Sprint Cup Series race results and happenings

[Garrett Duke]

This is where I or anyone can post down where drivers start, who has the pole, what happens during the race and how they finish the race. Perhaps put some track info or race info as well. (This is for the Sprint Cup Series, if someone wishes to do the Nationwide Series they can, I don't watch it to really know what happens. But I could post what I read about it online. Just let me know or go ahead and do it. For now, I will stick with what I know.)

They will be racing in Indianapolis Speedway...the Brickyard 400. Both Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon had grew up near by. (Gordon moved to Inidanapolis when he was fourteen from California.) The race will start at 1:00 PM EST on ESPN to start the ESPN coverages of the race. NASCAR Sprint Cup had started racing here once a year in 1994 (I stand corrected, I posted '97 somewhere.) and was won by Gordon. The track is 2.5 miles long. Last year's winner was Jimmie Johnson, but was dominated by Juan Pablo Montoya (who is a former Formula 1 and Indy driver) but had gotten caught speeding in the pits towards the end of the race and had to serve the normal drive through penalty.

Just a heads up here...I probably won't have all that info for all the tracks. Indy is one of the major tracks/races that they go to so there is more info available and all.

Here is the line up for the 2010 Brickyard 400: (I'll probably post the top ten, unless asked to do otherwise. Y'all will have to let know how you think I'm doing or if you want all 43 drivers listed.)

1. (Pole) Juan Pablo Montoya

2. Jimmie Johnson

3. Mark Martin

4. Jamie McMurray

5. Ryan Newman

6. Clint Bowyer

7. Greg Biffle

8. Jeff Gordon

9. Kevin Harvick

10. Jeff Burton

[Garrett Duke]

Well the Brickyard just finished and it started out with a bang when Kyle Busch on the first lap spun out to collect several drivers in the first accident. I think they had six cautions all in all, but mainly for debri. Juan Pablo Montoya led the most laps, but during the last pit stop he took four tires while Jamie McMurray and others took two to send Montoya to eightth spot. He later wrecked and took him out of the race. Jimmie Johnson had problems all day as did Jeff Gordon who finished 22nd and 23rd today. Jamie McMurray won the race to give car owner Chip Ganassi the trifecta since McMurray won the Daytona 500 this year, his Indy car won the Indy 400 and now McMurray won again today. Sad about Gordon and Johnson, but am very happy for Jamie Mac! He now only the third driver to be able to win both the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400...Jimmie Johnson and Dale Jarrett being the other two.

Top ten finishers:

1. Jamie McMurray

2. Kevin Harvick

3. Greg Biffle

4. Clint Bowyer

5. Tony Stewart

6. Jeff Burton

7. Carl Edwards

8. Kyle Busch

9. Joey Lagano

10. Kurt Busch

Am looking forward to Pocono next Sunday...

[RogerDuke]

I caught some of it.

I noticed there was a lot of empty seats there.

I saw them taping the front of Jimmie Johnson's grill up. I was kinda surprised because I thought that much tape would block the air getting to the radiator. Maybe it was screen that just looked like tape.

[Garrett Duke]

They do tape up the grill and they said why several times but can't think of the reason...something about the air I think and tempeture but that is all I can say off the top of my head. JJ and Gordon had rough races yesterday.

There was a lot of empty seats there yesterday. NASCAR keeps worrying about the lack of fans and the lack of TV audiences it is gathering each week. THey also keep saying something about big changes or changes next year. Am interested to see what it is. Hopefully it is all good. The announcers refused to talk about the empty seats...at the start of the race, one of the announcers stated that they saw the empty seats but they weren't going to talk about it, isntead they were going to talk about the race.

[Garrett Duke]

The Sprint Cup Series will be racing at Pocono RaceWay tomorrow afternoon. It is a tri-oval...no more circle or oval for tomorrow's race. Always find it a fun track to race at just because it is shaped differently. It is 2.5 miles long. It will be aired on ESPN at 12:00 EST.

Here is the top ten starting postions:

1. Tony Stewart

2. Juan Pablo Montoya

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Jeff Gordon

5. Ryan Newman

6. Jimmie Johnson

7. AJ Allmendinger

8. Jeff Burton

9. Jamie McMurray

10. Mark Martin

Denny Hamlin (who is one of the drivers on my fantasy team for this race) is known to be good at this track. His first year in the Cup series he won both races at Pocono. He won at this track in June and he also won at this race last year as well. Not a big Hamlin fan, but this is so far seems to be the track that he owns or is best at. Though Gordon and others have won here too so perhaps tomorrow he may have to hold back some competition in order to win again at Pocono.

