
- Dale Earnhardt Inc. – No. 01 car
- Penske Racing – No. 12 car
- Stewart Haas Racing – No. 4 car
- Dale Earnhardt Inc. – No. 15 car
- Joe Gibbs Racing – No. 20 car
- Wood Brothers Racing – No. 21 car
- Bill Davis Racing – No. 22 car
- Yates Racing – No. 28 car
- Richard Childress Racing – No. 33 car
- Furniture Row Motorsports – No. 34 car
- Chip Ganassi Racing – No. 41 car

Drivers Without a Definitive 2009 Ride:
- Regan Smith
- Casey Mears
- Ryan Newman
- Paul Menard
- Dave Blaney
- Travis Kvapil
- Tony Raines
- Reed Sorenson
- Scott Riggs
- JJ Yeley
- Johnny Sauter
- Jeremy Mayfield
- David Stremme
- Jacques Villeneuve
- Kenny Wallace
- Ken Schrader
- Ward Burton
- Dario Franchitti

Post from: EveryJoe

Silly Season Tracker – Updated 8/8

After what most would consider to be an unsuccessful run with Joe Gibbs Racing to get his career started in the Sprint Cup Series, it didn’t take JJ Yeley long to once again find himself looking for work. Hall of Fame Racing announced on Wednesday that they were parting ways with Yeley in favor of 20 year old, Brad Coleman.

Coleman will run his first race with the team on August 17th at Michigan, as the team already made plans to run road course specialist, PJ Jones, in the car this weekend at Watkins Glen. Michigan will mark Brad’s official debut in the Sprint Cup Series after just two season of competing in the Nationwide Series, during which he has compiled 3 top-five and 6 top-ten finishes. He’s going to have his work cut out for him as he takes over the reigns of the no. 96 car, which currently sits 38th in car owner points.

“J.J. is a talented race car driver and a great person and this was a difficult decision to make,” said Tom Garfinkel, co-owner of HOF Racing. “We all share responsibility that our performance hasn’t been what it needs to be, but we concluded it was time to make a change.

“I really appreciate Jeff Moorad and Tom for giving me this opportunity,” Coleman said. “I have really enjoyed my time testing with the people on the team and I’m looking forward to having a successful weekend at Michigan in the DLP HDTV Toyota and helping Hall of Fame Racing finish out the season as strong as possible.”

Post from: EveryJoe

Brad Coleman Joins HOF Racing; JJ Yeley Out of Work

*Credit photo to Sporting News 

Kyle Busch won his sixth race of the Sprint Cup season and picked up the second Cup restrictor plate win of his career, much to the dismay of the crowd on-hand at Daytona International Speedway for Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400. But, whether or not you like Kyle Busch is irrelevent – what you cannot deny is that the action at Daytona was exciting once again and should be considered another victory for the Car of Tomorrow.

Paul Menard led the field to green after winning the Coors Lite Pole Award during Friday’s qualifying session, and he held onto the position for the first 19 laps of the race, before finally surrendering it over to former DEI teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr. The lead for Junior was short-lived, however, as AJ Allmendinger brought out the first caution of the evening on lap 20 after he cut down a right-side tire and smacked the wall, and it was Kyle Busch leading the field off of pit road. Earnhardt and Busch then swapped the lead back-and-forth a few more times and controlled the position between them until Jimmie Johnson finally took over on lap 75, and then Jeff Gordon moved to the front on lap 79.

Tony Stewart had been moving towards the front and easily had one of the best cars in the field, but some flu-like symptoms finally caught up with Smoke, and after a lap 71 caution involving Greg Biffle and Juan Pablo Montoya, Stewart called upon his former Joe Gibbs Racing ‘mate, JJ Yeley, who failed to qualify for the race and was standing by in the no. 20 pits as a relief driver. It took the team two pit stops, but they made the driver change and got Yeley out on the track at the tail end of the field. For Stewart, this was the second time he needed a mid-race substitute in his career, the last time coming at Dover in 2006 when the team used Ricky Rudd to relieve Stewart, who was recovering from a shoulder injury.

