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Week of 6/18/06
Riggs injured from oysters
Scott Riggs was injured while unloading his jet ski's with his family on vacation this week. He stepped on a bunch of oysters and cut up the bottoms of his feet requiring 12 stitches. Evernham Motorsports has Bill Elliott standing by as a backup driver, most likely for practices according to the team. June 23, 2006
ODDS N' ENDS - Sonoma
Kurt Busch is set to make Cup start #200 this weekend. In his 6 years in the series, Kurt is already a Cup Champion with 15 wins, 45 top 5's, 83 top 10's and 5 polls. David Gilliland fresh off his 1st Busch Series win last week, will attempt to make his Cup Series debut. June 23, 2006
Who's hot going into this weekend
Kasey Kahne is doing pretty well for himself being the only driver with 4 wins so far
Jimmie Johnson is the only driver with 12 top 10's in 15 races
Greg Biffle has entered the top 10 in points with his 6 straight top 10's June 23, 2006
TRACK STATS | INFINEON RACEWAY
Race 16 of 36
1.99 mile road course with 10 turns
Race is 110 laps or 218 miles
Last year's polesitter: Jeff Gordon
Last year's winner: Tony Stewart
Up for grabs: $5.3 million June 23, 2006
MB2 changes #14 chief
MB2 Motorsports announced that Scott Eggleston will take over as crew chief for Sterling Marlin's #14 ride starting this weekend. Scott has worked with Sterling in the past as well as a bunch of other drivers like Ken Schrader, Michael Waltrip, and Joe Nemechek. June 22, 2006
Jr. on TV Guide cover
Be sure to check out a copy of the upcoming T.V. Guide. It's their annual mid-season NASCAR issue and features Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the cover for the 12th time plus an interview. Also Will Farrell interviewed as Ricky Bobby which is very funny, and NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams talks about his love of the sport. It's on sale starting today. June 22, 2006
Owner Haas arrested for tax fraud
Car owner Gene Haas was arrested and charged with tax fraud for about $20 million dollars. Haas owns Jeff Green's #66 Cup car and Johnny Sauter's #00 Busch car. A statement from the company said he is not guilty and the problems stem from a former chief financial officer and this would not affect the business. June 21, 2006
Unleaded fuel comes to NASCAR
Unleaded fuel is coming to NASCAR and sooner rather than later. The first race will be in the Busch Series at Gateway on July 29th. They plan on running the unleaded in several Busch and Truck races this season and then make a decision on making it the law of the land for all 3 series. If things go well we could see the new fuel by Speedweeks next year. June 21, 2006
TESTING - Bill Elliott
At Milwaukee and Kentucky this week is Bill Elliott (although 1 place at a time) He's shaking down the setups of the #00 Burger King car for Michael Waltrip Racing. Bill will drive that car in 5 races this year starting with Chicagoland on July 9th. June 21, 2006
POINT STANDINGS | CUP SERIES
10 Greg Biffle enters the top 10
9 Denny Hamlin
8 Kevin Harvick
7 Jeff Burton
6 Tony Stewart
5 Mark Martin
4 Dale Earnhardt Jr. up 2
3 Kasey Kahne also up 2 with his win
2 Matt Kenseth
1 Jimmie Johnson leads by 74 points June 21, 2006
MWR grabs Dominos and Burger King
Michael Waltrip Racing announced a co-primary sponsorship of Domino's Pizza and Burger King on his #00 car for the 2007 Cup season. No word on who'll drive this car leaving the possibility for a 3rd Waltrip owned car in which the team has set a deadline of mid-July to announce if a 3rd team is announced, otherwise Dale Jarrett will drive this car. June 19, 2006
Dale Jr. now owns his name
Dale Earnhardt Incorporated has handed over the sole ownership and trademark of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s name over to Jr. no strings attached. DEI owned Dale Jr.'s name since his father set things up with the company before his death in 2001. This will not affect the current contract they have in place to drive the #8 Budweiser Chevy. June 19, 2006
Gilliland trumps Cup regulars
RACE RECAP | BUSCH SERIES
In a year where we've seen Cup regulars win every single Busch race, what happened on Saturday was remarkable. David Gilliland, driving an unsponsored, limited schedule took his #84 car to victory lane over J.J. Yeley, Denny Hamlin, Mike Wallace, and Ashton Lewis Jr. June 19, 2006
Benson wins at hometown track
RACE RECAP | TRUCK SERIES
In the Truck race, Johnny Benson held off Mark Martin during a green-white-checkered finish at his home track of Michigan, he also becomes the 17th driver to win a race in Truck, Busch, and Cup.