[RogerDuke]

Just my luck. I live in Pennsylvania and I'll be in Ohio all day for NASCAR's only race in my state. (Actually I'm on the opposite end of the state. I think the Poconos is a 6 hour drive from me so it's not like it's in my neighborhood).

I do know one guy who lived near there. He said it's not a good idea to get stuck in traffic after the big race!

BTW How long's AJ Allmendinger been around?

[Garrett Duke]

Looks like AJ Allmindger started racing in 2007 as a part time driver as well as in 2008. First full time season was last year and now this year. He drives for Richard Petty.

I bet it would be horrible to be caught in traffic after any race. Especially the bigger ones! Too bad you're going to miss it today, Roger. Hope you are doing something fun and relaxing and I'll keep you up to date when you return.

[Garrett Duke]

Wow that was quite the race there. Rain delay at the beginning and then with thirty laps or more to go Jimmie Johnson tries bump drafting Kurt Busch that sent Busch into Clint Bowyer and into the wall and across the track to eventually hit the other wall and lose his tire under neath him. At the moment, I thought that was horrible. That was before seeing Elliot Sadler's car...and engine on the track! Didn't see a good view of his accident. Guess he slowed down or checked up due to Busch's accident and the guy behind him didn't...sent him hard into the corner. He climbed out of the car, you could tell he was hurting, and laid down on the track. He took a hard hit and is very lucky he is OK after that. He said he got the wind knocked out of him as well as the belt into him. With all the debri on the track after that, they red flagged the race for a half hour. When they went into caution, it started to rain. Before all that, Jeff Gordon had the car to beat and was winning. Sam Hornish Jr gambled with the weather while Gordon and others went into pits...Gordon went in first came out thirteen. They parked them for the rain for a while as well before it cleared out and went green again. How frustrating it has to be for Gordon to have the most dominant and best car out there and come back in thirteenth place! He could have won it if he had more laps to race on...spent most on caution. I think they only had thirteen laps left when they went green. Gordon finished sixth and Greg Biffle won the race to break through his race drought. A win for Jack Roush.

Here is the top ten finishes of Pocono:

1. Greg Biffle

2. Tony Stewart

3. Carl Edwards

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Denny Hamlin

6. Jeff Gordon

7. Mark Martin

8. Jeff Burton

9. Martin Truex Jr

10. Jimmie Johnson

[RogerDuke]

Thanks for the update Garrett. I was in Ohio all day and didn't see a single lap.

It sounds like nobody got hurt too bad and that's all that matters.

Thanks again.

[Garrett Duke]

Elliot Sadler and Kurt Busch are both lucky to be OK. They both had a hard hit, especially Sadler. Never saw an engine out on the track like that. Gordon had a hard hit in Las Vegas two or three years ago that sent car parts flying across the track, but not his engine like that. Luckily NASCAR has the car and the HANS device highly protective of the driver and most of the walls. Don't know if the walls they hit had the safety barrier that the outside wall has. Know Las Vegas' track's inside wall didn't have the safety barrier when Gordon hit it and they fixed it after his accident. Guess Pocono is in the process of fixing it up to be more safe, they were just waiting for this race to be done with so they could get it started. So hopefully next June when they return there won't be any more accidents like that one.

[RogerDuke]

So do either of them have any afteraffects or they back to 100% healthy by now?

[Garrett Duke]

So do either of them have any afteraffects or they back to 100% healthy by now?

Physically I think ...well as far as I know, they are both 100% healthy now. Emotionally? That's another story. According to Kurt Busch he may not intentionally go after Jimmie Johnson and wreck him. He's still upset at Johnson and claims all the drivers at Hendrick are Pretty boys...even included Kasey Kahne who will be driving there in a year and a half. Him and Johnson has had history together in the past, he made it sound like it was all Johnson, but I am pretty sure it is fifty-fifty if you ask me. Johnson is not a driver to intentionally wreck anyone and I am sure all that was as Johnson said it was as not being intentional, but an accident on his part. But Busch don't seem to be thinking that. I am highly hoping he don't go and wreck Johnson on purpose...and if he sadly does so, hopefully Gordon is no where around there!

Though not a Kurt Busch fan and am a JJ fan, I do understand how he and Elliot would be upset at him for what happened. I just hope they can learn from it all and move forward and not bring it to Watkins Glen on Sunday.

[Garrett Duke]

They will be racing at Watkins Glen tomorrow afternoon which is the second and last road course of the year. Road races aren't known to be fast or hold as much excitement as the round tracks or normal tracks, but Sonoma earlier this year was pretty action packed for a road race. So we will see if the trend will stick tomorrow.

