Did Not Qualify: #80-Robert Richardson Jr.

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*Required to qualify on time

NASCAR Busch Series News and Notes – O’Reilly 300

Coleman Has High Hopes For Big Outcome In Home State Of Texas

If everything is indeed bigger in Texas, then Brad Coleman (#18 Carino’s Chevy) faces one of the biggest weeks of his young career.

The 19-year-old native of Houston – a developmental driver with Joe Gibbs Racing – has quite a bit in store even before he makes his NASCAR Busch Series track debut at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday.

Tuesday morning, he’s scheduled to appear on the front lawn of the State Capitol Building as Texas Governor Rick Perry proclaims “Brad Coleman Day” in the state. He will also receive the flag that flies over the capitol that day.

That evening, Coleman’s big adventure continues as he throws out the first pitch for the Round Rock Express – the AAA affiliate of the Houston Astros owned by Major League Baseball legend and Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan and his son Reid.

Coleman began his NASCAR Busch Series affiliation with Brewco Motorsports as a developmental driver and made his debut last June at Nashville Superspeedway, just one week after graduating from high school.

He joined JGR in the off-season and has made three starts for the team, which also boasts another talented developmental driver in 24-year-old Aric Almirola, who captured the Busch Pole at Daytona International Speedway to open the season.
Coleman and Almirola have the added benefit of learning from teammates Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin (#20 Rockwell Automation Chevy), who share seat time with both in the NASCAR Busch Series this season.

And Coleman comes home on a high note. He’ll be competing in his first back-to-back series races after having posted his career-best finish – 15th – last Saturday at Nashville.

Two Aim For Three: Edwards, Burton Go For Three Straight At Texas

Do the math – two plus three equals … one? Indeed, two drivers going for three straight wins this weekend can only come down to one victor.

Series points leader Carl Edwards (#60 Scott’s Bonus S-Max Ford) has won the last two races – two weeks ago at Bristol Motor Speedway and last week at Nashville.
Jeff Burton (#29 Holiday Inn Chevy) also has won his last two races, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Burton did not race at Bristol or Nashville, so his quest isn’t consecutive, as is Edwards’, but the chase is just as impressive.

A NASCAR Busch Series driver hasn’t won three races in succession since Ryan Newman did so in 2005. Newman also won in five straight starts that year, but not in consecutive races.

Reigning series champion Kevin Harvick (#33 RoadLoans.com Chevy) and all-time sereis wins (47) and poles (30) leader Mark Martin (#06 Dish Network Ford) are already members of the trifecta club, having won three races each at Texas to lead the series in that category. Both are entered Saturday, as is defending race winner Kurt Busch (#12 Penske Truck Rental Dodge).

Busch became the fifth driver in series history to win in his first start when he captured the victory in this event last April.

NASCAR Busch Series Leaders After 7 Of 35 Races:

Driver points – Edwards (1200)
Victories – J. Burton, Edwards (2)
Races led – Ky Busch, Edwards (5)
Laps led – Ky Busch (386)
Top-five finishes – Edwards (6)
Top-10 finishes – Edwards (7)
Raybestos Rookie – Ambrose (+4 over Montoya)
Closing in on Top 10 – Smith 10th (691 pts.) – Leicht  (-7), Kenseth (-8), Wood (-35), Montoya (-35), S Wallace (-46), Ragan (-49)

Strong Showing At Nashville Bolsters Toyota’s Total

Ford won last week’s race at Nashville but Toyota also gained momentum in the Bill France Performance Cup standings.

Carl Edwards’ second consecutive win – also the 350th overall for Roush Fenway Racing – moved Ford to within four points of first-place Chevy heading to Texas where it leads all manufacturers with four victories.

Toyota captured positions two thorugh four at Nashville last week and is four points behind third-place Dodge, the closest it’s been to third since a two-point deficit after the Mexico City event. Toyota was in second place after Daytona but has been mired in fourth since the series’ second race at California Speedway.

In The Loop: Despite Last Year’s Stumble, Edwards Still Tops

Carl Edwards’ early NASCAR Busch Series points lead is impressive and so are his season-to-date Loop Data stats. Not only does Edwards lead in just about every category, he dominates.

For instance, his season-to-date Average Running Position is 6.483. Sitting in second is Dave Blaney (#10 ABF U-Pack Moving Toyota) at 14.748 – over eight spots behind Edwards.

