The All-Star Race is Here. NASCAR Starts its Engines in Charlotte

Last weekend in Darlington was a bit of surprise for both races, calm at the start and then havoc later on. Ok now that I think of it that is not too surprising. Anyway in the Sprint Cup Bojangle’s Southern 500 Jimmie Johnson came through for Hendrick Sports, winning its 200th race.

Johnson benefited from the late yellow flags to help him overcome fuel issues late in the race and I would like to second the announcers comments about has there been any studies done regarding the turning on and off the engine to save fuel. Does that really work? For Johnson it broke a long cold streak dating to last season.

He seemed to be pressed late by Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch but they did not hold up down the stretch. The top four finishers after hi were Denny Hamlin, Stewart, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.. For any interested in Danica Patrick, she finished six laps down.

In other track news Kurt Busch was fined $50,000 and placed on probation for speeding through pit road late in the race and then returning and bumping Ryan Newman’s car after the race. Think there fender bender in the race affected this? The probation will last until July 25th. Also next year no more Impalas ranging free on the track as Chevrolet has said that they will be replaced next season by the new Chevrolet SS.

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Greg Biffle
2) Matt Kenseth -2
3) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -14
4)Denny Hamlin -17
5) Jimmy Johnson -39

This Week- The Sprint Showdown
Broadcast
May 19, 7 pm ET on Speed

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The Sprint Cup is shaking things up a bit this weekend with the Sprint Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The race will have an altered format this year and will now feature five segments, the first four will consist of 20 laps each and the final segment will have ten laps.

Drivers that win one segment will be at the front for the next segment. Multiple wins enables the second place winner to take the pole position. The ten lap race will only count green flag laps. Also no points but lots of cash!

Nationwide Series
No Nationwide again this weekend, maybe giving Elliott Sadler time to cool down from the tap he received from eventual winner Joey Logano last weekend. Actually Sadler was quite professional about the whole thing in his post race interview, but I have to wonder if a return tap is not in his future.

The bump came with only five laps to go on a restart and wrecked Sadler, also hurting his standings as then points leader. For most of the race Denny Hamlin had been in charge but that changed after one of the earlier yellow flags. He managed to finish second followed by Brad Keselowski, Sam Hornish Jr. and Austin Dillon. Danica Patrick managed a 12th while Travis Pastrana finished a respectable 17th.
No race this weekend so we will see you in Iowa.

Nationwide Series Standings
1) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2) Elliott Sadler -23
3) Austin Dillon -35
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -59
5) Cole Whitt -82

Will Darlington’s Walls be a Factor in the Bojangle’s Southern 500 ?

Sometimes it is good to listen to the announcers, although I am pretty sure none of the drivers in last week’s Sprint Cup race at Talladega were in a position to do so, at least those that were still left on the track as the race had its final green flag for an overtime sprint to the checkered flag..

If the drivers had that luxury front runner Matt Kenseth, who shot out into a big lead without the benefit of teammate Greg Biffle to give him a push. He was in that position at the end due to a nine car pileup that happened with just four laps to go.

As the Fox Sports announcers were questioning the tactics here came rivals Brad Keselowski who with a big push from teammate Kyle Busch shot past him into the lead with a lap to go. Busch, judging from the post race interview sounded like he then expected that he would be able to pass Keselowski at the end, but failed.

This was Kieslowski’s second win of the season followed by Busch, Kenseth, Kasey Kahne and Biffle rounding out the top five.

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Greg Biffle
2) Matt Kenseth -7
3) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -9
4) Denny Hamlin -27
5) Kevin Harvick -45

This Week’s Race
This Saturday the teams head to Darlington Raceway for the Bojangle’s Southern 500 on the 62 year old historic track. The oval course has a distance of 1.366 miles and gget ready for some up the wall driving.

There is an interesting reason that Darlington is more egg shaped than a true oval. When the course was being modified to accommodate the up and coming NASCAR races a local property owner down near turns 3 and 4 did not want his fishing hole disturbed so the course was narrowed down at that end.