Last year this race got rained out and had to be raced on Monday which meant I had to miss most of the race since they race in the afternoon, though did get to watch the end and was actually glad to see I missed that one. Only because Gordon was involved in a big accident after Sam Hornish Jr missed Kasey Kahne to hit the tire walling they have that spun him above ground, Gordon had no where to go and got hit by Hornish and spun him off ground as well. Last year Gordon's back was killing him and that clearly hurt his back worse by how he climbed out and walked into the back of the abulance. Luckily they both were OK (other than Gordon's already aching back.) Tony Stewart went on to win the race.

Here is the starting lineup for tomorrow's race (top ten):

1. (Pole) Carl Edwards

2. Jamie McMurray

3. Juan Pablo Montoya

4. AJ Allmindinger

5. Kurt Busch

6. Tony Stewart

7. Greg Biffle

8. Scott Speed

9. Jimmie Johnson

10. Kyle Busch

[Garrett Duke]

Well the race at Watkins Glen has just gotten over with. Did anyone else get to watch it? The first half was uneventful but the last third or so of the race was interesting to watch. Kyle Busch started his race in the pits even before the green flag first flew with something wrong underneath his car...can't remember seeing that before. Though he did salvage a top ten finish at the end of the race. Juan Pablo Montoya and Marcos Ambrose spent the day fighting for first place...Montoya led the most laps and won the race. Ambrose had trouble restarts and had something amiss with his car at the very end to finish third after Kurt Busch who had his best road race finish for his career.

Tony Stewart who in the past six races at this track has finished first or second ended that trend, but did get a top ten finish as well. At the last two thirds of the race, he was racing Boris Said for nineth when Boris Said (said he didn't know Stewart was there) tried to take Stewart's outside lane and Stewart ended up spinning and taking Boris out of the race.

Jimmie Johnson had a troublesome race again today. He had tire issues in the first half of the race. He then raced his way to nineth. (This was a few laps after Stewart's accident.) Johnson was racing Jeff Burton when Kyle Busch pulled up besides Burton to race Burton and gave Burton no where to go and he spun Jimmie Johnson. Johnson hit the wall and put a bit cloud of smoke around...Denny Hamlin didn't see where he was going and hit Johnson hard to take him out of the race. Jimmie Johnson came home on the lead lap, but 28th position.

Here is the top ten finishes of the race:

1. Juan Pablo Montoya

2. Kurt Busch

3. Marcos Ambros

4. AJ Allmindinger

5. Carl Edwards

6. Jamie McMurray

7. Tony Stewart

8. Kyle Busch

9. Jeff Burton

10. Jeff Gordon

[RogerDuke]

I saw the second half of the race. I'm not sure if I believe Boris Said or not. I heard what he said (no pun intended) in the interview afterward but if he didn't know he was there what did he think he hit before he hit it again? He must have known it was something. Then again it's easy for me to say sitting on a couch. Maybe he never felt the first hit.

I can't blame Denny Hamlin. That white smoke was like a wall. He did the right thing by going to the outside. He had no way of knowing Jimmie was there.

[Garrett Duke]

I agree with you Roger. I don't know how Boris Said didn't know Stewart was there, especially how he did seem to be shoving Stewart off the track. Can't say I blame Stewart for doing what he did...anyone else would have done the same thing if Said did the same to them. Don't have nothing against Boris Said, but I am with Stewart on how it went down and he did what he had to do.

Sadly I now also agree with you about JJ and Hamlin as well. At the time it was easy for me to be upset at Hamlin for running into Johnson like that, but he had no way of knowing that Johnson was there. That was disappointing for them both. If Kyle Busch didn't go and make it three wide like that, Burton wouldn't have bumped JJ to start it all...but as they say, what's done is done.

We are off to Jeff Gordon's favorite track next Sunday...Michigan.

[HossC]

Well Garrett, I managed to catch the highlights of Watkins Glen, albeit a couple of days late. It was probably a good re-introduction for me with a familiar (to me) driver winning on a track that's similar to the ones I'm used to. The Montoya/Ambrose battle was good while it lasted. It was a shame Ambrose was slow on the re-starts and had a problem towards the end.

[Garrett Duke]

Well Garrett, I managed to catch the highlights of Watkins Glen, albeit a couple of days late. It was probably a good re-introduction for me with a familiar (to me) driver winning on a track that's similar to the ones I'm used to. The Montoya/Ambrose battle was good while it lasted. It was a shame Ambrose was slow on the re-starts and had a problem towards the end.

