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NASCAR: Greg Biffle wins again at Michigan, gives Ford 1,000th win across NASCAR’s 3 national series

June 17, 2013 By Admin

2332b6d6a7a51c609cc7506eb25b90ef NASCAR: Greg Biffle wins again at Michigan, gives Ford 1,000th win across NASCAR’s 3 national series
(NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Greg Biffle (16) after winning the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway. / Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports)

(PhatzRadio / AP) — BROOKLYN, Mich. – Greg Biffle gave Ford a milestone victory — right down the road from company headquarters.

Biffle raced to his second straight Sprint Cup win at Michigan International Speedway, easily holding off Kevin Harvick after points leader Jimmie Johnson smacked the wall in the final laps Sunday. It was the 1,000th victory for Ford Motor Company across NASCAR’s three national series — Cup, Nationwide and Truck.

“What a great moment this is,” said Jamie Allison, director of Ford Racing. “We couldn’t be prouder to have this moment come here today at Michigan in front of so many of our Ford friends. What a great race and a great day for Ford.”

It was Biffle’s first win since he overtook Johnson to win at MIS in August. Johnson’s engine faltered with six laps left in that race. This time, he was about a second behind Biffle with three laps to go — but a tire give way, and he dropped all the way to 28th.

“I don’t want to see anybody wreck,” Biffle said. “It makes you feel good when you push the guy over the edge. He made a mistake, and that’s what makes you feel good. You outsmarted him, or you beat him at his game.”

Harvick was second, 3 seconds behind Biffle. Martin Truex Jr. was next, followed by Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart.

Johnson wasn’t the only big name who ran into trouble. Jeff Gordon was out of contention almost immediately when he hit a spinning Bobby Labonte less than 10 laps into the 200-lap, 400-mile race. Gordon finished 39th, one spot behind Kasey Kahne, who led at the halfway point but appeared to blow a tire and went sliding into the wall.

Kahne’s car caught fire, but he was able to climb out quickly.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won at MIS last June, finished 37th Sunday. He led for 34 laps, but his engine acted up about two-thirds of the way through the race.

There were eight cautions for 38 laps.

Biffle cruised to the finish in his No. 16 Ford. He finished second to Johnson the previous weekend at Pocono, but this time there was nobody left to challenge him at the end.

It was Ford’s third Cup victory of the year — Carl Edwards and David Ragan won at Phoenix and Talladega. Sunday was Ford Motor Company’s 110th birthday.

“There have been a lot of great teams and a lot of great drivers, a lot of great engine builders that have contributed to Ford’s success,” Roush Fenway Racing owner Jack Roush said. “I’m just proud and honoured to be part of that.”

This was the second Cup win of the year for Roush Fenway.

It’s been an emotional week for the racing community after the death of driver Jason Leffler on Wednesday at a dirt-track race in New Jersey. Biffle was quick to acknowledge Leffler while he celebrated his Father’s Day victory.

“We are thinking about little Charlie Leffler that doesn’t have a father today,” he said.

Biffle earned his 19th career victory and boosted his chances to reach the Chase for the Sprint Cup, moving from 10th to eighth in the standings. Biffle finished in the top 10 for the 13th time in 21 races at MIS, which is about 60 miles from Ford headquarters in Dearborn.

Edwards finished eighth. Kurt Busch qualified second but went into an early spin and finished 35th.

Johnson still has a comfortable lead in standings, although Edwards closed the gap at the top from 51 points to 31. Johnson had a chance at his fourth victory of the year before scraping the wall late.

Johnson has still never won a Cup race at MIS.

“I thought this would be the year,” he said. “Most of the time we’re leading and something happens, but I thought, ‘OK, maybe coming from behind would be the difference.’ But something happened.”

Johnson’s late mishap in his No. 48 Chevrolet did not result in a caution, so Biffle maintained his comfortable lead over Harvick.

“I wasn’t catching the 16 and didn’t really feel it necessary to have a tire failure or an issue at that particular point,” Harvick said. “So our best bet at that point was the 48 catches the 16 and something happening as those two guys were racing. But we just maintained and managed our gap between us and (Truex) to just hold that track position and not have anything silly happen.”

Harvick moved up one spot to fourth in the standings. Earnhardt fell from fourth to seventh.

NASCAR: Greg Biffle wins again at Michigan, gives Ford 1,000th win across NASCAR’s 3 national series is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

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NASCAR Michigan start time, lineup, TV/radio schedule

June 16, 2013 By Admin

Story Highlights

NASCAR will hold a moment of silence for veteran driver Jason Leffler before the green flag
Race is scheduled to start at 1:16 p.m.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. won this race in 2008 and 2012

(PhatzRadio / AP) — BROOKLYN, Mich. — It’s NASCAR race day at Michigan International Speedway, and we’ve got some essential information you need to get ready for today’s Quicken Loans 400.

START TIME: The command to start engines will be given at 1:07 ET, followed by the green flag at 1:16 p.m.

MOMENT OF SILENCE: At 1 p.m. for NASCAR veteran Jason Leffler, who was killed in a sprint-car crash Wednesday night at Bridgeport Speedway in New Jersey.

RACE DISTANCE: The Quicken Loans 400 (a company based in Detroit that has done much to try to revitalize its downtown corridor) is 400 miles, or 200 laps around the 2-mile oval.

NATIONAL ANTHEM: Performed at 1:01 p.m. by Larry Callahan and the Selected of God Choir. The Canadian national anthem will be sung by Michigan International Speedway staffer Lisa Bascom.

TV/RADIO SCHEDULE: TNT will broadcast today’s race and has a prerace show beginning at noon ET. This is the second of six consecutive races for the network in its “Summer Series.” The Motor Racing Network (MRN) will have the radio call.

WEATHER: According to Wunderground.com, a high temperature of 79 degrees is expected in Brooklyn today. There’s a 70% chance of thunderstorms in the morning that will decrease in the afternoon.

LAST TIME: Dale Earnhardt Jr. ended a 143-race winless streak with his first victory in more than four years, leading a race-high 95 of 200 laps and cruising to a 5.393-second triumph over Tony Stewart

STARTING LINEUP: With a 202.452-mph lap, Carl Edwards captured his first pole position since the 2012 Daytona 500.

With the Wednesday night death in a dirt-car crash of versatile veteran journeyman Jason Leffler still weighing heavily in the Sprint Cup Series, Michigan looms as a track whose breakneck reputation carries tangible danger.

“A lap here, especially in qualifying, drivers aren’t supposed to be terrified,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “But ‘terrifying’ is a word that comes kind of close to what qualifying is like here, especially with this new surface and this tire.

