2013 NASCAR race reviews and results

[Garrett Duke]

My Pirates lost in extra innings so I have it on NASCAR right now. The Busch brothers are duking it out in the #1 and #2 positions.

I chuckled when the announcer said that nobody races the Busch brothers harder than they race each other.

Now they just showed the crash the Busch boys had with each other in 2007 when battling for first.

You're right Garrett, that Pirate win in the bottom of the ninth yesterday was pretty crazy.

LOL...I love that story of the Busch brothers wreck in the 2007 All Star race...and how they didn't talk to each other for six months after that when at Thanksgiving their grandmother sat them down and made them talk to each other. HA HA.

We are now on the final segment...ten laps. Gonna get crazy...well at least hopefully something will happen since as of now, not much has happened. Other than the Busch brothers being dominant...and Gordon being in the back. Will keep you all updated.

[Garrett Duke]

Jimmie Johnson has just won his FOURTH All Star race of his career...the one and only to do that in NASCAR history! Congrats to Jimmie Johnson and the entire 48 team on a well deserved win!

Well y'all know how much I love NASCAR and the races and refuse to call any race boring...and refuse to miss a race if I don't have to. But if you did miss the All Star race, you didn't really miss anything. The most exciting part of the race was when Rickey Stenhouse Jr hit the wall and spun Mark Martin out. Other than that they went red for a while for rain and had a caution for debris.

Kurt Busch won the first segment.

Kyle Busch won the second segment.

Kyle Busch won the third segment.

Kurt Busch won the fourth segment.

And...

Jimmie Johnson won the fifth and final segment...the million dollar finish!

(It was great to see Gordon congratulate JJ on his win during JJ's interview!)

Well we are back to some more Charlotte race next Sunday night on FOX...the track that was once nicknamed Jimmie's House since he is or was so good here and was named Lowes for several years. Next week's race is also the longest race of the year...can't wait! The longest race of the season plus a night race equals racing at it's perfection! Only thing better is when Jeff Gordon wins! (I can only hope, right? If not a win, he needs another great point race!)

[LizzyJackson-Davenport]

First and formost thank you so much for posting about this. As the idiots as Nascar have decided that the best channel to air the all-star race on is the Speed network (which I don't have) I was unable to watch it. It's great to see that the busch brothers were having a great night.

On a small side note, of course Jeff is going to congratulate Jimmy for the win, he owns part of the car (from what I can find) with Rick Hendrick.

[HossC]

Thanks for the update Garrett. That rain delay ended my chances of being able to stay up for the finish. I think I dozed off after the first 20 laps and woke up to see Ricky's crew patching up his car. At that point I thought it best to get some sleep. It sounds like I didn't miss much.

I'm still not sure that I see a reason for this race. To me it seems to be pointless in more than just the scoring. It's very early in the season to separate half the field, and the fact that the rules get changed nearly every year, and have to have a long explanation before the race, indicate to me that NASCAR are still searching for a way to justify this event. That just my £0.013 (today's rough Sterling equivalent of two cents ).

[Garrett Duke]

First and formost thank you so much for posting about this. As the idiots as Nascar have decided that the best channel to air the all-star race on is the Speed network (which I don't have) I was unable to watch it. It's great to see that the busch brothers were having a great night.

On a small side note, of course Jeff is going to congratulate Jimmy for the win, he owns part of the car (from what I can find) with Rick Hendrick.

Yes Jeff Gordon does own HALF of Jimmie's car with Rick Hendrick. And yes at one point they are or were friends. But still found it big of Jeff Gordon that despite the frustrating race he had, he was able to put his problems and frustrations away to congratulate Jimmie Johnson.

[Garrett Duke]

Well y'all ready? Sunday's race is the LONGEST race of the season and guess what? It's a night race! Is anyone else as excited as I am? Too bad they can't all be this long...HA HA.

Here is the starting lineup for the Coca-Cola 600:

1 Denny Hamlin

2 Kurt Busch

3 Matt Kenseth

4 Mark Martin

5 Clint Bowyer

6 Kasey Kahne

7 Greg Biffle

8 Kyle Busch

9 Jamie McMurray

10 Ryan Newman

11 Dale Earnhardt Jr

12 Jimmie Johnson

13 Carl Edwards

14 Jeff Gordon

15 Kevin Harvick

16 Juan Pablo Montoya

17 Martin Truex Jr

18 Aric Almirola

19 Marcos Ambrose

20 Brad Keselowski

21 Casey Mears

22 Paul Menard

23 J.J. Yeley

24 Danica Patrick

25 Tony Stewart

26 David Gilliland

27 Jeff Burton

28 Travis Kvapil

29 Trevor Bayne

30 Ricky Stenhouse Jr

31 Joey Logano

32 Michael McDowell

33 Dave Blaney

34 Bobby Labonte

35 David Ragan

36 Regan Smith

37 Scott Speed

38 David Reutimann

39 David Stremme

40 Timmy Hill

41 Joe Nemechek

42 Landon Cassill

43 Josh Wise

The race will be on Sunday night at 6:00 ET on FOX!