Well I am glad that it was someone you knew and the kind of track that you would know. Perhaps that helped lead you into NASCAR. The battle between Montoya and Ambrose was good...I was really bummed when Ambrose had troubles at the end there. I was really hoping that Ambrose would have pulled it off to win the race. It wasn't to be I guess. I hope that you will be able to catch more races or race reviews in the future.

[Garrett Duke]

Well they will be racing at Michigan International Raceway tomorrow at 1:00 PM EST on ESPN. Michigan is a 2 mile oval shaped track. It is a track that Rousch drivers are good at...and tomorrow being Carl Edwards' birthday and five year Sprint Cup anniversary perhaps he'll break his winless streak with a win. (Since he's my top fanatsy pick driver, I am hoping he'll win. LOL! If not him, then it better be J. Gordon )

Here is the top ten drivers that'll be starting tomorrow's race:

1. (pole) Kasey Kahne

2. Jimmie Johnson

3. Clint Boywer

4. Tony Stewart

5. Juan Pablo Montoya

6. Greg Biffle

7. Matt Kenseth

8. Kevin Harvick

9. Martin Truex Jr.

10. Paul Menard

Well Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jeff Gordon will have their hands full tomorrow. Jr will be starting 38th and Gordon will be starting 36th. Luckily they'll have the entire race to work on their car and race towards the front.

[RogerDuke]

Thanks for the information

How long is Carl's winless streak?

[Garrett Duke]

In 2008 Carl Edwards won 9 races (I think the last one of those was either the last race of the season or the race before that. Though I could be wrong, just seems like he won one of those races...) but hasn't won a race since then. So there is 36 point races in a year, we have raced 22 races thus far this year...so his winless streak is 58 races long. Jeff Gordon's is 51 races long. And Michigan is a track that they are both good at, so maybe, one of their winnless streaks will be broken. I can always hope (that last part is of my opinion, of course. )

[Garrett Duke]

Well the race at Michigan has just finished and for all the Kevin Harvick fans, it was a great race. He won his first Michigan race today to clinch his spot in the chase...plus now has 30 bonus points to go into the chase.

Kurt Busch's engine blew early in the race to take him out of the race, Mark Martin ran into the wall early on as well to put him a lap down. Martin finished 28th and a lap down and is still struggling to get into the chase. They have two or three races left until the chase starts.

As for me, it started out as a great race. Gordon started 36th and passed 16 drivers in ten laps. He had the fastest car on the track in the first half of the race. He got up to high of second at one point. But with 50 laps or so to go on a restart he was five wide and his front right tire blew to get bumped from behind by Jeff Burton. He ended up the last driver on the lead lap at 27th. Talk about disappointing...there is always something it seems to take that win away from him. (All that is of my opinion of course.) Jimmie Johnson finished 13 after leading a lot of laps in the first half of the race, but didn't do anything after that.

Here is the top ten finishes:

1. Kevin Harvick

2. Denny Hamlin

3. Carl Edwards

4. Greg Biffle

5. Matt Kenseth

6. Tony Stewart

7. Juan Pablo Montoya

8. Martin Truex Jr.

9. Elliot Sadler

10. Joey Lagono

The next race is at Bristol next Saturday night at 7:30 EST (I think...) and will be on ABC. I am assuming the rest of the races of the season will be on ABC. (So no more ESPN...)

[Garrett Duke]

Well I guess I missed a little altercation that happened between Joey Lagano and Ryan Newman after the race. A person I work with at work said they did show it on the after race program, but I must have not been watching or listening at the time, because I missed it. I found it on NASCAR.com.

I can't remember what lap it was on, but Lagano and Newman were racing eachother pretty hard for position, they went in the corner and when Lagano slightly lost control of his car, Lagano bumped Newman to spin Newman and flatten his tires. After the race Newman confronted Lagano about it...wasn't very happy. There was a little shoving going on between the two before they were seperated by a couple of NASCAR officials.

According to Lagano, Newman races him way too hard and everyone feels that way about Newman. THat he was losing control of his car and Newman was too close and wouldn't back off. Think he also made a statement about how there was no need racing that hard that back in the field and so many laps left. (Newman didn't comment on it.) (Was said on ESPN...but read it on Yahoo! Sports' NASCAR Page.)