Matters then appeared to be getting worse for the Gibbs camp when Denny Hamlin got Kyle Busch loose on lap 82. Busch got so loose, in fact, that he was forced down onto the apron and sank all the way back to 37th place, near his new teammate, JJ Yeley. A caution on lap 110 helped Busch make up some ground, though, after Elliott Sadler hit the wall and bunched the field back up. Busch was amongst a handful of cars charging up to the front of the field, in a group that included Yeley, Martin Truex Jr. and Kasey Kahne who started in the back of the field, and Daytona 500 winner, Ryan Newman, who was recovering from an earlier spin with Jamie McMurray back on lap 44.

Under the caution, Carl Edwards stayed out on the track to collect 5 bonus points for leading a lap, and then it was Earnhardt Jr. and Denny Hamlin swapping the lead back and forth for several laps. Busch had worked his way back into the top-ten by lap 110, and it’s a good thing for him, because the final 40 laps of the race brought out seven more cautions.

The fifth caution of the evening came with just 37 to go when David Gilliland got loose and hit the wall, bringing Ryan Newman with him and setting off a chain reaction behind them which also resulted with Jeff Burton in the wall. Gilliland had been running inside the top-five for most of the race until a pit road misque during the previous caution shuffled him back to 14th and in what would become the danger zone.

The mele’ continued just 7 laps later when Jamie McMurray couldn’t clear the no. 83 car of Brian Vickers and got spun out as a result, and then five laps after that, Ryan Newman was involved in his third accident of the day, this time spinning along with Denny Hamlin. Then, on lap 139, JJ Yeley – who had been making steady progress working his way up inside the top-15 and flirting with the top-ten – got turned sideways by David Ragan, and Jeff Burton and Casey Mears ended up in the wall behind them.

The 9th caution of the race came on lap 149 when Boris Said was spun by Joe Nemechek, and with the field bunched up together, Kyle Busch re-assumed the lead when he passed Jeff Gordon on lap 155. Another caution came out a lap later with a big spill involving Dave Blaney, Jimmie Johnson, Paul Menard, Regan Smith, JJ Yeley, David Reutimann, and Denny Hamlin, amongst others.

The field lined up for the sixth green-white-checkered finish of the season. Kyle Busch was out front, followed by Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards. A slow restart caused Edwards to get into the back of the no. 24, turning Gordon around onto the apron, but NASCAR chose not to waive the caution flag. Then, Edwards and Matt Kenseth ducked out of line and pulled up next to the race leader, but Kenseth’s car “couldn’t hold it down” on the high line.

In an unlikely turn of events, the race turned into Carl Edwards running side-by-side with Kyle Busch, but Carl’s teammate – Matt Kenseth – was pushing Kyle, and Kyle’s brother – Kurt Busch – was pushing the no. 99. As the two cars took turns pulling their nose ahead of the other, the cars started piling up behind them, and NASCAR finally brought out the caution. Officials then turned to video replay to decide who was in front when the caution flag actually came out, and it was determined that Kyle did in fact pull ahead of Edwards right at the last moment, naming him the winner.

Edwards went onto finish 2nd – his best Daytona finish – with his Roush teammate, Matt Kenseth in third, and Kurt Busch in 4th, despite starting all the way back in the 36th position. David Ragan recovered nicely from a pit road penalty that put him at the end of the field on lap 113, and he went onto finish 5th. Robby Gordon had a very solid race and even led a lap at one point, and he finished 6th. Kasey Kahne appeared to be headed for disaster when he was forced to pit with less than 10 to go due to a right fender rub, but he rebounded into the 7th position. After leading the most laps in the race, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car faded in the latter stages, as he settled for 8th. 9th place went to Clint Bowyer, who had a very quiet day as he worked his way up from 25th. And, Mark Martin rounded out the top-ten finishers after starting from the outside pole. There was also a point in the race where Mark got the opportunity to run up front with his three Hendrick teammates for next season.

Other Notables: Kevin Harvick finished the race in 12th, but it wasn’t enough to keep him in the top-12 in points, as he now sits 13th in the standings ….. Polesitter, Paul Menard, finished 15th ….. Driving in relief of Tony Stewart, JJ Yeley finished 20th, which was just enough to keep Stewart two points in front of Harvick ….. Jimmie Johnson finished 23rd ….. After appearing as though he might be in line for the victory on the final restart, Jeff Gordon plummeted to a 30th place finish ….. Last year’s race winner, Jamie McMurray, finished 32nd ….. Daytona 500 winner, Ryan Newman, finished 36th ….. Jeff Burton wound up 37th, ending his 23-race streak of top-15 finishes.