5 Matt Crafton
4 Todd Bodine
3 Bobby Labonte
2 Mark Martin
1 Johnny Benson June 19, 2006
Top 10 - Michigan
MICHIGAN
10 Kevin Harvick
9 Kurt Busch
8 Jeff Gordon led the most laps after starting on the outside poll
7 Casey Mears
6 Jimmie Johnson
5 Reed Sorenson
4 Greg Biffle is now top 10 in points
3 Dale Earnhardt Jr. good run for him
2 Carl Edwards
VICTORY LANE
1 Kasey Kahne started on the poll, had to battle back from debris on his radiator, to win his 4th race of the year by just beating Carl Edwards in the race off pit road before the rains came.
OTHER STORIES ON THE DAY
Matt Kenseth hit Bill Lester's car in the pits early on but still battled back to a 13th place finish
Tony Stewart mangled his 20 car after Jeff Green got him lose and sent him into the wall. It's Tony's 3rd finish of 40th or worse this year, and drops him to 6th in points.
The race only ran 129 laps of the scheduled 200 after heavy rain stopped the cars. Even though it was shortened they still managed 9 caution flags, tying a track record. June 18, 2006
Race Recap | Cup Series | Kahne Wins
Race Recap: Kahne Scores Series Best Fourth Win of the Season
IRISH HILLS, MICH. -- Kasey Kahne got some help from Mother Nature Sunday and won the 3M Performance 400 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.
The race, scheduled for 200 laps, 400 miles over the two-mile track, was called after 129 laps, 258 miles, when strong thunderstorms moved in on the area.
It was Kahne's fourth victory of the season in his Ray Evernham Dodge. He won races earlier in he season at Lowe's, Atlanta and Texas but this time, he didn't have to go the distance.
Actually, Kahne the polesitter, was a victim of some bad luck early in the race when some paper stuck to his grill and he had to pit under green, losing a lap while his crew removed the debris.
Kahne battled back into the top 10 and his crew got him back out before anyone else. Kahne remained in front until the race was called.
Carl Edwards was second and Dale Earnhardt Jr., was third. Greg Biffle followed Earnhardt, and Reed Sorensen, a rookie driving for Chip Ganassi, had his best NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series finish with fifth.
Rounding out the top 10 were current points leader Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick.
The start of the race was delayed nearly an hour by rain. The 43-car field took the green flag at 2:30 and pole sitter Kasey Kahne led the first lap before four-time champion Jeff Gordon charged to the front.
Tony Stewart brought out a caution on lap 23 when he was hit in the left rear by Jeff Green. Stewart's car spun in a plume of tire smoke and crashed into the retaining wall. Stewart was uninjured in the accident and returned to the race out of contention, but racing for a few extra points.
Stewart was racing for the first time unencumbered by a broken shoulder blade suffered in two crashes at Lowe's Motor Speedway during the Memorial Day Coca-Cola 600.
Another crash on lap 32 sent J. J. Yeley's car to the pits, as well as Kenny Schrader.
Rain caused several additional cautions but the racing was outstanding when the green flag was flying.
Two of the sport's biggest stars provided some high drama when Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., battled for the lead, swapping positions several times.
Former champion Matt Kenseth had some problems early on, being involved in an accident which cost him several spots on the track. At lap 66, Kenseth was the loser in a three-car attempt to run through turn one side-by-side. Kenseth's Ford spun but he raced back into contention by the end of the day. June 18, 2006
Race Recap | Busch Series | Gilliland Wins
Race Recap: David Gilliland Holds off Yeley, Hamlin to Post First Career NASCAR Busch Series Victory
Part-time NASCAR Busch Series driver David Gilliland stunned the racing world with his first career victory in the Meijer 300 presented by Oreo at Kentucky Speedway in only his seventh series start. He drove an unsponsored mount for Clay Andrews Racing. Like another David of another time, Gilliland took on NASCAR’s Goliaths and came out the victor. Crew chief Billy Wilburn, who guided NASCAR legend Rusty Wallace to numerous NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series wins in the past, never lost hope for a win even though Gilliland was forced to restart from 19th spot early in the race due to a bad pit stop. The young California driver’s impressive fourth place qualifying spot was a foretaste of things to come.