OK perhaps I shouldn't put my two cents in here...I don't know, but here's my two cents worth on it. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't it the objective of NASCAR is to race hard to get the win? Why should it matter on how many laps are left or what position you are? As long as Newman or any other driver isn't driving aggressive when racing hard, what's the big deal? I am sorry for my venting here, I just don't see where Lagano has much room to be complaining about Newman or his driving. Newman was the one that got hit and has his tires blow out from under him...not Lagano. Also...it takes two to race, so if Newman was racing hard, then to me, it makes sense that Lagano was racing hard as well. There wouldn't be much racing to watch if they didn't race each other hard...but then again, maybe I'm wrong. What y'all think?

[Garrett Duke]

Well the Nationwide Series races at Bristol tonight. Sprint Cup races at Bristol tomorrow night at 7:30 EST and will be aired on ABC (not ESPN).

Here is the starting grid that I got from Yahoo!'s NASCAR's page:

1. Jimmie Johnson

2. Carl Edwards

3. Joey Logano

4. Tony Stewart

5. David Reutimann

6. Ryan Newman

7. Jamie McMurray

8. Juan Pablo Montoya

9. Martin Truex Jr.

10. A J Allmendinger

[Garrett Duke]

Well, history was made in NASCAR tonight. Kyle Busch won the Sprint Cup race at Bristol tonight to do the Bristol sweep by winning the truck series race, Nationwide Series race, and Sprint Cup race at Bristol. Am not a fan of Kyle Busch or of his driving, but he is a talented driver and was kinda exciting to see history be made.

Jeff Gordon finished eleventh after starting 26th and had moved up pretty quickly. Got as high as six or seventh at one point in the race. Wish he could have been at least in the top ten if not top five or the win, but eleventh isn't too bad. Plus he clinched his spot in the chase, which I am excited about!

Dale Earnhardt Jr had a decent race. He was seventh at one point towards the end but then quickly fell backwards and ended up 13th and the last car on the lead lap. But his car was loose. They showed him driving when he was twelveth or thirteenth in the last twenty or ten laps and his car kept wiggling around - it was obviously lose so he did pretty good job to keep it on the lead lap and finishing out where he did.

And for the big heartbreak for any of Jimmie Johnson fans...he led 179 laps in the first half of the race before he got passed by Kyle Busch. Johnson cleanly passed Juan Pablo Montoya and Montoya ran in the back of him and ran him into the wall! Johnson was behind the wall and came back seventy laps behind to finish 35 - the last car on the track! If the points stay as they are now, he will drop from fifth to nineth in points. I don't understand how the driver who starts the accidents, generally can drive away with minimal damage while the other drivers are the ones to suffer from it. Just frustrated about it right now.

Denny Hamlin took his car behind the wall for twenty laps at the same time, but I think for something different. Which I am sure will shake the points up with him and Johnson having bad races and Kyle Busch winning and all. Don't understand how Hamlin and Johnson dominated the first half of the season with five wins each and hasn't done a thing since then. The last four years, Johnson was flawless and had all the luck on his side. The first half started out that way and now all the bad luck and bad calls have caught up to him. Not saying it is time to worry about either one of them. Once the points will be set, as long as another chase driver doesn't win both of them, Hamlin and Johnson will be the point leaders with fifty points each. Just am frustrated with Johnson's turn around for the worse at the moment.

Don't know where Tony Stewart ended up at, but he started strong and fought for the lead in the first fourth of the race or so. But when David Ragan spun out, Stewart braked and Regan Smith ran into the back of Stewart. Stewart later spun out himself to give him a dismal finish. To end his good runs that he had strung together the last few races or so.

Here is the top ten finishes for the Bristol night race:

1. Kyle Busch

2. David Reutimann (who suffered food poisioning a couple of days ago.)

3. Jamie McMurray

4. Clint Bowyer

5. Kasey Kahne

6. Ryan Newman

7. Juan Pablo Montoya

8. Greg Biffle

9. Kurt Busch

10. Matt Kenseth

Bristol always surprises me with how fast the race goes. It is a half mile track and is known as the fastest track as well. They said it takes them only sixteen seconds to drive around the track! Without watching the lap numbers going down, was really surprised when they said it was white flag, last lap of the race. LOL...but with sixteen seconds a lap, it shouldn't be so surprising!

Well, got some sad news...they have next week off. Nationwide Series will be racing in Canada, but the Sprint Cup has the weeked off. Perhaps that'll make some or all of y'all excited to hear in hopes of having a week off from me and my senseless ramblings. But as for me, am always kinda bummed when they get a weekend off to leave me with no race to watch. Oh well, I'm sure I'll survive. They'll be racing in Atlanta on September 5 for the next race...perhaps we'll see Bo and Luke there.