Grades:
the Racing - 95%
the Drama – 96%
Coverage – 92%
Pre-Race – 89%

Overall Grade: 94%

Recommended Reads:
- Kyle Busch Captures Win in Exciting Finish at Daytona International Speedway – (Racing for the Win)
- Live on Type Delay: Firecracker (Coke Zero) 400 – (RevJim’s Rans ‘n’ Raves)

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

Sprint Cup Series Standings (from nascar.com):

Post from: EveryJoe

Rating the Race: Daytona – Coke Zero 400

Image details: Daytona 500 served by picapp.com

This week, NASCAR returns to Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero 400, one of the biggest races of the year on the Sprint Cup schedule. With Daytona being one of NASCAR’s two restrictor plate courses, the track has fallen under quite a bit of scrutiny over the years. While it’s still loved by many, there are still those that feel as though things tend to get a bit overhyped whenever the series heads down to Florida. But, whether you love it or you hate it, one thing cannot be denied, and that is that the 50th running of the Daytona 500 held here this past February was one that brought plenty of excitement. In fact, some believe that race was actually one of the Car of Tomorrow’s shining moments to date.

Recent Winners:
2008 – Ryan Newman
2007 – Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick
2006 – Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson
2005 – Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon

Recent Pole Winners:
2008 – Jimmie Johnson
2007 – “Cancelled Qualifying”, David Gilliland
2006 – Boris Said, Jeff Burton
2005 – Tony Stewart, Dale Jarrett

the Usual Suspects:
Despite the fact that he hasn’t won a Cup race all season long and that he’s been under the microscope this season in regards to his contract situation, Tony Stewart remains one of the favorites to win this Saturday. Along with boasting the highest driver rating over the last 7 races at the track, Tony has also won this race twice before (’05 & ‘06), and also holds the track record for most laps led in a 400-mile race when he led 151 circuits back in 2005. Additionally, Smoke leads all active drivers in the series with wins between June through August since 2003 with 12 of them to his credit. He also led the most laps at this year’s 500, only to lose the lead on the final lap of the race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is certainly considered the fan favorite to win the race this weekend, and rightfully so. Dale owns two Cup victories at Daytona himself, and has recorded 10 top-ten finishes over 17 starts. He ran very well during the Daytona 500 in February and at times appeared as though he might grab a victory in his very first start with Hendrick Motorsports, but eventually faded away near the end. Now that he’s finally broken his winless streak by taking the checkered flag at Michigan, perhaps the no. 88 team’s been able to relieve themselves of enough pressure to regain Jr’s status as the master of restrictor plate racing.

Both Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson have seen their share of dominant days at Daytona. Gordon leads all active drivers with 6 wins here, and Johnson had a stretch of five consecutive Daytona races with a finish of 6th or better, which also included a win at the 2006 Daytona 500. Since that win, however, Johnson has recorded only one top-ten finish in the four races since, and he finished 27th here in February. Gordon’s last Daytona victory came at the 500 the year before.

Amongst the other favorites to win this weekend is Kevin Harvick, winner of the 2007 Daytona 500. Harvick has struggled at the track since then, finishing 34th last July and 14th earlier this year. He’s also had his struggles over the last few weeks of the season, but also known as one of the best night racers in the series, a return to Daytona could be just what the doctor ordered … Kyle Busch’s over all numbers at Daytona seem to be about middle of the road, but you can pretty much chalk that up to a few bad runs earlier on in his career. He’s finished inside the top-five in 3 of the last 4 trips to Daytona, to include a pair of runner-up finishes, and he finally picked up his first restrictor plate win earlier this year at Talladega … Kurt Busch may have gotten the monkey off his back with his win last weekend at New Hampshire, and it could’ve come at just the right time. With the number 2 time finding themselves in a much deeper hole than they could’ve ever expected to have to climb out of this late in the season, there might not be a track they’d rather visit more than Daytona. He has still yet to add a Daytona victory to his championship resume’, but he’s always considered a favorite here with 7 top-five finishes over 15 races. He has finished as the runner-up here on three occassions.

the Unusual Suspects:
When you start to think about sleeper picks at Daytona, probably the first name that jumps out to you is the guy that beat Kyle Busch to the line in this race last year, Jamie McMurray. The 2007 victory was only Jamie’s second top-five finish at the track in his career, but don’t let the numbers fool you. McMurray’s been a solid performer here ever since he started running full-time in the Cup Series, but as has been the case so many times throughout his career, he has been the unfortunate victim of bad luck more often than not.

