April 23, 2005
- Busch wins at Phoenix: #97-Kurt Busch won the Subway Fresh 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, holding off #15-Michael Waltrip who got close, but could quite catch Buach and almost wacked the wall, but held on for 2nd. It is Busch’s first win of 2005 and his 12th career win. Busch dominated the race from the get-go and led 219 or 312 laps. The rest of the top five was #31-Burton, #8-Earnhardt Jr. and #25-Vickers. #24-Gordon, who started on the pole, only led four laps and finished 12th. #48-Johnson finished 15th and increases his points lead, however his streak of 13 straight races finishing with a top-10 finish. #09-Johnny Sauter gave the James Finch team a lift with a 9th place finish. #92-Stanton Barrett finished a respectible 30th and was the 2nd highest rookie of the race with #77-Kvapil not finishing the race. The race will re-air on Speed Channel, Thursday, April 28th at 2:00pm/et.
For my race rundown, see my Phoenix Race Info/Rundown Page for race leaders, DNF’s, lucky dogs, some narratives on the race and cautions.
For race results and links, see Jayski’s Phoenix Race Results/Awards page for points standings, see Jayski’s Drivers/Owners Points after Phoenix page.(4-23-2005) - NASCAR named “Best of America” by Reader’s Digest: NASCAR has been named “Best of America” by editors of the most widely read magazine in the United States. Reader’s Digesthas created the “America’s 100 Best” award which honors the 100 best people, places, ideas and products this country has to offer. To determine “America’s 100 Best” list, the editors of Reader’s Digest talked with experts and collected ideas from coast to coast.(NASCAR/Reader’s Digest)(4-23-2005)
- NASCAR Silicon Motor Speedway Supports 2005 NASCAR Day: NASCAR Silicon Motor Speedway, leaders in providing fans with simulated racing experience, is offering special NASCAR Day discounted packages between now and May 20, as well as a chance to win a Les Paul guitar donated by Gibson Guitars and autographed by Richard Petty, Bobby Labonte, Rusty Wallace and Kasey Kahne. NSMS Racing Centers simulate the motions, sights and sounds of an actual NASCAR Nextel Cup Race. In addition to receiving a collectible lapel pin, NASCAR Day packages include simulator rides where fans will actually feel the centrifugal force of a turn, as well as the acceleration and speed of an actual race. It is as real as it gets! For more info and participating NASCAR Silicon Speedway Locations go to smsonline.com.(4-23-2005)
- Kahne to run the Longest Yard scheme: In this spring’s NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, Kasey Kahne will sport some additional firepower on his #9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger – that of Adam Sandler, Chris Rock and Burt Reynolds, stars of the new Paramount Pictures comedy “The Longest Yard,” which opens nationally on Memorial Day Weekend. Kahne, a fan of Sandler classics such as “Happy Gilmore” and “The Wedding Singer,” will carry the star’s latest movie on the hood of his Dodge Charger to promote the comedy, which will be released nationally on Memorial Day. The #9 Dodge will feature a distinctive black and yellow paint scheme with footballs and prison cell bars. Sandler also will serve as the grand marshal of the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway. Diecast models of the #9 Dodge Dealers/UAW “Longest Yard” Dodge Charger will be available late this summer.(ClearBlue), see an image of the scheme on my #9 Team Schemes page.(4-23-2005)
- Pizza Hut on the #44: Pizza Hut will be on the #44 Chevy that Terry Labonte drives at the Nextel All-Star Challenge in May at Lowe;s Motor Speedway and will also carry the Pizza Hut colors at Pocono in June and Chicago in July. See an image of the scheme on my #44 Team Schemes page.(4-21-2005)
UPDATE: Hendrick Motorsports announced a program that will feature Pizza Hut as a primary sponsor of Chevy driven by Terry Labonte and Brian Vickers this season in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series and NASCAR Busch Series. Labonte will showcase a Pizza Hut paint scheme on his #44 Chevys in three upcoming NEXTEL Cup events: May 21 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, June 12 at Pocono Raceway and July 10 at Chicagoland Speedway.
