Earlier in the week NASCAR implimented new rules restricting the horsepower output in the Nationwide Series engines, specifically targeting Toyota, as they were the only manufacturer running the effected engine packages. But, even that couldn’t stop Kyle Busch from dominating Saturday night at O’Reilly Raceway Park.

Busch started the race from the outside pole, and then ran away with the race, leading 197 of the 200 laps. The victory is Busch’s sixth NNS win of the season, and his 15th between NASCAR’s three premier series, surpassing the previous record set by Kevin Harvick. Colin Braun, in search of his first NASCAR victory for Roush-Fenway Racing, settled for 2nd, and Mike Bliss, Scott Wimmer, and Josh Wise completed the top-five.

Following the race, Busch sarcastically commented, “I was kind of disappointed because I feel like that 15 horsepower cost me the pole. I really got to thank my competitors for doing the complaining they did, because we were able to have good traction control all night long. I feel like that was important, to get off the corners a little bit better than everybody.”

Rookies Landon Cassill and Joey Logano continued to impress, as they finished 7th and 8th, respectively. Series points leader, Clint Bowyer, found his struggles throughout the evening, as he finished 18th. Second place, Brad Keselowski, didn’t do any better, though, and he finished 19th. Third place, Carl Edwards, made up a little bit of ground with his 11th place finish. There were no changes with the top-ten in points, though.

Kroger 200 Complete Results

Nationwide Series Standings (from nascar.com):

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What, Toyota Lost Their Horsepower? Kyle Busch Didn’t Notice

The incident really started when David Reutimann got into the back of Sorenson coming out of Turn 2, which got him loose going through the next turns, leaving him pinched up near the wall going into Turn 3.

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NASCAR Rivals: Mike Bliss, Reed Sorenson, Scott Wimmer Wreck at Gateway

Image details: Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 served by picapp.com

Even with the Sprint Cup Series taking the week off, it was still a busy weekend for Missouri native, Carl Edwards …. particularly because he decided to commit to a three-day bicycle trip from his hometown of Columbia, MO to the track that lies in Madison, IL – just outside of the St. Louis metro-area.

Edwards made the trip and got to the track in time to qualify third for the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 at Gateway International Raceway, and then passed Jason Leffler with 48 laps remaining en route to picking up the win Saturday night. The win gave Edwards his second Nationwide Series win of the season, and the second of his career at Gateway.

Driving the dominant no. 20 car for Joe Gibbs Racing in just his fifth NNS start, Joey Logano started the race fourth and finished second, as he was unable to track down Edwards in the closing laps of the race. Jason Keller, Jason Leffler, and Brad Keselowski completed the top-five finishers, with rookie driver, Landon Cassill, running in 6th.

An incident involving David Reutimann and Brad Keselowski brought out the final caution of the day. The restart came on lap 146 with Edwards running third behined Jason Leffler and eventual 7th place finisher, James Buescher. The top two cars, however, took only two tires under the caution period, with Edwards taking four, which ultimately made all the difference in the world, passing Leffler for the lead just six laps later.

Earlier on a lap 116 restart, Landon Cassill got into the back of Scott Wimmer, setting off a chain reaction that eliminated the cars of Mike Bliss, Steve Wallace, and defending race winner, Reed Sorenson. Polesitter, Jamie McMurray, was in the lead at the time, but later retired with engine problems after lap 152.

Points leader, Clint Bowyer, finished 8th; David Ragan was 10th; and Marcos Ambrose ran in 15th. The hometown favorites of Mike, Kenny, and Steve Wallace finished 11th, 18th, and 26th respectively. Kenny was the only one of the three to lead any laps during the race.

Clint Bowyer and Brad Keselowski maintained the top two spots in the Nationwide standings, while Carl Edwards jumped up a spot to #3, where he now sits 201 points out of first.

Complete Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 Results.

Nationwide Series Standings (from nascar.com):

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Edwards the Hometown Victor at Gateway

Image details: Camping World RV Rental 250 served by picapp.com

Carl Edwards was named the winner of Saturday night’s Camping World RV Rental 250 at the Milwuakee Mile, and pulled into Victory Lane in the Nationwide Series for the first time since winning in Nashville last June, but the 250-mile race was hardly one that lacked emotion, excitement and controversy.

The first half of the race was dominated by polesitter, Brad Keselowski, who was looking to his second win for JR Motorsports in a three-week span, but despite leading the most laps on the evening, it just wasn’t meant to be. Last week’s race winner, 18-year-old Joey Logano, caught Keselowski at the front of the field and the two raced side-by-side with 79 laps remaining in the books. Logano drover underneath the race leader to take the position through turns 3 and 4, but a slight bobble slid him up into Brad’s fender and took him out of contention for the win.

Then, during the final round of pit stops, Logano made contact with points leader, Clint Bowyer, on pit road as the two rubbed fenders and shuffled Joey back to fourth while Carl Edwards took the lead. Bowyer then passed Edwards with 39 laps to go and held the position until the next caution flag. The restart came with 25 circuits remaining. Edwards got underneath him on the restart and knocked him sideways and drove away for the win.