Elliott Sadler has run well here at times, especially as of late. He has finished 6th in three of the last four Daytona races, and also scored a pair of top-five’s here back in 2001 … Brian Vickers has had a great run for his Red Bull Racing team over the past couple of months, and Vickers is especially known for his restrictor plate prowess. Though he typically runs stronger at Talladega, he does have a pair of top-ten’s at Daytona, and finished 12th here in February … Robby Gordon typically isn’t associated with many tracks other than road course races, but you may be surprised to learn that he is currently working on a string of five consecutive top-15 finishes at Daytona.

the Unusual Slackers:
It’s not very often that folks will make it a point to drop Denny Hamlin from there fantasy rosters for an upcoming race, but a trip to Daytona could call for such action. Not only has Denny failed to record a single top-15 finish in his five trips to Daytona, but his average finish of 27.0 actually matches that of JJ Yeley … Carl Edwards has been one of the top performers of the season, and is heavily considered to be amongst the true championship contenders this year. That does not mean, however, that he’s necessarily solid at every track on the schedule. Carl has only one top-ten finish in 7 Daytona races, which was a 4th place run here last July. He was unable to use that for any kind of momentum, however, as he then finished 19th here in February … Carl’s teammate, Matt Kenseth, hasn’t had much better luck taming Daytona, either. With only one top-five to his credit and an average finish here of 22.9 over 17 races, Daytona ranks amongst Matt’s worst tracks … Martin Truex Jr. is in dire need of a good run if he wants to return to the Chase for the Cup field this year, but if you ask him, Daytona’s not the best place to be given the current situation. Martin’s 13th place run here last July ranks as his best finish over six races at Daytona.

Best Driver Ratings (from racingone.com):
1. Tony Stewart – 108.1
2. Ryan Newman – 98.6
3. Jimmie Johnson – 95.5
4. Kyle Busch - 95.3
5. Kurt Busch – 93.0

Best Average Finishes (from racingone.com):
1. Clint Bowyer – 13.0
2. Jimmie Johnson – 13.2
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 13.8
4. Sam Hornish Jr. – 15.0
5. David Gilliland – 15.7 

Daytona Facts:
- A Cup race at Daytona has gone without any lead changes on two different occassions, the last of which came back in 1963.
- The race has gone caution-free 12 times, most recently the Daytona 500 in 1971.
- The most drivers to ever finish on the lead lap at Daytona is 33. Eight races have seen only one driver finish on the lead lap, most recently in 1976.
- In 122 Cup Series races at Daytona, only 10 times has the winner come from outside of a top-15 starting position. 55% of the races have been won from the top-five, and 23 winners have started from the pole.
- Only four drivers have ever won both the Daytona 500 and the July race at Daytona in the same year: Fireball Roberts, Cale Yarbrough, LeRoy Yarbrough, and most recently, Bobby Allison in 1982. Ryan Newman won the Daytona 500 this year, giving Penske Racing their first-ever restrictor plate victory. 

Storylines for the Weekend:
Hendrick Motorsports has recently announced the release of Casey Mears from the no. 5 car next season. They’re expected to make an announcement on Friday in regards to whom will fill the seat in 2009, and heavy speculation at this point is that the announcement will involve the legendary Mark Martin … Though he is not on this weekend’s driver entry list, DEI has named the young Aric Almirola as the full-time driver of their no. 8 car in ‘09 … In a surprise move, Chip Ganassi Racing announced earlier in the week that they would be forced to shut down operations on their no. 40 car, which until then had been driven by 2007 Indy 500 winner, Dario Franchitti, due to a lack of sponsorship opportunities … This weekend’s Cup entry list includes Boris Said (making his 2nd start of the season) and Sterling Marlin (making his 6th start). Marlin leads all drivers on the entry list with 589 laps led at Daytona – 57 more laps than Tony Stewart, and 78 more than Jeff Gordon … Kerry Earnhardt will run the no. 8 entry in the Nationwide Series this weekend, marking his first official start in a DEI car in a NASCAR event.