[LizzyJackson-Davenport]

Night race? What? Night races take place in the dark aka under the lights. This race is broadcast starting at six so it may very well end up finishing under the lights. However as the days are getting longer and the sun doesn't start it's decent until after 7:30 eastern we very may well call this a late afternoon/evening race. Either way I can't wait to see how Kurt does. He's been a lot better this year than he was last year.

[Garrett Duke]

Night race? What? Night races take place in the dark aka under the lights. This race is broadcast starting at six so it may very well end up finishing under the lights. However as the days are getting longer and the sun doesn't start it's decent until after 7:30 eastern we very may well call this a late afternoon/evening race. Either way I can't wait to see how Kurt does. He's been a lot better this year than he was last year.

Well it is later than normal for a Sunday...how about that?

And the race is scheduled to end around 8:30...so by your measurements, it will be dark by the time the race is over. So maybe it is a late afternoon-night race.

Edited May 24, 2013 by Garrett Duke

[HossC]

There's only one motor race that matters this Sunday - to quote Jenson Button: "Monaco baby" .

[Garrett Duke]

There's only one motor race that matters this Sunday - to quote Jenson Button: "Monaco baby" .

Glad you have a race to watch too, Hoss....but that's not the race that matters to me.

[Garrett Duke]

Well when I said tonight's race was going to be the longest race of the season...I didn't expect two red flags, eleven caution flags, and five hours of racing.

The first red flag came when fans were hanging on the fiber camera wire that helped the wire to break and go down on the track. Kyle Busch who was leading the race hit it and it tore his car up...Mark Martin and Marcos Ambrose both hit afterwards to tear their car up. Normally, drivers are unable to fix their cars under red, but NASCAR gave the drivers fifteen minutes to work on their cars before they went back to racing...also gave the drivers their position back to them. Ten fans were injured due to the fiber wire...seven were treated at the track while three was taken to the local hospital for observation.

The bizarre incident with the wire didn't slow Kyle down much as he took the lead for several laps before his engine blew...and on the same lap, Dale Jr's engine blew and took Greg Biffle with him. Dave Blaney then t boned Travis Kvapil into the wall in an aftermath of the accident.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr wrecked his girl friend...Danica Patrick by not giving her and Brad Keselowski any room and both Keselowski and Patrick hit the wall. Keselowski took the blame for the accident.

Jeff Gordon had a great race until he got caught in pits under a caution that had put him a lap down and he was stuck fighting to get his lap down...or the lucky dog. He was racing Aric Almirola for the lucky dog position while Mark Martin made it three wide into the corner and they slammed (accidently) Jeff Gordon into the wall. Am relieved that everyone was able to walk away without any major injuries...

(Which brought the race under red flag for the second time...)

Right after Gordon's accident, Jimmie Johnson was involved in an accident with Matt Kenseth and Juan Pablo Montoya...and later had his tire blow.

Kurt Busch had a great race as he led a few laps, had to change his battery, and came home third.

Kasey Kahne led the most laps but lost it during the last pit stops when he stayed out and everyone else pitted. On the restart, Kevin Harvick had a better restart and took the lead and the win.

Official results of the Coca-Cola 600:

1. Kevin Harvick

2. Kasey Kahne

3. Kurt Busch

4. Denny Hamlin

5. Joey Logano

6. Ryan Newman

7. Tony Stewart

8. Clint Bowyer

9. Martin Truex Jr.

10. Marcos Ambrose

11. Carl Edwards

12. Jeff Burton

13. Paul Menard

14. Rickey Stenhouse Jr

15. Matt Kenseth

16. Trevor Bayne

17. Regan Smith

18. Juan Pablo Montoya

19. Jamie McMurray

20. David Gilliland

21. David Reutimann

22. Jimmie Johnson

23. Casey Mears

24. Bobby Labonte

25. David Ragen

26. Josh Wise

27. Timmy Hill

28. J.J. Yeley

29. Danica Patrick

30. Dave Blaney

31. Greg Biffle

32. David Stremme

33. Aric Almirola

34. Mark Martin

35. Jeff Gordon

36. Brad Keselowski

37. Landon Cassill

38. Kyle Busch

39. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

40. Travis Kvapil

41. Joe Nemechek

42. Michael McDowell

43. Scott Speed

Congrats to anyone whose driver had a great race tonight...