Logano was able to pass Bowyer as well, as he wound up finishing 2nd, and Bowyer had to settle for 3rd. Fellow Sprint Cup regulars, David Ragan and David Reutimann completed the top-five in 4th and 5th. Scott Wimmer continued with his recent success with another top-ten finish in 6th, and Mike Bliss came home in 7th. Brad Keselowski rebounded from his earlier adventure with Logano and was relegated to an 8th place run, while Jason Leffler and Jason Keller rounded out the top-ten finishers.

There were no changes amongst the top-four spots in the standings, as Bowyer now stretches his points lead to 188 points over second place, Brad Keselowski. David Ragan and Mike Bliss each jumped up a spot to 5th and 6th over Kyle Busch, whom did not attend the race this weekend.

Check here for complete Camping World RV Rental 250 race results.

Nationwide Series Standings:

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Edwards Wins a Wild One in Milwuakee

Image details: Meijer 300 served by picapp.com

In only his third start in the Nationwide Series, 18-year old Joey Logano was nothing but masterful during Saturday’s Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway en route to picking up his first career victory in the series. Logano passed teammate, Kyle Busch, for the lead on lap 147 and stayed there for the ensuing 53 laps to become the youngest winner in Nationwide history at 18 years, 21 days (the former record was held by Casey Atwood at 18 years, 10 months, 9 days in 1999 at Milwuakee). The victory also gives Joe Gibbs Racing their leading 10th victory on the season.

Logano finished 2.259 seconds ahead of Scott Wimmer, who ran second in the race, with veteran, Mike Wallace, coming home third. Fourth place went to last week’s race winner, Brad Keselowski. Rounding out the top-five was rookie driver, Bryan Clauson. Sixth place was taken by second year Nationwide driver, Marcos Ambrose, and David Ragan, Mike Bliss, Clint Bowyer, and Jason Keller completed the top-ten finishers.

Kyle Busch had a great day turned sour. After flying into Kentucky Speedway late, he was forced to start the race dead last in 43rd. Forty laps later, however, Busch found himself with the lead and went onto lead a race high 85 laps on the day. After surrending the lead to Joey Logano on lap 147, Busch tried to fight back from the second spot, but he lost control of his car on lap 164. The spin sent Busch slamming into the outside retaining wall down the backstretch, and he went onto finish 30th.

Clint Bowyer retained control of the points lead, and now leads Brad Keselowski by 170 points. Keselowski jumped three spots in the standings to take over 2nd over David Reutimann and Carl Edwards, who finished 13th and 20th. Kyle Busch’s run dropped him from third to fifth in the standings.

For Logano, he has now led laps in each of his first three starts in the series. Those three starts have resulted in a win, 2 top-ten’s, and 2 pole awards. Between Logano’s driving abilities and the dominant team that Joe Gibbs has assembled for him over in that no. 20 car, the rest of the series could be in for a very long, agonizing season.

Click here for the complete results from the Meijer 300.

Nationwide Series Standings:

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Logano Masters Kentucky

Brad Keselowski picked up his first win in the Nationwide Series on Saturday night, and the first of the season for JR Motorsports, as he took the lead from points leader, Clint Bowyer, with just five laps remaining and then cruised on his way to victory, winning the Federated Auto Parts 300 at Nashville Superspeedway.

Keselowski set the stage for the finish of the race when he stayed out on the track on lap 79 of the 225 lap event as the rest of the leaders made their way down pit road, led by then race leader, Joey Logano. The call from Tony Eury Sr. put Keselowski on a completely different pit sequence than the rest of the field, and it proved to be a factor late in the race.

With the rest of the field making their final pit stops with 77 laps remaining, Keselowski made his with just 41 left, giving him tires that were 36 laps fresher than the rest of the field when the caution flew with just ten laps left. David Reutimann, who was leading the race at the time, was ambushed by Clint Bowyer on the restart, but a few laps later, it was Brad Keselowski making the pass for the lead, and he never looked back, as he went onto win the race and collect the first checkers of the season for JR Motorsports.

David Stremme and David Reutimann both went onto take position from Bowyer as they finished 2nd and 3rd, and Clint was relegated to 4th, followed by David Ragan in 5th. They were followed by the cars of Mike Wallace, Scott Wimmer, Kelly Bires, Landon Cassill, and Greg Biffle to complete the top-ten.

Joey Logano won the pole for Saturday’s race, marking only his second career start. He led 64 laps in the event and appeared to be an early favorite to win, but he got caught up in a 4-wide race through turn 2 that resulted in him getting clipped by Greg Biffle and slamming into the outside wall. He went onto finish 31st. His teammate, Kyle Busch, who is making an unprecedented tri-fecta run this weekend, finished three laps down in 20th.

Clint Bowyer remained atop the Nationwide standings, while Reutimann’s run was enough to bump him up two spots to second. Kyle Busch dropped a spot to third, and Carl Edwards’ thirteenth place run drops him down to fourth overall. Brad Keselowski remains in fifth.

Nationwide Series Standings (from nascar.com):

*Credit photo to Newscom.