Six-Pack Challenge:
Winner – Tony Stewart
2nd Place – Jimmie Johnson
3rd Place – Dale Earnhardt Jr.
4th Place – Kurt Busch
5th Place – Kyle Busch
6th Place – Greg Biffle

Lock of the Week – Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Sleeper Pick - Brian Vickers
Steer Clear of – Martin Truex Jr.

Video – Jamie McMurray wins the 2007 Pepsi 400

Post from: EveryJoe

Race Preview for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona

Image details: LENOX Industrial Tools 301 served by picapp.com

They added an extra scheduled lap this year to the Lenox Industrial Tools 301, but it was all for naught as the race was halted for rain on lap 284 of the scheduled 301-lap event, and in the end, it was surprise-winner Kurt Busch standing in Victory Lane to get his first victory of the season, and the second of 2008 for car owner, Roger Penske. Busch was far from the dominant car at any point throughout the day, but some pit strategy and a little bit of luck went a long way in getting the “Blue Deuce” up to the front of the pack after 8 cars stayed on the track during a caution on lap 271.

The race started out with a green flag look to it with Kevin Harvick taking the lead away from polesitter, Patrick Carpentier, just four laps into it. Harvick then dominated the first leg of the race until he surrendered the lead to Dale Earnhardt Jr. on lap 44, but regained the lead after a round of green flag stops brough Harvick back out in front, and shuffled Junior back to fourth.

The first caution flag came out when David Reutimann spun the no. 40 Dodge of Dario Franchitti on lap 88, and that’s when teams first started rolling the dice, as the cars of Casey Mears and Brian Vickers stayed out on the track, pushing Mears out to the front of the field. With the running order mixed up at this points, fans were treated to a little bit of excitement as the Hendrick cars of Earnhardt Jr, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson all raced each other hard for position for the 7th through 9th spots, with Jr. getting loose on lap 94 and nearly taking out all three of the team cars.

The next caution waived for debris on lap 140, putting all of the drivers back onto the same pit cycle. This time it was Tony Stewart winning the race off of pit road after starting all the way back in the 28th position. Stewart maintained the position for the next 132 laps, giving him an extra five bonus points for leading the most laps.

Perhaps the key moment of the race came on lap 217 when Kasey Kahne spun Aric Almirola as the two raced each other hard for position. Almirola nearly made a great save to keep his no. 8 DEI car off the wall – just moments after making another great save – but, he eventually turned all the way around and clipped the wall, bringing out the fifth yellow on the day. With most teams feeling that the caution came just outside their established pit window and that they would still have to stop again later in the race, only a handful of cars came down pit road, to include Kurt Busch.

After watching a great side-by-side battle between Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson at the beginning of the next run, the race fell a little stagnant for the next 40 laps. Then, on lap 271, Jamie McMurray got into Earnhardt as the no. 88 car tried to get onto pit road. Both cars spun hard, also picking up the no. 6 of David Ragan in the process.

The majority of the field came into pit, with Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, and Jeff Burton all beating Stewart off of pit road with fuel-only stops. Stewart made a 2-tire stop and was the sixth car off of pit road, but unfortunately for the no. 20 Home Depot team, eight other cars that stopped on the lap 217 caution all stayed out on the track, and Smoke was stuck way back in 14th for the restart.

Kurt Busch took the green flag on the restart and held onto the lead until the seventh caution flag waived on lap 279 when Clint Bowyer and Sam Hornish Jr. got tangled up in a spin. The track then got a little bit messier when Kyle Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya started playing bumper cars under the yellow, which eventually led to Montoya making a left turn into the rear end of the points leader, which ultimately sent both cars spinning.

The race never did get restarted, as rain eventually found its way to the track as the field turned laps under the yellow. NASCAR brought out the red flag, and it was only a matter of minutes before officials made the call, handing Kurt Busch his first victory of the season. Behind him were the cars of Michael Waltrip, JJ Yeley, Martin Truex Jr, Elliott Sadler, Reed Sorenson, and Casey Mears, all of whom pitted on lap 217. Denny Hamlin was the first car in the running order that came down pit road on lap 271, as he finished in 8th, and right behind him was Jimmie Johnson in 9th. Bobby LaBonte completed the top-ten, also making his final stop on lap 217.