Broadcast
May 12, 6 pm ET on Fox

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Nationwide Series
Broadcast
May 11th at 6:30 pm ET on ESPN 2

Last week’s race was also what you would expect from Talladega, with a number of crashes including a major one that left driver Eric McClure with a concussion and internal bruising, but he was out of the hospital on Monday and will not be behind the wheel tonight.

The race had a much better ending for Joey Logan, who with five pas to go shot into the lead past Kyle Busch to win the Aaron 312. The win was Logano’s second of the season and the first second of the weekend for Busch.

The race resulted in some shuffling in the leader board as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ran third and took the points lead from Elliott Sadler while Cole Whitt was fourth, with Dale Earnhardt Jr taking the firth spot.

I seemed to have missed the real fun however. I rushed out of the house as the checkered flag dropped and missed Danica Patrick put Sam Hornish Jr. into the wall with a ‘tap’ on the cool down lap. He had bumped her earlier in the race. She claims that t is all behind them and that she apologized to Hornish, Roger Penske the car owner and talked with Nationwide Series director Joe Balash. She was not penalized and finished 13th in the race, Hornish 12th.

Tonight they will be running the VFW Sports Clip Help a Hero 200 under the lights, so sit back, have a beer and watch the action as you relax yourself into the weekend.

Nationwide Standings
1) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2) Elliott Sadler -5
3) Austin Dillon -35
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -60
5) Cole Whitt -77

NASCAR News: STP 400 this Sunday at Kansas Speedway

Last Race
So what is it about Texas that the Roush Fenway team loves so much, the BBQ brisket maybe? They performed great at the track last year and continued with the winning trend when Greg Biffle captured the checkered flag at the Samsung Mobile 500. A fast race with very long periods of green flag racing witnessed Biffle break his long losing streak and with his strong finishes this season he could be the first driver to win all three NASCAR titles. He has already won the Truck Series and the Nationwide Series titles in past seasons.

Biffle edged by Jimmie Johnson late in the race while one of the favorites in the race, Tony Stewart, finished two laps down, hurt by the fact that his primary car out from a practice accident earlier in the week and a slow backup. The top five was filled by Johnson, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth.

This Weekend
This week they are back to running under the sun, with the STP 400 at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway that features 15 degrees in the turns and 10.4 degrees in the front stretch and 5 degrees in the back stretch. The facility has a 72,000 person capacity and if you want to see video of past events, and other NASCAR races head over to YouTube.

Broadcast
Sunday, 12:30 pm ET on Fox

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Sprint Cup Standings
1) Greg Biffle
2) Matt Kenseth -19
3) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -19
4) Martin Truex Jr. -20
5) Kevin Harvick -24

Nationwide Series
The Roush team did not just win the Sprint race; it also won the Nationwide race of Friday night with Rickey Stenhouse Jr. surviving a restart with six laps left in the race. This is Roush’s fourth consecutive Nationwide Series win at the Texas Motor Speedway, and that is quite something.

Paul Menard, who led the race for a total of 100 laps and started in the pole position came in second while the rest of the top finishers were Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin and Austin Dillon. For any Dancia Patrick fans, she had her best finish to date with a late race charge going from 13 into the 8th spot at the finish line.

Once again the Nationwide Series is taking a week off, and will next appear once again under the lights, this time racing in Richmond on the 27th.

Nationwide Series Standings
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Ricky Stenhouse Jr -4
3) Austin Dillon -20
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -54
5) Michael Annett -64

Dale Juniors’ Track
Ever wonder what drivers do at home? Well I cannot really tell you but here is an interesting look at the property that Dale Earnhardt Jr. lives on, and it looks like he has developed a nice dirt track where he and friends can go take a spin. Oh, it is also a car graveyard.

I like to think that he has BBQs and then has friends do impromptu races around the track, setting new records reaching what looks like a number of his and his rivals older cars stationed around the property. Head over here and see how many cars you can find in the photos on Yahoo.