In terms of Driver Rating, Edwards is by far the class of the field at 118.1. Blaney – second in the point standings – is second in Driver Rating with 89.1. That’s almost a 30-point difference.

One category that highlights consistency is Laps in the Top 15. Edwards leads that one, too. With 1,193 Laps in the top 15 (which translates to 93.8% of the laps he’s run), Edwards leads second-place Kyle Busch (#5 Spectracide/Lowe’s Chevy) by 281.

Edwards also stands atop the Quality Passes category; his 267 Quality Passes lead Blaney by 16.Edwards has built his lead over the last two races – both of which he’s won – at Bristol and Nashville. His Driver Rating was a near-perfect and race-best 144.5 (the maximum is 150.0) at Nashville and 144.0 at Bristol.

His Average Running Position at Nashville was 3.382 and at Bristol, it was 1.703, both race-best numbers.

Can he keep it up? If his past numbers at Texas are any indication, probably. But he’ll have to overcome a last-place finish in this race one year ago to once again pad his numbers.

He has an Average Running Position at Texas of 17.175, which is 25th-best in the four previous races and a Driver Rating of 87.1, which is 19th-best. With impressive finishes of fourth, third and seventh in three of his last four races at the 1.5-mile track, it’s clear that his finish last year hurt his statistics at Texas.

NASCAR Busch Series Manufacturers’ Championship

Chevy 49
Ford        45
Toyota    32
Dodge     28

Raybestos Rookie Of The Year

Driver                        Points
Marcos Ambrose            72
Juan Pablo Montoya       68
David Ragan                   56
Kyle Krisiloff                   56
Brad Keselowski             40
Sam Hornish Jr.              32
Brad Coleman                 22
Justin Diercks                 18
Robert Richardson Jr.      15
Alex Garcia                      7

NBS ETC.

Dale Jarrett, one of the charter members of the NASCAR Busch Series with 329 starts and 11 wins, makes his debut in the booth for ESPN2 at Texas serving as an analyst along with Andy Petree. Marty Reid will handle the race call.  … There have been seven different Busch Pole winners this season. … Former series champoin Bobby Labonte (#77 Dollar General Chevy – Corpus Christi) and rookie Robert Richardson Jr. (#80 Cloverleaf Custom Backyards Chevy – McKinney) join Brad Coleman as Texas natives in the field. … Jason Leffler (#38 Great Clips Toyota) captured his first Busch Pole in his first series start at Texas in 2000. Leffler (fourth) had his season-best finish at Nashville. … Former series champion Greg Biffle (#16 3M Ford) has three runner-up finishes at Texas and is seeking his first series win at the track. He has won in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series (2005) and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (2000) competition there. … Shane Huffman (#88 U.S. NAVY Chevy) is a career-best eighth in the standings, a ranking which can be attributed to his improvement on 1.5-mile tracks. Huffman has finished ninth (Las Vegas) and 19th (Atlanta) at that distance thus far in 2007, an improvement over his average finish of 35th last year. … Kevin Harvick seeks his 24th consecutive top-10 finish this weekend. … David Reutimann (#99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota – second), Regan Smith (#4 Ginn Resorts Chevy – fifth) and Stephen Leicht (#90 CitiFinancial Ford – eighth) had career-best finishes last Saturday at Nashville. … Marcos Ambrose (#59 Kingsford Ford) has re-claimed the Raybestos Rookie lead over Juan Pablo Montoya (#42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge) who returns to the series at Texas.

FAST FACTS

The Race: O’Reilly 300
The Place: Texas Motor Speedway
The Date:  April 14, 20071
The Time: 3:00 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPN2, 2:30 p.m. (ET)
Track Layout: 1.5-mile oval
Race Purse: $1,504,601
2006 Winner: Kurt Busch
2006 Pole: Denny Hamlin

2007 Point Standings
No. Driver              Pts
1    Edwards          1200
2    Blaney              879
3    Harvick              808
4    Ky Busch          757
5    Reutimann         757
6    Ambrose           754
7    Hamilton Jr.       738
8    Huffman             703
9    M Wallace          696
10  Smith                 691

Schedule: Thurs. April 12 – 11:00 a.m. – 12:10 p.m., Practice; 12:20 – 12:50 p.m. Rookie Practice; 1 – 2 p.m., Final Practice; 6:05 p.m., Qualifying (Impound).