Kyle Busch Gets Second Career Win At New Hampshire
Kyle Busch learned some hard lessons last year as a rookie in the Nextel Cup series.
He put some of that knowledge to good use Sunday at New Hampshire
International Speedway on the way to his first victory of the season.
"We’re just trying to bide our time, making our own race and trying to
get it to the end in one piece," Busch said. "Two weeks ago, we
finished second [in Daytona] and last week we finished third [at
Chicago]. We’re just running our race out there and letting everybody
else make their mistakes."
A year ago, Busch was the best rookie in NASCAR’s top stock car series
and had two victories, but the driver who is now 21 years old wound up
a disappointing 20th in the season points and had as many bad results
as good ones.
"Last year, we made the mistake of worrying too much about what other teams were doing," Busch said. "We kind of lost touch with what we were needing to do. Now we don’t worry about anybody else during the race. We just worry about our own racecar."
That was evident Sunday as Busch drove hard and avoided the problems that brought out 11 caution flags and caused trouble for several of the top contenders.
Jeff Gordon Gets His First Win At Chicago
Jeff Gordon spun out Matt Kenseth with four laps to go, then held on to win Sunday’s Nextel Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway.
Fans showered the track with debris after the race, an apparent protest of Gordon’s racing tactics.
"I hate to win one like that,” Gordon said in Victory Lane. "Matt, he ran a great race.”
Gordon
and Kenseth tangled earlier this year during a race at Bristol Motor
Speedway, causing Gordon to shove Kenseth afterward. Gordon denied that
Sunday’s finish had anything to do with Bristol.
Gordon said he didn’t want to wreck Kenseth, insisting, "I wanted to race him.” But he added Kenseth was trying to block him.
"I’m not going to back down,” Gordon said. "I wanted to win.”
Tony Stewart Climbs Fence After Win At Daytona
Tony Stewart’s slump is over, his shoulder is fine and his fence-climbing is as good as ever.
His moves in a mosh pit leave something to be desired.
Stewart
was back to his on-track dominance and off-track hijinks, winning at
Daytona International Speedway by charging to the lead with two laps to
go Saturday night. He then celebrated with his trademark climbing of
the fence, but made the mistake of jumping into the crowd — where he
found himself overwhelmed by rowdy fans.
He had to be rescued
by his crew and several NASCAR officials, who cleared a path through
the mob for the beloved NASCAR champion.
"I made the mistake of
going down the ladder," he said. "I thought there was a gate there. I
didn’t find the gate and was in the mosh pit for a while."
But Stewart, who started climbing fences with this race last year, wasn’t going to disappoint the expectant crowd.
"There
was no way I was going to let those race fans down," he said. "It
started here … I was either going to get all the way up or I was
going to fall off and fall on my butt. But I wasn’t going to stop."
Jeff Gordon Gets First Win Of Season At Infineon
Jeff Gordon combined patience with a fast race car Sunday at Infineon Raceway to grab a record ninth road-course victory.
NASCAR’s
top "Road Warrior" started 11th in the 43-car field and took the lead
for the first time on Lap 49 of the 110-lap Dodge/Save Mart 350.
Two-time
series champion Terry Labonte grabbed the lead for a while with a slick
fuel strategy, but Gordon was able to hunt NASCAR’s "Iceman" down,
regain the lead on Lap 88 and eventually pull away for his fifth
victory on the picturesque 1.99-mile, 11-turn circuit.
It was a
big weekend for Gordon, who acknowledged that he told family and
friends Saturday night he is engaged to his longtime girlfriend Ingrid
Vandebosch.
"This has been just an awesome weekend," said Gordon, who led a race-high 44 laps.
Kasey Kahne Wins From The Pole At Michigan
With rain on the horizon and 37 cars between him and the lead, Kasey
Kahne knew he had his work cut out Sunday at Michigan International
Speedway.
"We knew we had a great car and we just started
battling back," said Kahne, who fell behind on Lap 47 of the 3M
Performance 400 when debris on his radiator caused his engine to
overheat and sent the youngster to the pits under the green flag.
That
knocked the popular 26-year-old racer, the 2004 Cup rookie of the year,
back to 38th in the 43-car field, a lap behind the leaders. But a
caution for light rain just seven laps later allowed Kahne to regain
the lead lap and it didn’t take long for him to drive back into
contention.