Other Notables: Jeff Gordon finished 11th … Jeff Burton continued his streak as the only driver to finish in the top-15 of every race this season. He finished 12th after starting in 31st … Tony Stewart was relegated to a disappointing 13th place run after leading a race-high 132 laps. He also became only the 13th driver in NASCAR history to lead more than 10,000 laps in his career … Kevin Harvick led the second-most laps in the race, but wound up 14th … Carl Edwards was the highest running Roush-Fenway car in the race in 17th, and right behind him was teammate, Matt Kenseth, in 18th. The race marked the end of Kenseth’s run of six consecutive finishes of 8th or better … Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 24th after the accident ended a good run for his team … Points leader, Kyle Busch, suffered a 25th place finish … Polesitter, Patrick Carpentier, led three laps on the day and wound up 31st.

The distorted running order at the end of the race shook up the points standings as one might expect. Kyle Busch held onto the top spot, but saw his lead over 2nd place, Jeff Burton, shrink to just 64 points. 1st through 6th remained unchanged, but Denny Hamlin and Greg Biffle swapped spots in 7th and 8th. Behind them, Tony Stewart moved up two spots to 9th, while Kasey Kahne and Clint Bowyer each dropped a position and moved down to 10th and 11th. Kevin Harvick made his way back into the top-12, where he now holds a 15-point lead over 13th place, Matt Kenseth.

Grades:
the Race – 92%
the Drama – 96%
Coverage – 92%
Pre-Race – 88%

Overall Grade: 92.4%

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

Sprint Cup Series Standings (from nascar.com)

Recommended Reads:
- Kurt Busch Sees Rain, Red and NHMS Win – (Full Throttle)
- Busch (the Other One) Wins at New Hampshire – (Bruce’s Bits & Pieces)
- McMurray Takes the Blame for Wrecking Dale Jr. – (Captain Thunder Racing)

Post from: EveryJoe

Rating the Race: New Hampshire – Lenox Industrial Tools 301

In a combined 10 starts at Infineon Raceway, Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson have a total of two top-ten finishes, but that didn’t stop them from running the two fastest laps during Friday’s Sprint Cup qualifying session. Kahne, whose best Sonoma finish was 23rd last year, turned a lap of 77.740 seconds to take his second Coors Lite Pool Award of the season, with the first coming just a couple of weeks ago at Pocono in a race that he dominated. Johnson has a top-five and 2 top-ten finishes in his six starts at Infineon, but he finished just 17th here last year.

Kahne and Johnson are two of only four drivers currently in the top-12 in points that will start Sunday’s race from one of the top-ten starting spots. Qualifying 3rd and 4th were Kurt Busch and Bobby LaBonte, whom sit 19th and 20th in points Qualifying 5th was Jeff Gordon, and 6th went to Elliott Sadler. Marcos Ambrose, making his first start in the Sprint Cup Series, ran his Wood Bros no. 21 Ford fast enough to start 7th on Sunday and was the highest qualifier of all the “ringers.” The next quickest in line was Robby Gordon, and starting 9th and 10th are Ryan Newman and Greg Biffle.

Last week’s race winner, Dale Earnhardt Jr, qualified 15th. The winner of the Save Mart 350 last year, Juan Pablo Montoya, will start 21st. Meanwhile, things are not looking so bright for the camp over at Joe Gibbs Racing, where points leader, Kyle Busch, qualified 30th and Tony Stewart earned himself his worst starting position of the season and will start 39th. The other Gibbs driver, Denny Hamlin, did manage to qualify 13th, however.

Of this year’s Road Course Ringers, Ambrose is the only one starting from a top-ten position. Boris Said will start from 14th, but all of the other ringers qualified outside of the top-20. Failing to qualify for the race were Brandon Ash, Dario Franchitti, JJ Yeley, and Scott Riggs.

Click here to view the complete Starting Grid for Sunday’s race.

*Credit photo to Newscom.