As for me, I am looking forward to Dover...the MONSTER MILE...next Sunday afternoon.

[Garrett Duke]

Well when I said tonight's race was going to be the longest race of the season...I didn't expect two red flags, eleven caution flags, and five hours of racing.

The first red flag came when fans were hanging on the fiber camera wire that helped the wire to break and go down on the track. Kyle Busch who was leading the race hit it and it tore his car up...Mark Martin and Marcos Ambrose both hit afterwards to tear their car up. Normally, drivers are unable to fix their cars under red, but NASCAR gave the drivers fifteen minutes to work on their cars before they went back to racing...also gave the drivers their position back to them. Ten fans were injured due to the fiber wire...seven were treated at the track while three was taken to the local hospital for observation.

The bizarre incident with the wire didn't slow Kyle down much as he took the lead for several laps before his engine blew...and on the same lap, Dale Jr's engine blew and took Greg Biffle with him. Dave Blaney then t boned Travis Kvapil into the wall in an aftermath of the accident.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr wrecked his girl friend...Danica Patrick by not giving her and Brad Keselowski any room and both Keselowski and Patrick hit the wall. Keselowski took the blame for the accident.

Jeff Gordon had a great race until he got caught in pits under a caution that had put him a lap down and he was stuck fighting to get his lap down...or the lucky dog. He was racing Aric Almirola for the lucky dog position while Mark Martin made it three wide into the corner and they slammed (accidently) Jeff Gordon into the wall. Am relieved that everyone was able to walk away without any major injuries...

(Which brought the race under red flag for the second time...)

Right after Gordon's accident, Jimmie Johnson was involved in an accident with Matt Kenseth and Juan Pablo Montoya...and later had his tire blow.

Kurt Busch had a great race as he led a few laps, had to change his battery, and came home third.

Kasey Kahne led the most laps but lost it during the last pit stops when he stayed out and everyone else pitted. On the restart, Kevin Harvick had a better restart and took the lead and the win.

Official results of the Coca-Cola 600:

1. Kevin Harvick

2. Kasey Kahne

3. Kurt Busch

4. Denny Hamlin

5. Joey Logano

6. Ryan Newman

7. Tony Stewart

8. Clint Bowyer

9. Martin Truex Jr.

10. Marcos Ambrose

11. Carl Edwards

12. Jeff Burton

13. Paul Menard

14. Rickey Stenhouse Jr

15. Matt Kenseth

16. Trevor Bayne

17. Regan Smith

18. Juan Pablo Montoya

19. Jamie McMurray

20. David Gilliland

21. David Reutimann

22. Jimmie Johnson

23. Casey Mears

24. Bobby Labonte

25. David Ragen

26. Josh Wise

27. Timmy Hill

28. J.J. Yeley

29. Danica Patrick

30. Dave Blaney

31. Greg Biffle

32. David Stremme

33. Aric Almirola

34. Mark Martin

35. Jeff Gordon

36. Brad Keselowski

37. Landon Cassill

38. Kyle Busch

39. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

40. Travis Kvapil

41. Joe Nemechek

42. Michael McDowell

43. Scott Speed

Congrats to anyone whose driver had a great race tonight...

As for me, I am looking forward to Dover...the MONSTER MILE...next Sunday afternoon.

Glad to report that the three injured race fans that was taken to the hospital after the fiber camera cable or wire broke has all been released and sent home.

[HossC]

Thanks for the updates, Garrett. I was only able to watch the race up to the first red flag. I've caught up with some of the incidents on NASCAR.com.

[Garrett Duke]

Thanks for the updates, Garrett. I was only able to watch the race up to the first red flag. I've caught up with some of the incidents on NASCAR.com.

You are welcome, Hoss. It was a late race . . . even here. Though I managed to stay up to watch til the end...even if it didn't go my way.

[HossC]

Sunday's race is the FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks from Dover International Speedway.