MORE DALE JR.: Hopes to snap a 33-race winless streak

POLE: Edwards wins first pole since 2012

Earnhardt Jr.: Michigan can be ‘terrifying’

“I remember (Greg) Biffle got the pole last year. He was quite shaken by the process of running that lap. It’s amazing how much when you are in the race, everything sort of slows down, and the laps aren’t a challenge anymore just trying to run on the edge of the grip.”

But though drivers get more comfortable, the conditions are just as treacherous on the flat 2-mile oval, which has a history of vicious wrecks even though it isn’t known for the massive pileups of Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.

Those tracks required restrictor plates to keep speeds under 200 mph, but speeds at Michigan are the fastest on the circuit. Marcos Ambrose set the qualifying record at 203.241 mph last year, and Carl Edwards’ No. 99 Ford posted a 202.452-mph lap Friday to win the pole position for Sunday’s Quicken Loans 400.

“This is the fastest track we have, and it might be in speed, but it definitely is in feel,” defending series champion Brad Keselowski, who is seeking his first win at the track nearest his Rochester Hills, Mich., hometown. “At any given second, you feel like you’re going to bust your butt. Sometimes even down the straightaway when you go to make a pass and try to pull down and make an aggressive move, you can feel the car slide around a lot and go, ‘Whoa’. So that makes this type of racetrack feel faster than it even is, and it’s still the fastest track we have.”

Speeds will be above 215 mph at the end of the straightaways of a track where Clifford Allison died in 1992. Two years later, Ernie Irvan nearly died and was sidelined for more than a year after sustaining brain and lung injuries in a Turn 2 crash. Five years to the day of that crash, Irvan was airlifted out of Michigan after another wreck and retired a month later.

Here’s the starting lineup for today’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan:

1. Carl Edwards
2. Kurt Busch
3. Kasey Kahne
4. Paul Menard
5. Aric Almirola
6. Joey Logano
7. Austin Dillon
8. Matt Kenseth
9. Kyle Busch
10. Juan Pablo Montoya
11. Denny Hamlin
12. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
13. Martin Truex Jr.
14. Tony Stewart
15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
16. Brad Keselowski
17. Jimmie Johnson
18. Jeff Burton
19. Greg Biffle
20. Bobby Labonte
21. Kevin Harvick
22. Mark Martin
23. Marcos Ambrose
24. Casey Mears
25. Trevor Bayne
26. David Gilliland
27. Clint Bowyer
28. Jamie McMurray
29. Jeff Gordon
30. Michael McDowell
31. David Ragan
32. AJ Allmendinger
33. David Reutimann
34. David Stremme
35. Ryan Newman
36. Dave Blaney
37. Danica Patrick
38. Josh Wise
39. Ken Schrader
40. J.J. Yeley
41. Travis Kvapil
42. Joe Nemechek
43. Mike Bliss

Failed to qualify
44. Scott Riggs

NASCAR Michigan start time, lineup, TV/radio schedule is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

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NASCAR: Jason Leffler’s death sparks debate among drivers

June 15, 2013 By Admin

6e882ed74da0ebfb710a5490b88af3f3 NASCAR: Jason Leffler’s death sparks debate among drivers
Jason Leffler’s car after a wreck Wednesday night during a sprint car race at the Bridgeport Speedway dirt track in New Jersey.(Photo: Christopher Taitt via @ChristopheTaitt)

Story Highlights

Dave Blaney, Clint Bowyer and Kasey Kahne among drivers who say they will still moonlight
Tony Stewart calls for understanding of short-track owners and venues
Brad Keselowski says he doesn’t race at smaller venues because of safety concerns

(PhatzRadio / USA Today) — BROOKLYN, Mich. – Dave Blaney was watching at Bridgeport Speedway as Jason Leffler was killed when his 410 sprint car slammed into a wall twice.

It won’t preclude Blaney from continuing to dabble in open-wheel racing while moonlighting from his full-time Sprint Cup ride in the No. 7 Chevrolet of Tommy Baldwin Racing.

When Blaney’s NASCAR career is over, the champion of the World of Outlaws and USAC Silver Crown probably will return full time to racing’s minor leagues.

“That’s what I came from and that’s where I learned how to race and grew up racing,” Blaney said. “That’s my first love. You do all you can do safety-wise and use your head, and that’s about the extent of it.”

Defending Cup champion Brad Keselowski cited safety as a primary reason he doesn’t run short tracks very often.

“They don’t have the safety standards that we have here in NASCAR,” Keselowski said. “That’s not to say that all tracks in NASCAR have it right, either. But it’s even 100 times worse at the local level.”

A sense of trepidation mixed with resignation permeated the garage Friday at Michigan International Speedway in the wake of the death of Leffler. New Jersey State Police said Friday they were still investigating the cause of Leffler’s accident Wednesday at the 0.625-mile dirt oval in Swedesboro, N.J.

According to his team, Leffler was wearing a Simpson Hybrid head and neck restraint system, which is one of six approved for use in NASCAR. A blunt force injury occurs when an object strikes the body with force causing compression of tissue. Head and neck restraints are designed to prevent injuries resulting from deceleration trauma when the body is moving and strikes another moving or stationary object, causing stretching or tearing of body tissue.

Leffler’s resilient personality and versatile grit made him popular and respected among peers while racing in all three of NASCAR’s national series.

Those opportunities dried up this season for Leffler, 37, who responded by returning to his roots and racing sprint cars. The Long Beach native won three consecutive USAC Midget championships in 1997-99 before heading to stock cars in the footsteps of friend and mentor Tony Stewart, who provided a place for Leffler to stay for nearly a year when he moved to Indiana.

Stewart is one of many Sprint Cup drivers who still race at the grass-roots levels of short-track racing that produced them. Last year, the three-time champion ran 90 races between sprint cars and stock cars. He is on pace for more than 100 in 2013 with no plan to slow down despite the loss of his good friend.

“I am as careful as I am when I get in a car on a city street,” Stewart said. “There will be more people that die in car crashes today than die in race cars. It’s just part of it, and I am one of those that believe when it’s your time, it’s your time.”

Stewart defends short tracks

That doesn’t mean the three-time Sprint Cup champion isn’t stringent about safety in his sprint car, which is built by his team with a full-containment seat and other attention to detail.

Stewart, who owns the prestigious Eldora Speedway — where NASCAR’s truck series will run July 24 — along with short tracks in Marion, Ill., and Paducah, Ky., also vigorously defended the safety conditions at the facilities that play host to lesser racing circuits than NASCAR’s premier series, which generally has higher standards that larger speedways can afford to meet through costly upgrades.