Post from: EveryJoe

Kahne Will Hit the Road in Sonoma With the Pole

Recent Pole Winners:
2007 – Jeff Gordon, JJ Yeley
2006 – Jeff Burton, Kasey Kahne
2005 – Joe Nemecheck, Ryan Newman

Best Driver Ratings (from racingone.com):
1. Carl Edwards – 112.3
2. Kurt Busch – 106.8
3. Greg Biffle – 105.4
4. Jimmie Johnson - 104.7
5. Matt Kenseth – 104.1

Best Average Finishes (from racingone.com):
1. Carl Edwards – 7.3
2. Matt Kenseth – 9.7
3. Denny Hamlin – 10.0
4. Jeff Gordon – 12.5
5. Martin Truex Jr – 12.5

Most Wins – David Pearson (9)
Most Wins (Active) – Bobby LaBonte (3)
Most Poles – David Pearson (10)
Most Poles (Active) – Jeff Gordon (5)
Most Top 5’s – Cale Yarbrough (21)
Most Top 10’s – Bill Elliott (29)
Most Manufacturer Wins – Ford (30)
Track Qualifying Record – Ryan Newman (37.069 seconds / 2005)

Odd Facts:
- David Pearson, Cale Yarbrough, Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace, Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Dale Jarrett, and Mark Martin have combined to win 45 of the 77 Cup races at Michigan, or 58.4% of the races.
- The track record for a 400 mile race at Michigan is 173.997 mph, whereas the record for a 500 miler is only 139.254 mph. That’s an average 34 mph slower for that extra hundred miles! This weekend’s race is 400 miles.
- A Cup race at Michigan has gone caution free on three separate occassions, most recently in 1999. The most cautions at MIS? Only 10, which came in August of 2006.
- Five times has a Michigan race ended with only 2 drivers on the lead lap. The last time was in 1975.
- Roush-Fenway Racing has more wins at Michigan (10) than they do any other track.
- A driver has won from the pole position at Michigan 15 times. Last weekend at Pocono marked the first time this season such a feat had been accomplished.

Six-Pack Challenge:
Winner – Greg Biffle
2nd Place – Carl Edwards
3rd Place – Tony Stewart
4th Place – Kasey Kahne
5th Place – Matt Kenseth
6th Place – Jimmie Johnson

Lock of the Week – Carl Edwards
Sleeper Pick – Brian Vickers
Steer Clear of – Clint Bowyer

Post from: EveryJoe

Fantasy Preview: Michigan

Image details: Pocono 500 Qualifying served by picapp.com

For the second time in his Sprint Cup career, Kasey Kahne has turned the quickest qualifying lap at Pocono, thus earning himself the Coors Lite Pole Award. His first pole position at Pocono came back in 2004 when he set the track qualifying record at 172.533 mph. The lap he turned on Friday afternoon was about 2 mph slower and took 52.873 seconds, but it got the job done, nonetheless, and he will start Sunday’s Pocono 500 from the inside of row 1.

Jimmie Johnson was the first driver to qualify for the race and had the pole locked up until Kahne beat him out for the privelege. Johnson’s lap was still good enough to earn him a spot in the front row, though, and he will lineup next to Kahne on the front row of Sunday’s starting grid. The DEI cars of Mark Martin and Regan Smith qualified third and fourth, followed by Joe Nemecheck and Carl Edwards, who will make up row 3 for the start of the race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will look to rebound from last week’s misfortunes at Dover, and qualifying 7th is a good start for accomplishing that mission. Starting next to him on the outside of row 4 will be AJ Allmendinger, who has been red hot during qualifying these past few weeks. And, completing the top-ten starters for the race will be Scott Riggs and Kyle Busch, who qualified 9th and 10th.

Qualifying 11th through 13th are three drivers that many are expecting to contend for the win on Sunday, as Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, and Matt Kenseth will occupy those positions. The heavy favorite to win at Pocono, though, is Denny Hamlin, who qualified 16th. Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon had perhaps the most disappointing runs on Friday, though, as they qualified 27th and 38th respectively. The number 96 Hall of Fame Racing car driven by JJ Yeley was the only car that failed to qualify for the event.

Post from: EveryJoe

Kahne Wins Second Pocono Pole

Image details: Coca-Cola 600 served by picapp.com

In the longest race on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule, Kasey Kahne proved that attrition pays off, as he was setup in the right place at the right time in the closing laps of the Coca Cola 600 to put his no. 9 Dodge into Victory Lane at Lowe’s Motor Speedway for the second time in as many weeks for car owner Ray Evernham.