Here's the starting line-up:

1 Denny Hamlin

2 Martin Truex Jr

3 Kyle Busch

4 Matt Kenseth

5 Ryan Newman

6 Mark Martin

7 Kevin Harvick

8 Brad Keselowski

9 Joey Logano

10 Jamie McMurray

11 Kasey Kahne

12 Dale Earnhardt Jr

13 Kurt Busch

14 Juan Pablo Montoya

15 Clint Bowyer

16 Paul Menard

17 Casey Mears

18 Carl Edwards

19 Greg Biffle

20 Jeff Gordon

21 Landon Cassill

22 Tony Stewart

23 Ricky Stenhouse Jr

24 Jimmie Johnson

25 Austin Dillon

26 Bobby Labonte

27 David Reutimann

28 David Gilliland

29 Jeff Burton

30 Marcos Ambrose

31 Michael McDowell

32 Mike Bliss

33 Aric Almirola

34 David Stremme

35 David Ragan

36 Joe Nemechek

37 Dave Blaney

38 Travis Kvapil

39 Danica Patrick

40 J.J. Yeley

41 Josh Wise

42 Timmy Hill

43 Scott Riggs

The race starts at 1:00 PM ET, and will be shown on Fox.

Garrett, your drivers are starting either side of Ricky - they'd better not hit him at the start .

[Garrett Duke]

Thanks Hoss for covering for me...haven't been online or on the computer for the past couple of days. My niece and nephew are over so the computer has been shoved aside. So thanks for covering for me...I feel guilty for not doing my job.

As for my drivers starting next to Ricky...I do believe it should be the other way around. In fact, it was Tony Stewart this week that was stating how he wished he could strangle Ricky for how he blocks people...just sayin'.

Thanks again...will try to do better tomorrow.

[RogerDuke]

Thanks for all the updates Garrett and HOSS. Due to my computer troubles I only get to see them when I'm borrowing someone else's computer but I sure appreciate all you do.

[Garrett Duke]

You are welcome Roger. I enjoy it.

Well the race at Dover just got over...first half was pretty uneventful with a few long green flag runs. Denny Hamlin led the first few laps before Matt Kenseth took the lead to lead 79 laps only for his engine to blow and take him out early. Jimmie Johnson had a rough start of the race...went a lap down and all. But after a couple of pit stops it brought him out to the front.

Ryan Newman ran into the back of JJ going into the pits and then came out and ran into David Gilliland's car several times before wrecking them both out of the car...both were two laps down. Personally don't understand why Ryan was being so aggressive when they are TWO LAPS down...not only did he wreck Gilliland, he wrecked himself too. After the whole incident David got out of his car and talk or confront Ryan about it.

Think the turning point of the race was when they restarted after a caution with Juan Pablo Montoya leading and Jimmie Johnson second...well JPM didn't start right off and JJ passed him...until NASCAR black flagged Jimmie Johnson for jumping the restart. JJ had to do a drive through penalty. Went from winning to a lap down and seventeenth.

Jeff Gordon who had spent most of the race around fifteenth spot decided to stay out and not pit for position and got him to fourth spot...and when he needed to pit, Denny Hamlin's tire blew and he hit the wall.

Tony Stewart who has had a pretty bad season thus far, raced Juan Pablo and got his first win of the season...

Here is the official results of Dover...the Monster Mile:

1 Tony Stewart

2 Juan Pablo Montoya

3 Jeff Gordon

4 Kyle Busch

5 Brad Keselowski

6 Clint Bowyer

7 Joey Logano

8 Kevin Harvick

9 Mark Martin

10 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

11 Jeff Burton

12 Kurt Busch

13 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

14 Carl Edwards

15 Greg Biffle

16 Casey Mears

17 Jimmie Johnson

18 Aric Almirola

19 Marcos Ambrose

20 Paul Menard

21 Bobby Labonte

22 David Ragan

23 Kasey Kahne

24 Danica Patrick

25 Josh Wise

26 David Reutimann

27 Austin Dillon

28 David Stremme

29 Dave Blaney

30 J.J. Yeley

31 Joe Nemechek

32 Landon Cassill

33 Jamie McMurray

34 Denny Hamlin

35 Timmy Hill

36 Ryan Newman

37 David Gilliland

38 Martin Truex Jr.

39 Travis Kvapil

40 Matt Kenseth

41 Mike Bliss

42 Michael McDowell

43 Scott Riggs

I am also sad to announce that today's race was the last race of the season on FOX...the races will move over to TNT for a few races before moving to ESPN. I say sad in a matter of my own petty opinion because I highly wish the entire NASCAR season would be on FOX...I have nothing against TNT or ESPN or their announcers, I just personally like FOX and the announcer/reporter team better than the other stations. I am already missing Darrell Waltrip, Jeff Hammond, Larry McReynolds, and Mike Joy. But as I said, that is of my own opinion. For what it is worth...

[HossC]

After the whole incident David got out of his car and talk or confront Ryan about it.

I thought both drivers handled the incident with a lot more restraint than you see most of the time (no raised fists or thrown crash helmets).