“I think things are the best they’ve ever been at this point,” Stewart, who also owns USAC and World of Outlaws teams, said of the nation’s short tracks. “There are facilities that need some work and there are facilities that put a lot of effort into it. It’s like getting on a city street today. Can it be safer? Sure. There are always things you can do better.

“Am I scared to go to any racetrack or feel concerned of not feeling safe? No. I think for the majority just about everywhere you go does a pretty good job and the best they can under the circumstances they have to work with. The safety standards weren’t what caused (Leffler’s crash). It was an accident. Just like if you go out and there’s a car crash. It’s an accident.

“Short-track promoters are doing everything they can do to operate and just stay afloat and to keep having tracks for drivers that want to be NASCAR drivers just to have the ability to race and learn so they can come up to this level. It’s hard enough for these promoters and track owners to do what they’re doing, so please try to cut them a little slack this week. Nobody as a track owner wants to go through what happened this week, but it’s not due to a lack of effort on their part to try to make their facilities as safe as possible.”

As a driver-owner, Stewart also enjoys the luxury of having virtual carte blanche to race when he pleases (he said Stewart-Haas Racing sponsors don’t need any convincing it’s a good idea). Other teams consider sponsor conflicts, scheduling hassles and safety conditions before approving a driver to moonlight in another series.

Kahne checked on safety measures with his team

Hendrick Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne owns multiple sprint car teams but hasn’t raced his own since last May because he elected to focus on contending for his first Sprint Cup championship. He hasn’t talked to team owner Rick Hendrick about when he might race sprint cars again.

He talked Thursday with his Kasey Kahne Racing drivers and crew chiefs to ensure their safety measures were up to date before his team headed to a race Friday night in Minnesota.

“Racing can be dangerous, and we found that out Wednesday night,” said Kahne, who was sporting a black ballcap with a “LEFturn” logo that his team made in honor of his friend, Leffler, who had that nickname emblazoned over his driver’s door. “It’s what we all love to do. You just have to make the cars and seats and devices and all of that stuff to be as safe as you possibly can. Freak accidents happen every day, no matter what you’re doing.”

Michael Waltrip Racing’s Clint Bowyer, who often races Late Models on dirt, said “safety standards (are) as best as we know how to make them on any level, whether it’s a street stock competition or a Cup race. It’s still sad. Jason was such a good guy; fun to be around and it’s just weird to think that he’s not around anymore. Of course, it’s scary, but we’re all racers, and we love to go to the racetrack just like he did. It’s what we’ve done our whole lives, and it’s probably not going to stop now.”

Each series — be it Late Models or World of Outlaws — has a sanctioning agreement that the track must sign. The agreements include safety standards.

Some, though, might continue to pause at electing to race at tracks that aren’t outfitted with energy-absorbing SAFER barriers to cushion heavy impact or other safety measures that larger tracks can afford.

Safety measures a concern for some

That’s a major concern for Keselowski.

“My dad raced local short tracks and every once in a while, we’ll talk about some track that he went to with my brother, and I’ll ask him how it was, and he’ll tell me, ‘Well, it hasn’t changed since 1975 when I was last there.’ I’m pretty sure safety has taken some pretty big leaps forward since 1970-something, and I think that’s the issue facing safety at most local tracks.

“Obviously, it’s not a simple issue. They have funding limitations that kind of plague that level, but I’m nervous for anyone that races at those levels because I know what happens if something goes wrong and those safety standards aren’t there. … It’s a shame that our industry is reactive, and I wish it wasn’t. That’s a much bigger piece than NASCAR – that’s the whole industry of racing. We have a tendency to wait until something bad happens before we fix things, and we need to stop that. That’s how you prevent things like this from happening, but that’s just not in our culture. Unfortunately for the 5-year-old little boy that lost his dad, that’s our sport.”

Keselowski was referring to Charlie, Leffler’s son, who has been mentioned by many drivers over the past two days in a series of poignant tributes.

“It’s hard to believe the next time I go to a racetrack I won’t see Jason,” Keselowski said. “I don’t think that’s really sunk in for me, and I don’t know that it’s really sunk in for anyone because that’s the kind of racer he is. You could see him at any track, whether it was the Cup race at Pocono or some Late Model race or Sprint Car show on the other end of the country that you just show up to watch. He could be there.

“He was a pure racer who cared enough for this sport that even when there was a race that he perhaps wasn’t going to make a lot of money off of or make a strong living, he raced it because that’s what he does. Jason may not have had the most amount of success at the Cup level, but he had the respect of the garage.”

Leffler had two shots four years apart at trying to stick full time in Sprint Cup but washed out before making it to a second season with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2001 and with Joe Gibbs Racing in ’05.

Yet he kept plugging away – something that isn’t often seen in other pro sports when an athlete is knocked out of the major leagues.

“It’s risk vs. reward,” Jeff Gordon said. “If you can step down a couple tiers and get a good ride and be competitive and enjoy what you are doing and go out there and at least have a shot at winning races, then you adjust. You adjust your lifestyle. If a professional baseball player or a football player thought he could step away from the sport but come in and play a game or two and still be competitive, and they let them do that, I think he’d do it. It’s the fact that nobody really allows that to happen.

“I like to never say never, so I think that guys would like to step away and not necessarily say, ‘I’m never going to drive another race car ever again,’ because what if there was something on their bucket list that they wanted to do? Would it be the Baja 500 or the Baja 1000 or driving a Rally Car or riding a motorcycle? If you feel like you can do it, it’s your prerogative to go out there and do that.”

For some, Leffler’s wreck wasn’t viewed so much as a deterrent as a stark reminder of a driver’s job hazards.

“It’s just proof that we will never get to the stage where everybody is immune to getting hurt in a race car,” Stewart said. “That is just the scenario that we are in and there isn’t anybody that gets behind the wheel that doesn’t understand that going into it, and Jason was that way as well.”

Kahne flew to Pocono Raceway last week with Leffler, whom he said “was happy and in a good place” before making the final NASCAR start of his life.

“It’s just really sad,” he said. “He was just a good guy. Always had a smile on his face. Always would talk to you and say, ‘Hi.’ It didn’t matter who you were. It’s really hard to believe he’s gone.”