After cruising to a victory in last week’s All-Star Challenge, and then earning himself the outside pole position through qualifying, Kahne looked as though he was in position to potentially run away with the race at the drop of the green flag, but that wasn’t the case. Kasey immediately faded from the frontrunners in the early stages of the race, but as the sun went down and the track got cooler, the no. 9 car seemed to get some life back in it. Kahne didn’t lead the race until lap 207 when he snuck around Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the lead, but he surrendered the front position twenty laps later as the field came around for a round of greenf flag stops.

Kahne got the lead two more times before getting passed by Tony Stewart with only 17 laps remaining. Kahne made his final pit stop for fuel just a few laps later, but his stop took nearly 3 seconds longer than Stewart’s, and as the field cycled through their stops, Stewart’s lead over Kasey opened up to nearly half a track length. Misfortune struck the no. 20 team on lap 397 of the 400 lap race, though, as Tony blew a right front tire and was forced to pit, handing the lead over to Kahne for the final time of the evening.

For Kahne, it was his first points race win since the Fall race at Lowe’s in 2006, and it was enough to move him back into the top-12 in points, and the first top-five finish for Evernham Motorsports all season long. For Stewart, it was a frustrating ending to a near-perfect night. Smoke had started the race from 31st position, but his crew worked all night long to get his car up to the front, and it appeared as though he had his first Coca Cola 600 victory well in-hand. Instead, he went onto finish 18th.

Greg Biffle bounced back from a flat tire earlier in the evening that put him a lap down on lap 135. He was able to race his way back onto the lead lap just before a lap 170 caution that was brought out when Patrick Carpentier spun Juan Pablo Montoya through the infield. Biffle was able to avoid further troubles and went onto finish second.

Third place went to Kyle Busch, who was pretty much all over the map all night long. After leading the first 33 laps of the race, his car started to slip a little through the pack as his car started to lose some power. He then had to make an unscheduled stop on lap 150 when he thought he had a tire going down, but was able to race his way back onto the lead lap less than 15 laps later. He went onto lead three more times throughout the race before settling for a top-five finish.

Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. used some fuel strategy to sneak their way into top-five finishes, as they finished 4th and 5th, respectively. As the rest of the field made their final stops, both drivers stayed out on the track after topping off their fuel tanks on the final caution that occurred with 66 laps remaining. For Gordon, a top-five was a mental victory for the team after running outside of the top-15 for the majority of the race. For Junior, this was a way to salvage a race that had previously taken a turn for the worse. After leading the most laps of the race, Earnhardt blew a right front tire while leading on lap 296. He got into the wall, and then was run into from behind by JJ Yeley. The no. 88 team made several attempts to repair the damaged race car, but in the end, it was a little bit of strategy combined with some good luck that saved the day.

Jeff Burton had a solid day, and wound up finishing 6th. He was followed by Matt Kenseth, who had a pretty uneventful evening and finished 7th. In 8th place was Elliott Sadler, who used some pit strategy to gain some much needed track position around the halfway point of the race. Carl Edwards started the race in 30th, but wound up 9th despite running out of fuel on the final lap. David Reutimann came home in 10th to earn himself his first career top-ten in the Cup Series.

Along with Stewart, several of the race’s other dominant cars were also taken out through a variety of misfortunes. After leading more than 65 laps of the race, and having just surrendered the lead over to Jimmie Johnson, on lap 185, Brian Vickers’ tire actually flew off of his race car, sending him hard into the inside SAFER barrier. The tire then proceeded to smack the no. 38 car of David Gilliland before bouncing down the track and into the trackside camping area. After leading on four different occassions, Johnson would later blow his motor with only 49 laps to go. Kurt Busch had also led more than 50 laps of the race before he had a tire go down, sending him into the wall and ending his bid for his first win of the season.

And, the most interesting statistic of the evening belongs to Ken Schrader. He was given the task of debuting the RCR no. 33 car this weekend, which he successfully qualified 33rd … and, then raced to a 33rd place finish.

Grades:
the Race: 96%
the Drama: 97%
Coverage: 89%
Pre-Race: 76%

Overall Grade: 92.8%

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

Sprint Cup Series Standings (from nascar.com):