Week of 9/25/05
Gordon could tie Earnhardt Sr.'s plate wins
Jeff Gordon is going for his 3rd restrictor plate win of the season after winning the season opening Daytona 500, and the first Talladega race. He also has a shot at tying Dale Earnhardt Sr. with the most plate wins ever with 11. September 29, 2005
Who's hot going into this weekend?
Ryan Newman has 2 top 5's and a win for the first two chase races
Rusty Wallace (2nd in points) has 23 Top 15's in 28 races
Mark Martin has scored 4 straight top 15's September 29, 2005
TESTING | LOWES MOTORSPEEDWAY
Busch cars were circling the track this week and Ryan Newman's #39 Dodge posted the fastest time of 28.903 seconds at 186.832mph. Kyle Busch clocked in second fastest, but wrecked the car after it bottomed out in turn 4, Kyle is okay. September 29, 2005
TRACK STATS | TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
Race #3 in the Chase for the Championship
Distance: 2.66 Mile Tri-oval
Banking/Turns 1-4:33º
Banking on Tri-oval:18º
Banking/Backstretch: 2º
Length/Frontstretch: 4,300 ft.
Length/Backstretch:4,000 ft.
Miles/Laps: 500 mi. = 188 laps
Last year's poll sitter: Joe Nemechek
Last year's winner: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Up for grabs: $5.1 million September 29, 2005
Rusty, and Martin at Talladega
How are chasers, and soon to be retirees looking for this weekends restrictor plate festivities at 'Dega? Rusty Wallace has never won at the track, and his one and only top 5 he has at the track came when Reagan was president. Mark Martin on the other hand has 2 wins, 10 top 5's and 21 top 10's, so we'll see how they do on Sunday. September 29, 2005
11th spot very close
With all the focus on the top 10 in the chase, that 11th place spot still gets a trip to New York City as well. So far Elliott Sadler has that position over Kevin Harvick by 40 points with Jamie McMurray 47 back, and Jeff Gordon is 72 back. September 29, 2005
Talladega T.V. Schedule
It's an off week for both Busch and the Trucks, but the Cup Series is in Talladega!
Nextel Cup Series Qualifying @ 4pm Friday on Speed
Nextel Cup Series Final Practice @ 5:30pm Saturday on Speed
Nextel Cup Series Racing from 'Dega @ 1:30pm Sunday on NBC
All times are Eastern, grab your restrictor plates and hang on!
September 29, 2005
Mears runs pink paint scheme
Casey Mears will again run the pink paint scheme in the month of October, for Breast Cancer Awareness month. The #41 will start this weekend with the new colors and run for 5 weeks. September 29, 2005
HOF Racing hires Lopez
Philippe Lopez has signed on to be the crew chief of the Hall of Fame Racing / Texas Instruments car for the 2006 season. This is the team that football QB's Troy Aikman, and Roger Staubach have put together with the help of Joe Gibbs racing. Still no driver yet for the car, which oddly enough is kinda important. September 27, 2005
Rusty day in 'Bama
Alabama Governor Bob Riley has declared Sunday as Rusty Wallace Day in the state in honor of his retirement at the end of the season. Ironically, Rusty is looking for his first win at Talladega Super Speedway. September 27, 2005
Fines from Dover
A couple of fines were handed down by NASCAR this week, on the Cup side Joe Garone, chief for Kenny Wallace was docked $1000 for an unapproved fuel cell. And in the Busch Series Charlie Lewis, chief for Ashton Lewis Jr. was also fined $1000 for steering problems. September 27, 2005
POINT STANDINGS | BUSCH & TRUCK SERIES
BUSCH SERIES
5 Denny Hamlin
4 Carl Edwards
3 Reed Sorenson is -258 back
2 Clint Bowyer
1 Martin Truex Jr. only leads by 26
TRUCK SERIES
5 Todd Bodine
4 Mike Skinner
3 Ron Hornaday
2 Ted Musgrave
1 Dennis Setzer's lead is now only by 5 points September 27, 2005
BUSCH/TRUCK RESULTS
On Saturday in the Busch Series the top 5 looked like this: Greg Biffle, Reed Sorenson, Jason Leffler, Clint Bowyer, and Ryan Newman grabs his 4th Busch win of 2005.
Saturday night the trucks circled the track in Las Vegas and Todd Bodine picks up his second win of the season.
September 27, 2005
POINT STANDINGS | CUP SERIES
1. Jimmie Johnson Leader?2. Rusty Wallace -7?3. Ryan Newman -12?4. Mark Martin -21?5. Tony Stewart -23?6. Greg Biffle -23?7. Jeremy Mayfield -81?8. Carl Edwards -103?9. Matt Kenseth -124?10. Kurt Busch -170?after Dover September 27, 2005
Race Recap | Dover
RACE RECAP | DOVER
10 Casey Mears
9 Carl Edwards
8 Kyle Petty ties his best finish of the year
7 Jeremy Mayfield
6 Elliott Sadler
5 Ryan Newman - poll sitter
4 Mark Martin
3 Rusty Wallace
2 Kyle Busch
VICTORY LANE
Jimmie Johnson grabs his 3rd win of 2005, and takes over the points lead by 7.
OTHER STORIES ON THE DAY
-Tony Stewart snaps his streak of 13 top 10's in a row with a bad handling 20 car and an 18th place finish
-Kurt Busch led the most laps, but a flat tire sent him to a 23rd place finish
-Matt Kenseth at a couple tire issues, but the second sent him into the wall wrecking hard, he ends up 35th on the day
-Dale Earnhardt Jr.had brake problems early putting him 7 laps down
-Jeff Gordon mangled his #24 car in a wreck with Tony Raines and Jamie McMurray.
September 25, 2005
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