Follow Ryan on Twitter @nateryan

NASCAR: Jason Leffler’s death sparks debate among drivers is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

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NASCAR – Jeff Burton: Leffler’s death provides safety lessons

June 14, 2013 By Admin

2e69c44d2cdc80f1af4fe5b812b21e5a NASCAR – Jeff Burton: Leffler’s death provides safety lessons
Jeff Burton has been an outspoken advocate of safety advances while competing in NASCAR’s premier series since 1993.(Photo: Sam Sharpe, USA TODAY Sports)

Story Highlights

Burton said Jason Leffler’s death Wednesday night could trigger action in Sprint Cup
Burton has been an outspoken advocate of safety advances during his NASCAR career
“People don’t go watch this hoping someone is going to get hurt or be killed,” Burton said

(PhatzRadio / USA Today) — Jason Leffler wasn’t killed in a NASCAR-sanctioned event, but Jeff Burton said the versatile driver’s death in a sprint car race Wednesday night could trigger action in Sprint Cup.

“NASCAR is the leader in motorsports safety, there’s no doubt about that,” the Richard Childress Racing veteran said Thursday on The Morning Drive program on SiriusXM’s NASCAR channel. “We have huge advantages with softer walls and technology with the cars, and we have to find a way to make it so local racers have access to that.”

Burton has been an outspoken advocate of safety advances while competing in NASCAR’s premier series since 1993. Working with racing seatmaker Brian Butler, he helped design a head-surround system to cushion a driver in crashes. Burton said “one of the proudest things in my career” is that the innovation has trickled down into the Bandolero series that is considered the primary entry-level racing circuit for kids.

“That’s a technology that works at our level and at that level,” said Burton, who also credited two-time Nationwide champion Randy LaJoie with spreading the word on the grassroots level through his Joie of Seating company. “Those are things we have to make sure we get throughout all of motor sports. That’s one of the responsibilities at this level. I’m not saying Jason didn’t have the best possible safety equipment. We just have to make sure everyone has that opportunity. All the money and energy and technology at (the Cup) level, we have to make sure that finds its way to the lower level.”

Burton said if there was another lesson to be gleaned from Leffler’s death, it was the perception that racing needed to be dangerous in order to be popular.

“One of the things that’s infuriated me over the last several years is we have some members of our community that have made the comment that racing has become too safe,” he said. “These people are idiots. We accept the risk. It’s part of what we do. But it doesn’t have to be more dangerous than it has to be. People don’t go watch this hoping someone is going to get hurt or be killed. They watch it because it’s competitive and it’s fun.

“There is an element of danger, no question. But I don’t know a single fan who wants to watch someone get hurt or killed. When I hear someone say the sport has become too safe and that’s why people don’t want to watch it, as far as I’m concerned, those people need to get the hell out of the sport. We’re human beings who accept the challenge, but we’re not idiots. Those comments are insulting to every driver, every driver’s wife and family, and I think they’re insulting to the fans. When people say that, they’re making a comment that fans want to see someone get hurt.”

Burton said drivers aren’t “wired like the normal person,” and that will allow him to block out the lingering emotions from Leffler’s death while racing at Michigan International Speedway this weekend.

“These tragedies remind everybody that this is a dangerous sport,” he said. “At the same time, no one forces us to do this. We raise our hands and we say we’re going to do it because we love it, and it’s a passion. The fans are rewarded by people willing to do it. But the drivers at least get the benefit of it being as safe as it possibly can be.”

Follow Nate Ryan on Twiter @nateryan

NASCAR – Jeff Burton: Leffler’s death provides safety lessons is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

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NASCAR driver Jason Leffler killed in accident at Bridgeport

June 13, 2013 By Admin

df8c8d3666012c904b347766e5d4775a NASCAR driver Jason Leffler killed in accident at Bridgeport
(Jason Leffler, 37, had won two career races in the Nationwide Series prior to his fatal accident. Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

SWEDESBORO, N.J. — NASCAR driver Jason Leffler died after an accident Wednesday night in a heat race at a dirt car event at Bridgeport Speedway.

The 37-year-old Leffler, a two-time winner on the NASCAR Nationwide Series who had the nickname “LefTurn” above the driver’s side window on his race cars, was pronounced dead shortly after 9 p.m., New Jersey State Police said.

“NASCAR extends its thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathies to the family of Jason Leffler who passed away earlier this evening,” NASCAR said in a statement. “For more than a decade, Jason was a fierce competitor in our sport and he will be missed.”

Bridgeport Speedway immediately suspended racing for the rest of the night after Leffler’s accident at the 0.625-mile, high-banked dirt oval.

After losing his NASCAR ride, Leffler had been racing dirt car events most of this year, including the 410 Sprint Car race Wednesday that promised a $7,000 prize to the winner. On Sunday, Leffler finished last at Pocono in his lone NASCAR Sprint Cup start of the year. He ran just eight laps in a start-and-park ride.

From Long Beach, Calif., Leffler made 423 starts in NASCAR’s three national series, but won just the two Nationwide races and one Truck Series event in a career that began in 1999. He also made three IndyCar Series starts, finishing 17th in the 2000 Indianapolis 500.

A statement from Indianapolis Motor Speedway called Leffler “one of the most versatile race drivers in America, showing his talent by competing in the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during his career.”

“He also displayed the skills that would help him reach the top levels of the sport by winning four USAC national series titles while winning on tracks throughout the Midwest,” the statement said.

Leffler’s last full NASCAR season was 2011, when he ran the entire Nationwide schedule for Turner Motorsports. He finished sixth in the standings that season and hadn’t had a steady NASCAR ride since.

Although he never made it at the NASCAR Sprint Cup level, Leffler ran almost the entire 2001 season for Chip Ganassi Racing and ran 19 races in 2005 for Joe Gibbs Racing in the car now driven by Denny Hamlin.

Leffler is survived by 5-year-old son Charlie Dean.

“Really sad for Jason Leffler and his family,” NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski said on Twitter. “Thinking about his little boy.”

Leffler won three consecutive USAC Midget championships from 1997-99 before following mentor Tony Stewart’s path into NASCAR. Stewart-Haas Racing, owned by Stewart, tweeted: “Thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of Jason Leffler. A good man; a good racer. Godspeed friend.”

Leffler originally signed with Joe Gibbs Racing, the same team Stewart drove for at the time, and ran the 2000 Nationwide season for JGR. He grabbed four top 10s as a rookie, and moved to Cup the next year with Ganassi in a deal that lasted only one season.

IndyCar driver Justin Wilson tweeted: “Another reminder of how this sport we love can be so cruel. Thoughts with his family.” Wilson included the hashtag “LEFturn.”

NASCAR driver Clint Bowyer also included the hashtag “LEFturn” in a tweet, saying: “So sad to hear about Jason Leffler. Was a wheel man and a fun fun person to be around.”

Many drivers also mentioned Charlie Dean in their tweets. A single father, Leffler was devoted to his son and his Instagram account was full of photos of the two spending time together, including many at race tracks.

“Praying for all of Jason Leffler family, especially his little guy Charlie,” tweeted IndyCar driver Ed Carpenter.

