Great Scott: Wimmer A Major Part Of #29 Owner Title Chase Success

Scott Wimmer (#29 Holiday Inn Chevy) must be glad to get back behind the wheel of the Richard Childress Racing ride he shares with Jeff Burton for the first time since finishing seventh at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis in late July.

The #29 is once again in the lead in the NASCAR Busch Series owner point standings – by 68 points over the #60 Scotts Winterguard Ford of Carl Edwards and Roush Fenway Racing.

But it figures that Wimmer takes over the #29 this week. The car – with Burton as the driver – comes off an exciting win at California Speedway last Saturday. And his teammate – a native of South Boston, Va. – happens to be a fan favorite at Richmond International Raceway.

Wimmer has competed in 17 races this season – 12 in the #29 – and has one Busch Pole, four top fives and seven top-10 finishes in the Holiday Inn entry. And although Burton has brought home each of the team’s three wins thus far in 2007, it’s Wimmer he gives the credit to as far as the organization’s current first-place hold on the owner standings lead.

“Scott Wimmer does a really, really good job putting us in a position to win,” Burton said following the California victory. “This isn’t just about me. It’s about Scott and what he’s been able to do, too.

“Scott has been an incredible addition to what we’ve been doing at RCR. It’s (the owner championship race) not over by any means. Scott has (played) a huge role putting us in this position.”

Keselowski Back On Track At Richmond; In With JRM For Remainder Of ‘07

After being involved in an accident Saturday at California that had his #88 U.S. NAVY Chevy riding the SAFER barrier then skidding on its nose before coming to a halt, Brad Keselowski has been medically cleared to race at Richmond.

After the incident, Keselowski was airlifted to Loma Linda Medical Center where he underwent CT scanning and x-rays on his head, left ankle and chest. Those tests came back negative.

Following standard NASCAR procedure, Keselowski was examined by Dr. Jerry Petty for NASCAR Competition upon his return to North Carolina Monday. He underwent an MRI exam and   saw Petty again Tuesday before being cleared to race.

“I just have to comment California Speedway for installing the SAFER wall and NASCAR and other parties for developing it,” Keselowski said. “I hit the wall pretty hard but thanks to the SAFER wall and all the safety equipment I use, I was able to escape injury.”

The news got better for the 23 year old as he was named the driver for the #88 JR Motorsports Chevy for the remainder of the season.

Keselowksi replaced Shane Huffman for the July 14 race at Chicagoland Speedway and has competed in six races since, deferring in the two road course events to Andy Pilgrim. He posted two top 10s and finishes of 13th and 14th in those events to earn the permanent position.
 
In The Loop:  Harvick’s Richmond Playground Has Bullies Ready For Friday Night Fight

Kevin Harvick (#33 RoadLoans.com Chevy) must have been under the weather during the first 2007 NASCAR Busch Series race at Richmond in May. He finished fourth and didn’t lead a single lap. It was an unsusual performance by his Richmond standards.

Usually, the two-time and reigning NASCAR Busch Series champion dominates. He did so in 2005, leading a race-high 149 laps in a win. He did it again twice in 2006, leading a total of 203 laps and sweeping the Richmond card.

Must be nice to finish fourth and consider it a bad day.

Harvick finds himself at or near the top of practically every key pre-race Loop Data category over the last five races at Richmond. He leads in Driver Rating (123.2) and Fastest Laps Run (156), is third in Average Running Position (6.8) and second in Laps in the Top 15 (1,132).

Clint Bowyer (#2 BB&T Chevy) was able to stop the Harvick machine last May, grabbing his second series win of the season. In that race, Bowyer scored a Driver Rating of 13.20 and an Average Running Position of 2.9.

Jason Leffler (#38 Great Clips Toyota) could surprise this weekend if he can rebound from a tough performance in May. He finished 37th in the first Richmond race, his worst finish in nine starts at the .75-mile track. Prior to that, he had three straight top-25 finishes and led laps in three consecutive Richmond races.

Leffler’s stats there are also impressive. He has a solid Driver Rating of 90.8, an Average Running Position of 13.8, 33 Fastest Laps Run and 648 Laps in the Top 15.

Another angle sure to heat up is the owner points battle between the #60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford and the #29 Richard Childress Racing Chevy. Jeff Burton drove the #29 to Victory Lane at California last weekend and regained the top spot in the standings. This weekend, Scott Wimmer will be piloting the car. He has a solid Driver Rating of 83.9 in three races at Richmond since 2005, while #60 driver Carl Edwards has a Richmond Driver Rating of 99.1.