In the Busch Series, Vickers’ #57 Pizza Hut Chevys will appear May 6 at Darlington Raceway during the track’s inaugural weekend of night racing and Sept. 24 at Dover International Speedway. Those hungry for more information can go to the official Pizza Hut Web site at www.pizzahut.com.(Hendrick Motorsports)(4-23-2005) - Penske buying out Rusty and Miller? UPDATE: Roger Penske is buying out the 48% share of Penske South that is owned by Rusty Wallace and his long-time business manager Don Miller.(Winston Salem Journal)(4-16-2005)
UPDATE: Wallace, driving his final full season in Nextel Cup, said Penske has offered to buy out his share of the team, as well as his longtime friend Miller’s share. But Wallace said the ongoing fuss with Newman will not play a part in that decision, when he makes it. “Again, I want to stress I haven’t made that decision,” Wallace said. “I’ve got an offer to do that. I lay awake at nights wondering if that’s what I should do.”(ESPN.com/AP)(4-23-2005) - Rusty-Ryan Update: It’s no secret that teammates #2-Rusty Wallace and #12-Ryan Newman have not been best of friends since their cars collided last fall during a race at Martinsville Speedway. Because Wallace is a co-owner of the team, along with Roger Penske and Don Miller, there was considerable speculation Wallace would make an effort to patch up their differences during the offseason. Instead, the relationship has grown, if anything, colder. At least part of the problem is their differing racing philosophies. The 48-year-old Wallace is an old-style, seat-of-the-pants racer, while 27-year-old Newman is a graduate engineer who likes to depend on technology and information from his engineers to set up his cars. “It’s really two separate teams, totally,” Travis Kvapil, the third member of the Penske team, races the #77 Dodge. “The 77 and 2 share, every tire pressure, every shock, every piece,” Wallace said. “The 12 car is totally off limits. It’s totally a separate team. They’re at one end of the shop, and it’s unfortunate. I’m resigned to the fact. I’m tired of wearing myself out trying to fix it. I’m just going to do my deal and drive my guts out and give it everything I’ve got. … I’ve beat this 12 thing to death forever, and they’ve got a whole different train of thought and that’s fine.”(ESPN.com/AP)(4-23-2005)
- Dale Jr. still leads Popular Vote: With more than 1 million votes cast, Dale Earnhardt Jr. holds the lead in the yearlong Chex NMPA NASCAR Most Popular Driver Award. Actual numbers were not announced, but Earnhardt, who has won the award each of the past two years, is followed in the balloting at www.mostpopulardriver.com by Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Rusty Wallace, Tony Stewart, Michael Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, Mark Martin and series points leader Jimmie Johnson. The voting continues until Nov. 21, the day after the season-ending race at Homestead.(ESPN.com/AP)(4-23-2005)
- Atlanta Dyno Results: Results of NASCAR’s most recent chassis dyno testing, at Atlanta, shows a few surprises. Jamie McMurray, who finished 11th, had the strongest engine (Elliott’s), with 769 peak horsepower, winner Carl Edwards showed 754 horsepower. Runner-up Jimmie Johnson showed 759 horsepower. Others tested: Elliott Sadler, 764 horsepower; Ryan Newman, 763; Kasey Kahne, 758; Mark Martin, 756; Michael Waltrip, 752; Dave Blaney, 745 and Ken Schrader, 733.(Winston Salem Journal)(4-23-2005)
- Phoenix Race News and Notes:
* Kurt Busch won the Subway Fresh 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, scoring his 12th NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory in his 158th career start. His last victory came in New Hampshire International Speedway in September 2004, 17 races ago.
* Busch became sixth different winner in eight races in 2005.
* Busch climbed from fourth to second in the NASCAR NEXTEL CUP point standings. Busch has ranked in the top 10 in the point standings since Rockingham last February, 43 straight races.
* It marked Busch’s first victory in six races at Phoenix and his fourth straight top-10 finish at the Arizona superspeedway.
* Busch begins the 2005 season with five top-10 finishes in eight races.
* Busch scored the fifth victory for car owner Jack Roush at Phoenix International Raceway. Thos five victories have been posted by four different drivers : Jeff Burton (two) along with Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth and Busch (one each) . This was Roush’s 78th victory as a car owner and fourth this season.
Notebook Items
* Michael Waltrip (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in 17 races at Phoenix International Raceway. It was his first top-five finish since he finished fourth at Infineon Raceway last June. It is his best finish at Phoenix. Waltrip has scored three top-10 finishes in eight races this season. He climbed from 24th to 18th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings.
* Jeff Burton (third) posted his sixth top-10 finish in 11 races at Phoenix International Raceway. Burton scored his best finish since he finished second at Daytona in July 2003 and his first top-10 finish in 2005.