A little over two weeks ago, 22-year-old driver Josh Burton died of injuries sustained in a crash at Bloomington Speedway in Indiana. In late May at a dirt track in Nevada, two drivers were killed in a race. In March in California, two people were killed when a car careened off a dirt track and crashed on pit road.

Sprint car races can be more dangerous for drivers and spectators because the safety measures taken by series aren’t at the same level. Many facilities lack the SAFER barriers that are standard in NASCAR and IndyCar, and the cars aren’t always adequately protected.

NASCAR driver Jason Leffler killed in accident at Bridgeport is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

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NASCAR: Earnhardt gearing up to make a run at victory

June 12, 2013 By Admin

7991b2bc121f4a8371bd3b6cee19076a NASCAR: Earnhardt gearing up to make a run at victory

LONG POND, Pa. (AP) By the time Dale Earnhardt Jr. reached Victory Lane last season at Michigan, the win seemed as much inevitable as implausible.

One top 10 finish at a time, Earnhardt built and built before a four year and 143-race winless streak was snapped; a legion of fans sent into a frenzy as NASCAR’s most popular driver finally gave them all a reason to go wild.

Well, look who’s back on a hot streak.

And look what track’s on deck for the ol’ No. 88.

Earnhardt is set to roll into Michigan International Speedway, site of his last two Sprint Cup victories, enjoying a bit of a of a renaissance for Hendrick Motorsports. He’s in fourth place in the points standings (he finished 12th last season) and is coming off a third-place finish Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

Earnhardt can’t be blamed too much for being unable to pull out his first win of the season. No driver was going to beat his Hendrick teammate Jimmie Johnson, who led 128 of 160 laps en route to his third win of the season. Earnhardt was there at the end, though, battling Johnson off two restarts over the final 10 laps before finally yielding to Greg Biffle for second. He has two straight top 10s and three in his last four races.

Oh, did we mention he’s going to Michigan?

If Earnhardt was traded on Nasdaq, it’d be time to buy.

“Hopefully, we can do this throughout the summer and get ourselves in the Chase pretty comfortably,” he said. “We’ve got a little work to do to get to where some of the other guys are.”

Earnhardt can grab a cheat sheet from the guys working across the shop on Johnson’s No. 48. While the results – and certainly, the championships – don’t show it, Earnhardt and five-time champion Johnson have the cars built pretty much side by side at Hendrick’s shop. Earnhardt crew chief Steve Letarte and Johnson’s pit box guru Chad Knaus swap ideas, setups and a sneak peek other useful tidbits, if needed, before every race. While it’s hard to tell sometimes because Johnson could make the New York Yankees envious of titles won the past decade, Earnhardt and crew have benefited from the data sharing.

“They grow stronger and stronger each week,” Johnson said. “I know there’s a bright light on these guys and what they do week and week out. They’re strong and they elevate their teammates, as well. They’re great teammates. They help us out. We certainly do all we can to help them out and help them grow and get stronger.”

Johnson hasn’t done too bad, himself. He won his third race and his 63rd career Cup victory helped stretch his points lead to 51 over Carl Edwards.

He even survived a brief scare when the No. 48 had to make two attempts through post-race inspection because the car’s weight was a bit off balance on the first try. The car was allowed a few moments to settle and passed on the second attempt, a common courtesy, NASCAR said.

The issue was about the way to slow down Johnson on Sunday.

Earnhardt’s performance had tailed off a bit after opening the season with five straight top 10s, including two runner-up finishes. A five-race dip, with four finishes of 16th or worse, was next. At the rate he’s rebounded, those results could just be a blip that happens to just about every driver over the taxing 36-race season.

“We’ve been carrying momentum for a good solid year now,” Earnhardt said. “We started the year off this year off really good. We just had a lot of problems since then and just struggled to get good finishes. We are all right. We know what we need to do. Confidence is there. All the fans can rest assured we feel like we are on the right track.”

That’s a lot of fans considering Earnhardt has long ruled NASCAR’s most popular driver for a decade.

They hope to be there again cheering him on – at the track, at home, on Twitter – this week at Michigan. Or Sonoma. Kentucky. Wherever.

“They’re clicking,” Johnson said. “They’re doing a great job.”

Earnhardt expects to keep rolling straight into Michigan. Earnhardt’s 143 races between wins was the sixth-longest streak in Sprint Cup history. It was the 19th Cup victory of Earnhardt’s career and second in 159 starts for Hendrick Motorsports. He had 17 victories in 291 races for Dale Earnhardt Inc.

He wasn’t won since Michigan. But Earnhardt followed Michigan last year with three fourth-place finishes over five races and only a concussion that kept him out of two Chase races truly ended his championship hopes.

“It’s good to be able to run good again,” Earnhardt said.

Mix in a little of last year’s successes at upcoming tracks with a dash of this year’s contending runs and Earnhardt just might find himself yet feted in Victory Lane. Or maybe – try not to get too excited just yet Junior Nation – walk up to the banquet to deliver his speech as series champion.

Now if only Johnson would just get out of his way.

—

Follow Dan Gelston on Twitter: http://twitter.com/APGelston

NASCAR: Earnhardt gearing up to make a run at victory is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

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NASCAR: Toyota hamstrung while harnessing its speed in NASCAR

June 11, 2013 By Admin

42bf13038344de6857669f9d89e65241 NASCAR: Toyota hamstrung while harnessing its speed in NASCAR
Toyota driver Kyle Busch races around the track at Pocono Raceway during Sunday’s Party in the Poconos 400.(Photo: Matthew O’Haren, USA TODAY Sports)

Story Highlights

Toyota cars had worse showing of season in Pocono
Yes, race proved one their best in terms of durability
Technicians trying to harness abundance of speed

(PhatzRadio / USA Today) — LONG POND, Pa. — Toyota’s plan for attacking Pocono Raceway worked perfectly.

That means the manufacturer, whose horsepower has dazzled in Sprint Cup this season, got clobbered.

Pocono marked the first race this season in which a Toyota driver didn’t finish in the top five or lead a lap.

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch was running third on the last restart with four laps remaining but lost three spots because “I just couldn’t get going.” Teammate Denny Hamlin (eighth) couldn’t climb higher than fourth on a track he’d conquered four times. Michael Waltrip Racing drivers were mired midpack for nearly all of 400 miles.

It easily was Toyota’s worst showing of the season.

Yet it was among its recent best in one critical category: durability.

Pocono marked the first time in three weeks in which all of Toyota Racing Development’s engines went the distance.