"We took two tires there once and passed some cars
on pit road and then we were able to get past some cars on the track,"
said Kahne, who started his No. 9 Evernham Motorsports Dodge from the
pole and got back to the front before a downpour cut the race short by
71 laps on the 2-mile oval.
Kahne, earning a series-best fourth
victory of the season and his third from the top qualifying spot, said,
"It’s pretty crazy to win in the rain and be in the right place there
at the end. But we did have the best car."
Denny Hamlin Wins At Pocono
Denny Hamlin overcame a blown tire early and solidified his spot as
NASCAR’s top rookie, surging late to win his first career Nextel Cup
race Sunday at Pocono Raceway.
Hamlin held off the challengers –
including teammate Tony Stewart — on the final five tenuous laps of
the Pocono 500 after the caution came out late following Jeff Gordon’s
scary accident.
Gordon’s brakes failed, sending his car hard into the wall with 10 laps left and destroying his No. 24 Chevrolet.
Gordon
was never able to turn, cutting through the grass and mud, leaving
parts of his car like brake pads strewn across the track. After several
tense moments, he climbed out — but did not finish the race and was
knocked out of the top 10 in the point standings.
The race was
red-flagged and delayed for 13 minutes as the foam SAFER barrier blocks
were put back together. The hood of Gordon’s car flew back as it was
driven off the track.
Gordon was checked and released at the infield medical center and said he was fine other than a minor headache.
Matt Kenseth Wins At Dover International Speedway
Matt Kenseth and Jamie McMurray made it a 1-2 finish for Roush Racing. And what a thrilling finish it was.
McMurray
was the driver to beat, holding the lead for most of the final 90 laps
Sunday until the patient Kenseth made his move, passing two drivers
late before the leader was firmly in view.
Kenseth reached
McMurray in lapped traffic, raced side-by-side, then dipped low on a
clean pass off the fourth turn with three laps left and pulled away to
win at Dover International Speedway.
"They were leaving me
plenty of room to pass," Kenseth said. "I just caught him at the right
time and was able to just barely squeeze in front."
Kevin
Harvick finished third, followed by Jeff Burton and Kyle Busch. Jimmie
Johnson maintained the points lead, finishing sixth after starting a
season-worst 42nd.
Kasey Kahne Wins At Charlotte
Jimmie Johnson’s reign ended in frantic — but fruitless — pursuit of Kasey Kahne.
There’s
finally a new Coca-Cola 600 winner, and somebody other than Johnson
celebrated in Victory Lane at Lowe’s Motor Speedway for the first time
in six races.
Kahne stopped Johnson’s streak of total dominance
by taking the lead with 29 laps to go, then pulling out to such a huge
lead that Johnson never had a chance to catch him.
Johnson, the
winner of the past three Coca-Cola 600s and seven of the last 10 races
at Lowe’s, finished second. He was well over 2 seconds behind Kahne,
who stopped his car at the finish line to grab the checkered flag and
celebrate with his team.
Greg Biffle Holds Off Gordon At Darlington
Greg Biffle finally snapped the streak of bad luck that has plagued
his season, holding off a late charge from Jeff Gordon to win at
Darlington Raceway on Saturday night.
It was the first win of the
season for Biffle, who had been unable to catch a single break all
year. He led the most laps in three other races, only to see his shot
at a win evaporate because of a wide-ranging batch of mishaps.
It
made for an agonizing start for the driver who had a series-high six
victories last season and finished second in the final standings. But
Biffle never allowed the bad breaks to frustrate him, focusing instead
on solid finishes that would turn around his season.
He did it
last week in Richmond, Va., settling in for a fourth-place finish. But
when his Ford proved strong enough to win Saturday night, he set out to
take his second consecutive Darlington race.
Jimmie Johnson Wins Aaron’s 499 At Talladega
Almost every move Jimmie Johnson made at Talladega Superspeedway seemed to be the wrong one.
Rivals
said he was too aggressive, showed too little patience. Dale Earnhardt
Jr. even called him an "idiot” for his role in accidents that wrecked
39 cars last year.
Johnson took the criticism, then tried to learn from his mistakes.
Boy, has he ever.
Johnson
erased a career full of Talladega troubles, barreling past teammate
Brian Vickers with one lap to go and holding off a charge from Tony
Stewart to win the rain-postponed Aaron’s 499 on Monday.