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. (fourth) scored his fourth straight top-five finish in six races at Phoenix International Raceway. This is his fourth top-10 finish in 2005. He climbed from 15th to 12th in the point standings. He ranked 27th after Las Vegas, five races ago.
* Brian Vickers (fifth) his first top-10 finish in three races at Phoenix International Raceway and his career-best finish in 49 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup races.
* Bobby Labonte (sixth) scored his sixth top-10 finish in 13 races at Phoenix. Labonte scored his first top-10 finish in 2005.
* Kyle Busch (eighth) was the highest finishing Raybestos Rookie-of-the-Year contender for the fifth time in 2005. It was the second top-10 finish of his 14-race career.
* Johnny Sauter (ninth) posted his first top-10 finish in 24 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup races.
* Jimmie Johnson (15th) ended a 13-race top-10 streak that began at Charlotte last fall. He remained first in the point standings with a 173-point lead over second-place Kurt Busch, the largest point lead of the 2005 season.
* Mark Martin (16th) has been running at the finish in 30 consecutive races , the longest current streak.
* Tony Stewart (33rd) dropped from 11th to 14th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup standings, his lowest points position since he was 14th after Pocono in July 2003.
* Nine of the top-10 positions in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings changed at Phoenix.
* Looking ahead to the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, only 18 drivers remain within 400 points of current point leader Jimmie Johnson.(NASCAR Statistical Services)(4-23-2005) - RUMBLINGS — PHOENIX
For the second week in a row we had the Roush Racing version of total domination….this time it was Kurt Busch presiding. Busch led six times for 219 laps tonight at Phoenix International Raceway and took the victory in the Subway Fresh 500 by 2.315 seconds. This was career win #12 for Busch (he’s now solo in 47th on the all-time list) and #78 for Cactus Jack and Company. The defending Cup Champion’s first win since Loudon last September was worth $264,000 from the almost $4.8M in posted awards.
Since we seem to have such a controversy over the new pit-road timing system, maybe somebody should remind NASCAR why we have a pit-road speed limit at all. It was put into place after we lost Mike Rich at Atlanta years ago to protect the over-the-wall guys…..so I just don’t see the need to time the space between the last pit and wherever the arbitrary line that they choose to use is. I can understand using it upon pit-entry (a safety issue for the pit crews for sure), but it sure looks like NASCAR could adjust the pit-out and eliminate a lot of the problems.
Michael Waltrip (2nd) had his best finish since he was the runner-up at Lowe’s Motor Speedway last May.
Jeff Burton (3rd) had his best finish since he was runner-up at Daytona last July.
Brian Vickers (5th) had his career-best finish tonight. His previous best was 6th at Atlanta in March. The Top-5’s by Waltrip, Burton, and Vickers give us 22 drivers to score a T-5 this season…..last year’s number was 31.
Bobby Labonte (6th) had his best finish since he was 3rd at Pocono last June.
Johnny Sauter (9th) had his career-best finish tonight. His previous best was 14th twice….at Rockingham in February of 2004 and at Talladega in April of 2004. The Top-10’s by Burton, Labonte, and Sauter give us 31 drivers to register a T-10 this season…..last year’s number was 39.
Stanton Barrett (30th) tied his career-best finish tonight. He was also 30th at Las Vegas in March of 1999!
STREAKIN….Dale Earnhardt Jr has 3 Top-10’s in the last 4 races.
This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is Michael Waltrip (+26), followed by Elliott Sadler (+22). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Greg Biffle (-38), followed by Tony Stewart (-27), Rusty Wallace (-27), and Matt Kenseth (-25). This is the Mikey’s second Op of the season.
Scott Riggs led a lap tonight for the first time since he led one lap at Talladega last October. We’ve had 36 different drivers lead a lap this year vs 50 last year.
Kurt Busch’s victory coupled with Greg Biffle’s troubles moved Busch into the second spot in the point standings this week….he’s 173 markers behind Jimmie Johnson. Every position from 2nd to 15th changed hands this week. We also picked up one driver above the “Stayin’ Alive” line as Waltrip’s fine run moved him into the “Chase” by 6 points.
Michael Waltrip (24th to 18th) made the best move forward tonight, while Casey Mears (17th to 26th) fell nine spots in the points. Mike Wallace’s time on the “exempt” list was short-lived….he’s out of the Top-35 in Owner Points this week by two points. Bobby Labonte now moves into his spot.(Stockcarfans.com)(4-23-2005)
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