After a spate of failures, TRD detuned its engines for Pocono and will throttle back again this week at Michigan International Speedway. That decision came amid a tumultuous week at the company, which installed David Wilson as its acting president after Lee White suddenly stepped down.

Wilson’s first at-track act in his new role was to gather the principals of the TRD teams last Friday and explain why they might be hamstrung at Pocono and Michigan — two long, flat tracks that put a premium on engines.

Though there was acceptance at the meeting of crew chiefs and drivers, there still was grumbling about sacrificing speed to diminish risk at Pocono. Hamlin told NASCAR.com he would “rather blow up leading than run 15th all day and said his No. 11′s power decreased twice as much as expected.

“By no means did we have a winning car this weekend,” he said.

With respect to a driver who has displayed grit in attempting a comeback from a fractured back that sidelined him for four races, he doesn’t need a winning car yet. Despite notching his third top 10 in four races and gaining a spot in the standings, Hamlin actually lost two points on the top 20 — which remains the primary objective in his miracle bid for a wild-card berth.

STANDINGS: Sprint Cup points through Pocono

He can’t afford another DNF over the next 12 races. If he isn’t in the top 20 by the regular-season finale Sept. 7 at Richmond International Raceway, it won’t matter how many victories Hamlin has.

That also is the philosophy that Toyota is applying to its entire lineup as it adapts to working within a points system that punishes poor finishes but offers little counterbalance by providing a greater reward for excellent results. Prior to entering NASCAR’s premier circuit six years ago, the Japanese giant was accustomed to racing series (such as off road, sports cars and open wheel) with less emphasis on consistency and more focus on maximum performance.

Pocono and Michigan will offer a breather to fine-tune that approach while also painstakingly searching for miniscule gains within the ancient framework of a V8 engine. It takes sophisticated technology to optimize a NASCAR powerplant, but its pushrod architecture dates to the 1950s, making it a laborious and methodical hunt for horsepower within a maze of thousands of parts and pieces.

“This buys us some time to get to work,” Wilson, a 24-year veteran of TRD who has won enormous respect in the garage, said before Pocono. “It’s Murphy’s Law that two of the biggest engine tracks fall right now. It couldn’t be Bristol or Martinsville where we could run with a lawnmower engine, but that’s life. At least it’s fixable.”

To use one of the erudite Wilson’s favorite phrases, chances are good that Toyota will get it sorted — as it always has since an inauspicious debut season in which its Camrys failed to qualify more than 50 times.

Because it’s the most recent manufacturer to enter NASCAR, its infrastructure also is the most modern. Though Ford and Chevrolet might have an edge in decades of institutional knowledge, Toyota is extremely efficient and has been the most effective at engendering collaboration between its teams. White, Wilson and Sprint Cup program manager Andy Graves managed to convince Joe Gibbs Racing, which is among the most proprietary organizations in Cup, to begin trading its secrets with Michael Waltrip Racing last year.

The cooperation greatly benefited both teams, putting two MWR cars in the Chase and turning Hamlin into a serious title threat.

Toyota has faced larger challenges than its current engines woes and has proved that defusing sticky situations has been a specialty.

In this case, the problem is how to harness an abundance of speed.

In NASCAR, that’s a good problem to have — and one Toyota can solve.

Follow Nate Ryan on Twitter @nateryan

NASCAR: Toyota hamstrung while harnessing its speed in NASCAR is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

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NASCAR: Toyota hamstrung while harnessing its speed in NASCAR

June 11, 2013 By Admin

Story Highlights

Toyota cars had worse showing of season in Pocono
Yes, race proved one their best in terms of durability
Technicians trying to harness abundance of speed

(PhatzRadio / USA Today) — LONG POND, Pa. — Toyota’s plan for attacking Pocono Raceway worked perfectly.

That means the manufacturer, whose horsepower has dazzled in Sprint Cup this season, got clobbered.

Pocono marked the first race this season in which a Toyota driver didn’t finish in the top five or lead a lap.

It easily was Toyota’s worst showing of the season.

Yet it was among its recent best in one critical category: durability.

Pocono marked the first time in three weeks in which all of Toyota Racing Development’s engines went the distance.

“By no means did we have a winning car this weekend,” he said.

STANDINGS: Sprint Cup points through Pocono

The cooperation greatly benefited both teams, putting two MWR cars in the Chase and turning Hamlin into a serious title threat.

Toyota has faced larger challenges than its current engines woes and has proved that defusing sticky situations has been a specialty.

In this case, the problem is how to harness an abundance of speed.

In NASCAR, that’s a good problem to have — and one Toyota can solve.

Follow Nate Ryan on Twitter @nateryan

NASCAR: Toyota hamstrung while harnessing its speed in NASCAR is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

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NASCAR: Toyota hamstrung while harnessing its speed in NASCAR

June 11, 2013 By Admin

Story Highlights

Toyota cars had worse showing of season in Pocono
Yes, race proved one their best in terms of durability
Technicians trying to harness abundance of speed

(PhatzRadio / USA Today) — LONG POND, Pa. — Toyota’s plan for attacking Pocono Raceway worked perfectly.

That means the manufacturer, whose horsepower has dazzled in Sprint Cup this season, got clobbered.

Pocono marked the first race this season in which a Toyota driver didn’t finish in the top five or lead a lap.

It easily was Toyota’s worst showing of the season.

Yet it was among its recent best in one critical category: durability.

Pocono marked the first time in three weeks in which all of Toyota Racing Development’s engines went the distance.

“By no means did we have a winning car this weekend,” he said.

STANDINGS: Sprint Cup points through Pocono

The cooperation greatly benefited both teams, putting two MWR cars in the Chase and turning Hamlin into a serious title threat.

Toyota has faced larger challenges than its current engines woes and has proved that defusing sticky situations has been a specialty.

In this case, the problem is how to harness an abundance of speed.

In NASCAR, that’s a good problem to have — and one Toyota can solve.

Follow Nate Ryan on Twitter @nateryan

NASCAR: Toyota hamstrung while harnessing its speed in NASCAR is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

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NASCAR: Pocono could start hot streak for Johnson, Earnhardt Jr. / Nationwide: Bayne celebrates wedding with win

June 10, 2013 By Admin

5a20dd841f5b9cdd8d96b906e87a9cdf NASCAR: Pocono could start hot streak for Johnson, Earnhardt Jr. / Nationwide: Bayne celebrates wedding with win
Jimmie Johnson, third from right, celebrates in victory late with wife Chandra, right, daughter Genevieve, second from right, and crew chief Chad Knaus, left, Sunday at Pocono Raceway.(Photo: Matthew O’Haren, USA TODAY Sports)

(PhatzRadio / USA Today) — LONG POND, Pa. — As network TV begins its season of incessant reruns, NASCAR’s premier series is poised for its own summer repeat — co-starring Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

If the first annual stop at Pocono Raceway remains a reliable bellwether, the Hendrick Motorsports duo is catching fire again just as the mercury begins to climb.