NBS Etc.

• Leicht Turns 50: Stephen Leicht (#90 CitiFinancial Ford), the youngest of the drivers ranked in the top 10 in the point standings at age 20, is set to make his 50th start in the NASCAR Busch Series Friday night at Richmond. Leicht debuted at Memphis Motorsports Park in the fall of 2005 and this season is competing in his first full year in the series after sharing his ride last year with four other drivers. He’s posted one win, two top fives and six top-10 finishes in his career – all but one top 10 have come this season.
• Edwards Surpasses $1 Million: Series driver point standings leader Carl Edwards became the second-fastest to surpass $1 million in winnings in a season following last week’s race at California. Edwards has eanred $1,000,910 after 27 events. Only Martin Truex Jr., the 2004-05 NASCAR Busch Series champion, was faster to $1 million. Truex accomplished the feat in 2005 following the season’s 20th race. He finished the year with $3,123,692 in winnings, the series record.
• Richmond Has International Flair: This week’s event at Richmond has an international twist thanks to four drivers entered from three different countries. In addition to the usual domestic contingent of drivers, Australia’s Marcos Ambrose (#59 Kingsford Ford) – currently eighth in the series point standings – is joined by John Graham (#37 Kickbutt Amped Energy Ballz Ford) who hails from Toronto, Canada. Graham’s fellow countryman, St. Thomas native D.J Kennington (#72 McDonald Motorsports Dodge) is entered along with Alex Garcia (#98 Dixien-Omni Source Chevy) who is from Caracas, Venezuela. Garcia is the only one of the international quartet seeking to make his first series start at Richmond.

Richmond International Raceway Stats & Facts

• Kevin Harvick has only one finish outside the top 10 in his last nine races at Richmond – he was 12th in the 2005 fall race. He has four wins during that span, including the last two fall races.
• Matt Kenseth (#17 Arby’s Ford) has finished in the top eight in 13 of his last 14 races at Richmond, including 10 top fives. He’s finished in the top three in the last four races at RIR.
• David Reutimann (#99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota), currently third in the driver point standings only three points behind Harvick, made his NASCAR Busch Series debut at Richmond in the spring race in 2002. He finished 16th.

Rookie Spotlight: Teenagers Claussen, Cassill Set For Different Debuts At Richmond

• Teen Twosome:  Two 18-year-olds – Bryan Clauson (#41 Memorex Dodge) and Landon Cassill (#24 National Guard-32nd Infantry Brigade Chevy) will be making NASCAR Busch Series debuts of different kinds at Richmond. Clauson – who turned 18 while observing the race weekend for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates at Kentucky Speedway last June after graduating from high school in May – will make his overall series debut after coming out of midget and sprint cars where he has had tremendous success despite his young age. Cassill will make his first start at Richmond after competing in his first two series events over the summer at Gateway International Raceway and O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. Cassill turned in an impressive sixth-place starting position in his first qualifying effort at Gateway. He improved his best finish in his limited action to date two places at ORP (30th).
• Rookie Etc.:  Time is beginning to run out on Marcos Ambrose’s effort to catch leader David Ragan (#6 Discount Tire Ford) in the standings. Ragan put two more points between him and Ambrose following California where Ragan posted his seventh top-10 finish of the season. Ambrose was strong, but finished 13th.  Ragan had the upper hand at Richmond last spring as well with a 14th-place showing compared to Ambrose’s 26th. … Only two Raybestos Rookies have won the fall race at Richmond – Bobby Hamilton in 1989 and Steve Park in ’97 – while Andy Santerre (’98) is the only Raybestos Rookie to capture a Busch Pole in the fall event at RIR.

2007 NASCAR BUSCH SERIES
RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR STANDINGS

     Driver                          Points
 1. David Ragan                    212
 2. Marcos Ambrose             185
 3. Kyle Krisiloff                    167
 4. Juan Pablo Montoya        165
 5. Brad Coleman                 150
 6. Brad Keselowski             142
 7. Robert Richardson Jr.        90
 8. Justin Diercks                   51

ESPN/abc

On Friday night, ESPN2 continues its season-long coverage of the NASCAR Busch Series with live, prime-time racing from Richmond International Racway. The telecast of the Emerson Radio 250 begins at 7:30 p.m. ET with NASCAR Countdown. Allen Bestwick will host Countdown and will be joined by analyst Brad Daugherty, a former winning team owner in the NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR CraftsmanTruck Series, in the ESPN Pit Studio.