Ricky looked like he was on for a top ten finish after the last restart, but I suppose I can be reasonably happy with 13th. He did get the 'Lucky Dog' after the Gilliland/Newman crash.

I'm always amused by the commentators making a big deal of the engines revving to 9,000 rpm. Some models of Honda's 2-seater sports car the S2000 revved to 9,200 rpm. F1 engines are currently limited to 18,000 rpm, but have been taken to 21,000 rpm in unrestricted testing.

[Garrett Duke]

I thought both drivers handled the incident with a lot more restraint than you see most of the time (no raised fists or thrown crash helmets).

Ricky looked like he was on for a top ten finish after the last restart, but I suppose I can be reasonably happy with 13th. He did get the 'Lucky Dog' after the Gilliland/Newman crash.

I'm always amused by the commentators making a big deal of the engines revving to 9,000 rpm. Some models of Honda's 2-seater sports car the S2000 revved to 9,200 rpm. F1 engines are currently limited to 18,000 rpm, but have been taken to 21,000 rpm in unrestricted testing.

I am sure they are comparing their RPMs to the rest of the Gen 6 cars or the rest of the NASCAR cars they use and not to another type of car. Glad your's are so high...as for me, whatever works for NASCAR; works for me.

Ricky did pretty good...which I am glad since I had him on both of my NASCAR fantasy teams (my paying one and non paying one).

David and Ryan did talk to each other with more respect than other drivers have in the past...would be surprised to see David get upset enough to start throwing stuff. He isn't known to throw fits like that...then again it surprised me to see Ryan wreck him like he did.

I for one am happy with Jeff Gordon's third place finish...he is now unofficially eleventh in points. Jumping up four spots from fifteenth. So I for one am happy with that....and upset about the whole JJ deal. But will keep my opinion to myself on that topic...

Though Hoss, you will be happy to know that Ricky Stenhouse Jr, as of right now, is leading for rookie of the year. So far beating out his girl friend, Danica Patrick.

[HossC]

So I for one am happy with that....and upset about the whole JJ deal. But will keep my opinion to myself on that topic...

I'm surprised they don't have an overhead camera angle to make things easier to see on restarts. In the Monaco Grand Prix last week there were a few occasions where drivers cut chicanes during overtaking moves. In F1 there's a rule that if you gain or keep a place by going off-track, you have to give up that place. If JJ had just been told to give the place back rather than getting black flagged, it might have worked out better.

Though Hoss, you will be happy to know that Ricky Stenhouse Jr, as of right now, is leading for rookie of the year. So far beating out his girl friend, Danica Patrick.

Do you want to re-phrase that - you make him sound like Chris Brown.

[Garrett Duke]

I'm surprised they don't have an overhead camera angle to make things easier to see on restarts. In the Monaco Grand Prix last week there were a few occasions where drivers cut chicanes during overtaking moves. In F1 there's a rule that if you gain or keep a place by going off-track, you have to give up that place. If JJ had just been told to give the place back rather than getting black flagged, it might have worked out better.

Do you want to re-phrase that - you make him sound like Chris Brown.

NASCAR should do something different...though after the incident with the camera cables last week doubt they will be putting in another overhead camera any time soon.

I don't know who Chris Brown is...is he a singer? LOL. If it isn't country or Christian...or NKOTB, I know very little. Sorry. Though I know I didn't mean what I said in any bad way...other than for Ricky to beat Danica in rookie of the year points.

[Garrett Duke]

Onto Pocono this week...where it is supposedly rainy. Qualifying has been rained out and the forecast on Sunday doesn't look too good either. So whenever they have the race, the drivers will line up as of where they are in points. JJ will get pole.

And once again...the race will be on TNT. You go to FOX and you will not find the race...sadly. Really wish the races would stay on FOX...

[HossC]

Don't forget that it's the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend - I thought I'd mention it as it's on at the US friendly time of 2.00 PM ET on Sunday (that's actually the time the race starts, not when they begin thinking about starting the engines). They had rain before first practice today, and there may be rain for qualifying and the race, and I hope there is. The rain-delayed race of 2011 was one of the most exciting races of recent years. The circuit has straights where the drivers hit 200 mph, a 45 mph hairpin bend and the infamous "Wall of Champions" that has ended the races of many top drivers in the past.

[RogerDuke]

Onto Pocono this week...where it is supposedly rainy. Qualifying has been rained out and the forecast on Sunday doesn't look too good either. (

We haven't seen the sun here in northwestern Pennsylvania since Wednesday afternoon. The Poconos are in eastern Pennsylvania though. In fact, I'm so far from the Poconos the NASCAR race in Michigan is closer to me.