“I feel like we have some clarity in what the car likes and what it wants,” Johnson said after winning the Party at the Poconos 400. “We’re getting smarter and smarter with it, and that leads into stretches where you can click off the wins and the finishes. Regardless if it’s a short track or a big track, we have clarity right now, and as long as we can keep it, we’ll be in good shape.”

Johnson was in title-caliber form Sunday at the 2.5-mile track, leading 128 of 160 laps and easily beating Greg Biffle for his 63rd career victory and third at Pocono (but first since 2004). With his third win of the season, Johnson extended his lead in the standings to 51 points over Carl Edwards. That means he could skip a race and still be in first, and there’s extra incentive because wife Chandra is due with their second child in mid-September.

“If Chani goes into labor early, I don’t have to worry about Richmond,” Johnson said, referring to the Sept. 7 race at Richmond International Raceway that is the “regular-season” finale before the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

If the five-time champion can mimic his summertime roll last year, he might be well positioned to skip a few races before the 10-race title run begins.

In 2012, a fourth at Pocono kick-started a stretch in which Johnson didn’t finish worse than seventh in six of seven races.

Johnson seems even stronger this season, having led eight of 14 races with nine top 10s. If not for a late restart violation at Dover International Speedway, he likely would have been celebrating his second consecutive victory Sunday.

“Jimmie is switched on right now,” said Chad Knaus, the only crew chief Johnson has had in 12 seasons driving the No. 48 Chevrolet. “He’s as good as better than I’ve ever seen him.”

It hasn’t come as easy lately for Earnhardt, who improved two spots to fourth in the standings with a third place that was his first top five in eight races. NASCAR’s most popular driver’s No. 88 Chevy has lacked speed much of the season but had plenty of oomph at Pocono, running in the top five for virtually 400 miles.

It was reminiscent of last season when Earnhardt led 38 laps at Pocono and began a stretch of four top fives in six races. The exclamation mark was ending a four-year winless streak with a dominant victory at Michigan International Speedway (where the circuit heads next week).

“Hopefully we can do this throughout the summer and get ourselves in the Chase pretty comfortably,” Earnhardt said. “Going to Michigan we’ve got a good package. It’s been real similar to last year.”

It’s not surprising when Earnhardt and Johnson mirror each other’s results. Their cars are built and assembled side by side under the same roof at Hendrick’s sprawling campus near Charlotte, N.C., and Knaus and No. 88 crew chief Steve Letarte have been working in tandem for nearly eight years.

“From the 48 and 88 shop, we’ve been working really hard to try to get our race cars better, and (Pocono) is a good venue to try to show how good your race cars are,” Knaus said.

It’s often a precursor for Indianapolis, whose flat corners and long straightaways are similar to the triangular track in Pennsylvania. Last year at Indy, Johnson dominated for his fourth Brickyard 400 victory while Earnhardt took the points lead with a fourth.

That success often stems from their crews feeding off each other, and Pocono was no exception. The setups beneath both cars Sunday were similar after Knaus and Letarte merged ideas during a weekend of truncated track time after practice and qualifying were canceled Friday by rain.

“They grow stronger and stronger each week,” Johnson said of Earnhardt’s team. “They’re great teammates; they help us out. They’re clicking. They’re doing a great job.”

The knowledge yielded by the partnership is perhaps a bigger edge for Earnhardt, who still is seeking his first championship,

“I get to lean on them and know exactly what’s happening under the hood, and I can use that to my advantage,” Earnhardt said. “When it’s good for Jimmie, it’s equally as good for us in an indirect way. He’s just one of the best drivers the sport has ever seen.”

d5de0daff024323dc56dee8e265a5a7c NASCAR: Pocono could start hot streak for Johnson, Earnhardt Jr. / Nationwide: Bayne celebrates wedding with win
Trevor Bayne (6) celebrates after winning the DuPont Pioneer 250 Sunday at Iowa Speedway.(Photo: Mike DiNovo, USA TODAY Sports)

Bayne celebrates wedding with Nationwide win at Iowa

Story Highlights

Trevor Bayne earned his first win of 2013 and the second Nationwide victory of his career
Bayne caught pole-sitter Austin Dillon with 11 laps to go
The race was originally scheduled for Saturday night before being postponed by rain

(PhatzRadio / USA Today) — NEWTON, Iowa — Trevor Bayne stepped away Sunday afternoon from the giant gas-pump trophy by his side at Iowa Speedway to shift his attention toward his next racing objective — getting his car back.

The No. 6 sitting in victory lane at the conclusion of the DuPont Pioneer 250 — the only one capable of catching Austin Dillon, let alone passing him — changed hands inside the Roush Fenway Racing garage in the hours before Sunday’s race.

Crew chief Mike Kelley sold the winning ride to Nationwide Series driver Chris Buescher’s team.

“I’ll have to talk to him about that one,” Bayne joked. “He might have to buy it back.”

It might have been the only misstep of the weekend for Kelley, who generally seems to push all of the right buttons at Iowa Speedway.

The win capped quite a week for Bayne, a 22-year-old who got married on Tuesday and celebrated his honeymoon in victory lane at Iowa Speedway. His wife, Ashton, wasn’t with him for his first career Nationwide victory in Texas in 2011, but she was right by his side at Iowa Speedway.

“Such a special week for me. I was teared up at the altar on Tuesday and about teared up on victory lane on Sunday,” Bayne said. “Not many women would be willing to get married on Tuesday and come to Iowa as part of their honeymoon.”

Bayne joked in the postrace news conference that Kelley — who is set to tie the knot in the offseason — might have to move his wedding up.

Kelley assembled the winning package for the fourth time in his last five races at Newton and a Ford drove to victory lane for the 200th time in circuit history.

Kelley called the shots for Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s three consecutive wins at Iowa Speedway. He set up the car Stenhouse drove to victory last May at Iowa Speedway when the two-time Nationwide Series champion led a track-record 209 laps, and Bayne hopped in the seat Friday morning with the same setup.

“In the middle of practice we were probably one of the worst cars on the race track,” Kelley said. “We wholesale changed that thing and there were actually teams around us that were surprised there was anything left on the race car halfway through.”

Meanwhile, Dillon rocketed around the track all weekend. He was fast under sunny conditions during Friday’s practice sessions. He set a track record in qualifying Saturday evening just before showers pushed the start of the race back to Sunday.