Dr. Jerry Punch will anchor the ESPN2 coverage from Richmond with analysis by 1989 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series champion Rusty Wallace and two-time champion crew chief Andy Petree. Pit reporters will be Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Mike Massaro and Shannon Spake, while two-time champion crew chief Tim Brewer will report from the ESPN DISH Tech Center.

A simulcast of the race can be seen on ESPN Deportes, ESPN’s domestic Spanish-language network. In addition, the race can be seen live on ESPN360.com, ESPN’s signature broadband service.

2007 At-A-Glance: NASCAR Busch Series Leaders After 27 Of 35 Races:

Traditional Statistics:       
Driver points – Edwards (3828)  
Victories – Harvick (5)   
Races led – Edwards (17)     
Laps led – Ky. Busch (714)    
Top-five finishes – Edwards (13)   
 Bowyer, 11th (-167)
Top-10 finishes – Edwards, Harvick (17) 
Owner points – Richard Childress (#29) - (3896)
Money Won – Edwards ($1,000,910)
Miles led – Ky. Busch (1090.33)
Busch Poles – Hamlin (5)
Closest to 10th – M. Wallace 10th (2597 pts)
Consecutive Weeks in Top 10 – Edwards, Harvick (27)

Loop Data Statistics:
Driver Rating – Edwards (107.1)
Average Running Position – Edwards (9.7)
Fastest Laps Run – Edwards (451 fastest laps)
Quality Passes – Edwards (899)    
Laps In Top 15 – Edwards (4,026 of a possible 4,848)
 
Chevy Rocks & Rolls At Richmond In NASCAR Busch Series Competition, Too

After Dodge interrupted Chevy’s two-race winning streak two weeks ago at Bristol Motor Speedway, Chevy bounced back with Jeff Burton’s win at California last Saturday to expand its lead in the Bill France Performance Cup standings to 43 points over second-place Ford with eight races remaining on the schedule.

And if past history at Richmond is any indication, Ford, third-place Dodge and fourth-place Toyota may be on the outside looking in after Friday night’s race.

Chevy leads all manufacturers with 18 NASCAR Busch Series wins at Richmond and has won the last four races in a row, including Kevin Harvick’s victory at this event last year and his RCR teammate Clint Bowyer’s win there this past May.

In fact, it’s been 11 years – the fall race in 1996 and the spring race in ’97 won by Ford – since Chevy has been dealt more than a one-race hiccup in between at least two consecutive wins.

But those breaks were each compliments of Ford – which has 13 wins at Richmond, second-most at the track. The last 29 races at Richmond have been won by either Chevy or Ford.
 
NASCAR Busch Series Manufacturers' Championship
Chevy 201
Ford       158
Dodge    124
Toyota    111

Up Next: RoadLoans.com 200 At Dover International Speedway

Following an open week – its first since mid-May – the NASCAR Busch Series gets back to work at Dover International Speedway for the Sept. 22 RoadLoans.com 200. The race will be televised live on ESPN2 beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Clint Bowyer won this race a year ago after Scott Wimmer captured the Busch Pole. Only three races at Dover have been won from the pole, two of those having come in the fall event.

Todd Bodine leads all race winners at Dover with three victories, although he has won the fall race only once – as part of a season sweep in 1993. Bodine is one of three drivers (Robert Pressley in 1992 and Randy LaJoie in ’96) to register season sweeps at Dover. Driver standings leader Carl Edwards can add to that list this season as he won the first race at the 1-mile speedway on June 2.

FAST FACTS

The Race: Emerson Radio 250
The Place: Richmond International Raceway
The Date:  Sept. 7, 20071
The Time: 8:00 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPN2, 7:30 p.m. (ET)
Track Layout: .75-mile oval
Race Purse: $1,123,290
2006 Winner: Kevin Harvick
2006 Pole: Jeff Burton

2007 Point Standings
Pos. Driver        Points
1      Edwards     3,828
2      Harvick       3,174
3      Reutimann  3,171
4      Leffler         3,042
5      Ragan        2,975
6      Hamilton     2,804
7      Leicht         2,691
8      Ambrose     2,677
9      Biffle           2,652
10    M. Wallace  2,597

Pre-Race Schedule:
Friday – Practice, 8:30 - 9:40 a.m.; Rookie Practice, 9:40 - 10:10 a.m.; Final Practice, 10:10 - 11:10 a.m.; Qualifying, 4:05 p.m.