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Keselowski Wins First NASCAR Race at Nashville

The no. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Kyle Busch led the most laps during the race, as he was out front for 125 laps. However, as has been the case all season long for Busch despite his dominating presence over the series, bad luck befell upon the driver we’ve come to know as “Wild Thing,” and on lap 162 he took himself out of contention for the victory by taking a spill in Turn 4 after losing control of his car.

Busch’s bad luck became Clint Bowyer’s fortune – at least for the time being – as he took control of the race following the mishap. Bowyer appeared to be headed for his second consecutive Nationwide victory, but was passed with 20 laps remaining by Scott Wimmer, who is driving the no. 29 Richard Childress / Kevin Harvick Inc. car on a part-time basis. Wimmer was able to hang onto the lead for the remainder of the race, giving  him his first win since Pike’s Peak International Speedway back in July of ’03. Bowyer went onto finish second in the race, and now leads the Nationwide Series standings by 11 points over the 2007 champion, Carl Edwards. Kyle Busch has dropped to 11th. Edwards – who has won one of the two Nashville races every year  since 2005 – finished in third. Brad Keselowski and Kelly Bires rounded out the top-five.

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

 Current Nationwide Standings (from nascar.com):

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RCR With Another 1-2 Finish

Entering into their sixteenth season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Bill Davis Racing has yet to find the keys to success to put them on a more competitive level with NASCAR’s elite. The organization hasn’t won a race at this level since 2002 – the season that Ward Burton captured the Daytona 500 – and even worse, they’ve only had 12 top-ten finishes over the last 5 years.

Business wasn’t always so bleak for this race team, however. In 2001, Burton finished 14th in the points standings for Bill Davis, but then dropped down to 25th in ’02, and the two parted ways in 2003, replacing Ward with Scott Wimmer. Burton’s 2002 performance would be the last time a Bill Davis Racing team finished the season inside the top 25 in owner points.

In 2005, the team only ran the no. 22 car of Scott Wimmer full-time, starting their no. 27 team in only 10 races with Mike Skinner behind the wheel. In ’06, they scrapped the 27 team completely, but decided to bring it back as the no. 36 last season in the inaugural debut for Toyota into the Cup Series putting Jeremy Mayfield behind the wheel. Mayfield would later be relieved of his driving duties with just four races left in the season, replacing him with the combination of Skinner and Johnny Benson. It didn’t really matter at that point, though. 2007 was a complete catastrophe for the entire organization, as the two race teams combined for a total of only 50 of a possible 72 starts. The 36 team failed to record a single top ten all season long, while Dave Blaney – now driving the no. 22 – finished 31st in points, making him the only Toyota to finish last season inside the top 35.

2008 is looking a little better, though, with the addition of Joe Gibbs Racing to the Toyota mix and some extra horsepower behind the Camry engines, and it’s shown so far in the pre-season practice sessions. The 36 team has gone back to the no. 27, and Davis has brought in former IndySeries star Jacques Villeneuve to drive the car full-time. The organization will be looking for a win or two at some point in the season – particularly at the superspeedways with Blaney and the road courses with Villeneuve – but, more importantly the primary focus has to be making sure that both teams finish inside the top 35 in owner points and getting things in line for the 2009 campaign.

Cup Series Roster:

22: Dave Blaney – He looked extremely well at quite a few races last season, and was really the main guy to give us an early glimpse of the muscle that Toyota was capable of providing. He won the first pole award for Toyota at the race in New Hampshire and scored a total of 4 top ten finishes, including a Toyota-high 3rd place finish at Talladega in the fall. With the exception of the Joe Gibbs cars, he’s also the only Toyota driver that will begin the season inside the top 35 in owner points, which will guarantee him starts in the first five races of the season. He’s also looked great so far in the Daytona Speedweeks, and if he can keep his nose clean, should contend for at least a top five spot in that race. In my mind, with the changes that have been made to the engine package of the Toyota’s, Blaney’s a shoe-in to remain in the top 35, and I wouldn’t be extremely surprised to see him finish up somewhere around 20th in points. As overlooked as this guy’s always been throughout his career, it could be him – not Villeneuve – that actually gets Bill Davis Racing on the map.

27: Jacques Villeneuve – The former F1 Series Champion got his start in professional racing back in 1990 racing in the Italian and Japanese F3 Championships and has raced in the F1 Series since 1996, but until the end of 2007, he’d never sat behind the wheel of a stock car. Last year he competed in 2 Sprint Cup Series races, finishing 21st at Talladega and 41st at Phoenix. This year he joins 3 other former open wheel stars in one of NASCAR’s most highly anticipated rookie classes of all-time, but he’s going to have a long road ahead of him due to the fact that his car is not currently in the top 35 in owner points, which means he’s going to be forced to qualify his car every week based on time alone. That could be a huge factor on Jacques’ first full season in the Cup Series, and ultimately I would expect him to spend the majority of the season flirting with the bubble for the top 35 spot.

Driver Roster: C
Off-Season: B
2008 Outlook: C+

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Season Preview: Bill Davis Racing