Dillon ran at the front for 207 laps, building leads of more than four seconds both before and after a 70-minute rain delay that interrupted the race on lap 164. But he also noticed the longer the green flag stayed out, the closer Bayne got in his rear-view mirror, and the race stayed caution-free for the final 78 laps.I

“We had a good car on the short runs and we could get a big lead, but we started fading fast at the end of long runs,” said Dillon, who finished second, ahead of Elliott Sadler, Sam Hornish Jr. and Kyle Larson.

“We rolled really good there for quite a while and all of a sudden lost some forward drive, and racing around lapped traffic is pretty difficult in this series. It hurt us a little bit, but in the end we really didn’t have much for (Bayne).”

Bayne pulled alongside Dillon with 14 laps remaining and they raced side-by-side for nearly three full trips around the track, slamming into each other at least twice.

“He was really racing me hard,” Bayne said. “I don’t know if he was feeling the pressure of leading so many laps and didn’t want to lose it at the end. I said, ‘We’re going to decide how we want to race and if he wants to race that way two can play that game.’ … I was glad we could finish it (with clean racing) and it didn’t have to come to us crashing.”

For Kelley, it was a gratifying first victory with Bayne as his driver. The crew chief turned down an opportunity to make the jump with Stenhouse to the Sprint Cup Series, opting instead to chase another Nationwide championship with Bayne while clearing his Sundays for time with family.

“When a driver moves on and you bring somebody else in, it means a lot to yourself that you carry on that tradition,” he said. “You don’t want everybody to say they only won because Ricky was in the car.”

Kelley’s next task might be figuring out a way to buy back Sunday’s winning car from the Buescher team.

“I might have to renege on my deal here,” he joked. “No, we build good race cars at Roush and one’s no better than the other. I have to believe in the system that the next car I get will be even better than this one, so I’m sure we’ll give it up to him.”

Andy Hamilton writes for the Des Moines Register, a property of Gannett, parent company of USA TODAY

*****

DuPont Pioneer 250 results

1. (14) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 250 laps, 128.7 rating, 47 points, $86,690.

2. (1) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 250, 144.9, 44, $68,500.

3. (7) Elliott Sadler, Toyota, 250, 115.6, 41, $49,400.

4. (2) Sam Hornish Jr., Ford, 250, 115.2, 41, $35,350.

5. (10) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 250, 104.8, 39, $33,175.

6. (3) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 250, 108.3, 38, $28,975.

7. (5) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 250, 107.7, 37, $27,835.

8. (11) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 250, 90.1, 36, $26,795.

9. (6) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 250, 89.6, 0, $25,675.

10. (17) Mike Bliss, Toyota, 250, 84, 34, $25,975.

11. (9) Drew Herring, Toyota, 250, 92.3, 33, $24,200.

12. (21) Johanna Long, Chevrolet, 250, 79.5, 32, $17,650.

13. (13) Kenny Wallace, Toyota, 250, 77.1, 31, $17,125.

14. (12) Parker Kligerman, Toyota, 250, 85.7, 30, $22,600.

15. (27) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 249, 71.9, 29, $22,425.

16. (19) Cole Whitt, Toyota, 249, 71.5, 28, $22,550.

17. (24) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 248, 65.9, 27, $21,900.

18. (30) Eric McClure, Toyota, 248, 60.4, 26, $21,450.

19. (28) Kevin Lepage, Toyota, 248, 61.5, 25, $21,225.

20. (36) Mike Wallace, Chevrolet, 247, 52.8, 24, $21,675.

21. (26) Dexter Stacey, Ford, 246, 49.8, 23, $14,875.

22. (15) Alex Bowman, Toyota, 244, 72.4, 22, $20,750.

23. (31) Harrison Rhodes, Ford, 243, 44.1, 21, $20,600.

24. (39) Daryl Harr, Chevrolet, 243, 43.6, 20, $20,475.

25. (22) Nelson Piquet Jr., Chevrolet, 243, 62.3, 19, $20,825.

26. (37) Ken Butler, Toyota, 242, 44, 18, $20,225.

27. (32) Joey Gase, Ford, 240, 46.9, 17, $20,100.

28. (20) Kevin Swindell, Ford, 198, 33.6, 16, $13,950.

29. (4) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 196, 85.9, 15, $19,825.

30. (18) Michael Annett, Ford, accident, 177, 80.7, 15, $20,000.

31. (25) Max Papis, Chevrolet, accident, 155, 58, 13, $19,550.

32. (8) Travis Pastrana, Ford, accident, 154, 68.9, 12, $19,455.

33. (40) Tim Schendel, Chevrolet, transmission, 64, 38.6, 11, $13,335.

34. (16) Brad Sweet, Chevrolet, engine, 35, 38.6, 10, $19,215.

35. (38) Juan Carlos Blum, Chevrolet, engine, 15, 40.1, 9, $19,097.

36. (23) Blake Koch, Toyota, brakes, 10, 37.8, 8, $12,125.

37. (35) T.J. Bell, Chevrolet, electrical, 7, 36.3, 0, $12,015.

38. (33) Carl Long, Ford, axle, 5, 34.5, 6, $11,936.

39. (29) Jason Bowles, Chevrolet, vibration, 5, 32, 0, $11,745.

40. (34) Jeff Green, Toyota, vibration, 2, 30.3, 4, $11,630.

Race statistics

Average speed of race winner: 102.472 mph. Time of race: 2 hours, 8 minutes, 5 seconds. Margin of victory: 2.023 seconds. Caution flags: 5 for 31 laps. Lead changes: 12 among 4 drivers.

Lap leaders: S.Hornish Jr. 1; A.Dillon 2-8; S.Hornish Jr. 9-24; A.Dillon 25-53; S.Hornish Jr. 54-58; A.Dillon 59-135; T.Bayne 136-138; M.Annett 139-140; A.Dillon 141-151; T.Bayne 152-155; A.Dillon 156-238; T.Bayne 239-250.

Leaders summary (Driver, times led, laps led): A.Dillon, 5 times for 207 laps; S.Hornish Jr., 3 times for 22 laps; T.Bayne, 3 times for 19 laps; M.Annett, 1 time for 2 laps.

Nationwide standings top 10: 1. R.Smith, 448; 2. S.Hornish Jr., 425; 3. J.Allgaier, 404; 4. A.Dillon, 402; 5. E.Sadler, 388; 6. P.Kligerman, 385; 7. B.Vickers, 384; 8. B.Scott, 381; 9. T.Bayne, 368; 10. K.Larson, 361.

NASCAR: Pocono could start hot streak for Johnson, Earnhardt Jr. / Nationwide: Bayne celebrates wedding with win is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

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