Pole-winner Denny Hamlin led the field to the green flag as outside front row-sitter Carl Edwards lost a transmission. Although it was replaced, Edwards lost nearly 30 laps in the process. Point leader Kevin Harvick spun on lap 1 to bring out the first of a record-tying 10 caution flags. Morgan Shepherd was punted by Mark McFarlane on the restart to bring out the second caution even before the race was restarted. The race’s first green flag lap was finally scored on lap 12.
Kyle Busch seemed to have the strongest car in the field, passing Hamlin for the lead on lap 23. Busch remained in contention for the win until an unscheduled pit stop late in the race. The event was red-flagged for nearly one half hour due to a frightening incident off Turn Two on lap 29. Jason Leffler tapped the wall and spun coming into the backstretch with Jeff Fuller close behind. Fuller turned his car to keep from center-punching Leffler and spun into the inside wall with a hard shot to the right side of the car. Fuller was transported to the infield care center awake and moving.
Gilliland’s win was the first by a NASCAR Busch Series driver in 2006. In fact, six of the first 10 finishing positions were taken by series regulars. Following David Gilliland was a hard-charging J.J. Yeley in search of his first series win. Behind Yeley was Hamlin with Mike Wallace and Ashton Lewis Jr. rounding out the top five. Harvick, Greg Biffle, David Reutimann, Paul Menard and Robert Yates development driver Stephen Leicht made up the top 10. A total of 47 laps were run under caution. There were 11 lead changes among seven drivers with Gilliland leading 11 circuits. His average speed for the event was 116.063 mph.
Kevin Harvick opened his points lead up to 372 markers over second place Carl Edwards. Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer and Greg Biffle make up the top five. The series moves on to The Milwaukee Mile for next weeks AT&T 250. June 18, 2006
Race Recap | Truck Series | Benson Wins
Race Recap: Benson Scores First NCTS Victory at Home Track
Johnny Benson, driving Bill Davis Racing’s Exide Batteries Toyota, held off a charging Mark Martin in a final, two-lap sprint to claim Saturday’s Con-way Freight 200 at Michigan International Speedway.
The victory was Benson’s first in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series after finishing second on four occasions.
“You can’t write the book any better than that,” said Benson, who grew up in nearby Grand Rapids. “The only way it would have been better was to have gotten it a year ago.”
Benson led twice for 31 laps around the 2.0-mile superspeedway. He passed Martin’s Scotts Ford on a lap 73 restart following the event’s fourth of eight cautions. The move – a low lane moved at the start-finish stripe - proved fortuitous as Martin never got a run long enough to show his truck’s strength.
“Our truck’s strong suit was long runs and it didn’t play out that way,” said the three-time series winner in 2006.
Benson averaged 116.534 mph in a race scheduled for 100 laps but extended two serials by an accident between Turns 3 and 4 involving Martin Truex Jr. and Kerry Earnhardt.
Benson won $56,600 in his 60th series start, edging Martin by .112 second – about two lengths. He became the 17th different driver to win in all three of NASCAR's national touring series.
Ironically, Benson joined the Davis team on a fulltime basis at MIS in 2004. Crew chief Rick Ren now counts seven victories with four different drivers.
Martin, who led a race-high 33 laps on six occasions, was followed to the stripe by Bobby Labonte. Labonte, a last-minute addition to Bobby Hamilton Racing’s No. 4 team, gave Dodge its first top-five finish of the season.
Todd Bodine, who started a distant 25th in the 36-truck field, wound up finishing fourth in the Lumber Liquidators Toyota to extend his series point lead to 178 over David Reutimann. Matt Crafton was fifth in the Menards/Energizer Chevrolet ahead of Rick Crawford, Ron Hornaday Jr., defending race winner Dennis Setzer, Terry Cook and Jack Sprague.
Budweiser Pole winner Mike Skinner led the first 25 laps but fell back with overheating problems before recovering to finish 11th. Erik Darnell, in 12th, was the race’s best finishing Raybestos Rookie of the Year contender.
Thirty of the event’s 34 finishers completed all 102 laps – a series record.
Six drivers swapped the lead 14 times with Labonte, Crafton and Cook also heading the pack. June 18, 2006
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