photo credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR

The top-12 drivers in the point standings have been competing in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, a 10-race stretch to determine the championship. Over the course of the Chase, drivers have been mathematically eliminated based on points awarded during each race. With just one race remaining, three drivers have a realistic shot to win this year’s championship. Who will win the 2010 NASCAR championship?

Denny Hamlin? Jimmie Johnson? Kevin Harvick?

Denny Hamlin has been the current points leader after the past two races. Hamlin has won a series-high eight races this year. He turned heads when he had to have emergency surgery to repair a torn ACL during an off-week and then returned the following week to climb back into his car and win the race. This would be his first Sprint Cup title.

Reigning series champion Jimmie Johnson is on his ‘drive for 5′. He has won four consecutive series championships and has been chosen as the favorite to win this year as well. However, this is the first time in the past four years Johnson has found himself second in the point standings at this point in the season.

For Kevin Harvick, he spent much of the ‘regular’ season on top of the point standings. This would be Harvick’s first Sprint Cup championship although he has won two Nationwide Series titles (2001, 2006).

Only 46 points separates first-to-third heading into the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It’s the closest point margin in the Chase for the Sprint Cup since the format debuted in 2004.

Current Chase Standings:

Any one of the three drivers can win making this the closest title race since the Chase began in 2004.

For Hamlin to win the championship regardless of where Johnson or Harvick finishes at Homestead, he must finish second having led the most laps or if he wins.

For Johnson, he must win and lead the most laps regardless of where the other drivers finish.

For Harvick, he must win and lead the most laps with Johnson finishing 4th or worse and Hamlin finishing 7th or worse.

Season Stats (following 35 of 36 races):

Stats at Homestead:

Next:
Sunday, November 21st – Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (season finale)

photo credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR

Even though Edwards has won two consecutive Nationwide races, it was a 70-race winless streak he snapped in the Sprint Cup Series.

“A win is very important to us.  It’s a very big accomplishment for us.  I think it’s something that we needed for our confidence,” Edwards said. “We needed it as a payoff for all the hard work the guys have put in at the shop, the engine department.  It would be nice to get another one at Homestead, but to go into the off-season knowing that we’re getting better, looks like we have a legitimate shot to finish fourth in the points, to be in the All-Star Race next season, to have that energy going forward. All those things are good.”

Edwards led five times for a total of 93 laps Sunday including the final 46. Similar to the other NASCAR events over the weekend at Phoenix, the race ended after a long green flag run rather than multiple late race cautions which has become the norm. Fuel mileage began to come into play as drivers ran 72 laps uninterrupted until the checkered flag. Edwards picked up the lead for the final 46 laps when points leader Denny Hamlin surrendered his lead to pit for gas.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IToW3jOXEU

Edwards didn’t lead the most laps of the afternoon. Denny Hamlin led a race-high 190 of 312 laps until he had to come down pit road for fuel with 14 laps remaining. “Usually we have the best fuel mileage.  That part I just don’t understand,” Hamlin said.  “I can save fuel pretty well, but I was never alerted to save fuel.  So I assumed that everyone was going to have to pit.  I didn’t even think it was a question.”

Coming out of the pits 19th on the track, Hamlin was only able to pedal up to a 12th place finish losing ground in the standings with just one more race left in the season. “Trust me, I’d rather race next week knowing I need to go out there and I need to win the race than knowing I need to finish 15th,” Hamlin said.  “That’s the mentality I’m going to have next week, is to win the race.  Full-court press will be on.  It will be one of those things where you’ll probably see me as aggressive as I’ve been all year.

“It’s just one of those days that happens in racing.  That’s why we run these races.  Strategy is part of it.  Unfortunately we just had the bad end of the strategy today.”

Ryan Newman scored a runner-up finish at Phoenix followed by Joey Logano and Greg Biffle.

Defending series champion Jimmie Johnson finished 5th with Chase contender Kevin Harvick coming in 6th. Neither one of the two drivers chasing Hamlin for the championship led a lap in the race.

Matt Kenseth finished seventh with Mark Martin, Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray rounding out the top-10.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 5 cautions for 25 laps: 3-6 (#71 accident Turn 1); 60-65 (#12 accident Turn 1); 102-105 (Debris on track); 223-228 (#7 spin Turn 3); 235-239 (#38 spin Turn 2)

There were 13 lead changes among 6 drivers: C. Edwards 1-6; Kurt Busch 7-26; C. Edwards 27-60; B. Labonte 61-62; C. Edwards 63-65; D. Hamlin 66-102; C. Edwards 103-105; D. Hamlin 106-170; Kyle Busch 171-172; M. Kenseth 173; D. Hamlin 174-224; Kyle Busch 225-228; D. Hamlin 229-265; C. Edwards 266-312

Kasey Kahne had an unusual incident:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjii03I7UY0

Next:
Sunday, November 21st -- Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (season finale)

photo credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

Edwards led a whopping 153 of the race’s 200 laps with what he described to his team as his “best car ever” in the series after crossing the finish line.

“I wouldn’t have imagined this thing would be that fast today,” Edwards said. “A great day for us. Man, it’s just unbelievable how fast this thing is. After three or four laps, I could do whatever I wanted with it. I’m really blessed to have the crew that I have.”

As teams prepared for a late-race caution as typically is the norm, we were treated to a long 56-lap final green flag run instead with Edwards crossing the finish line over five seconds ahead of Kevin Harvick.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=crQ7kW8vJIk

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQDcamyDhj4

Starting from the pole, Joey Logano led the first 23 laps finished third.

The recently appointed series champion, Brad Keselowski went home fourth followed by Reed Sorenson, Aric Almirola, Colin Braun, Justin Allgaier, Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Steve Wallace completed the top-10.

Always a tough competitor in the series, Kyle Busch led twice for 10 laps and had one of the better cars on the track until he cut his tire late in the race. Busch finished 16th, the last car on the lead lap.

In her eleventh series start, Danica Patrick once again found trouble on the track and finished 32nd.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWKSYv5sGU8

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 4 cautions for 21 laps: 23-29 (Fluid on track); 63-68 (Debris on track); 118-121 (#00 accident Turn 2); 140-143 (Debris on track)

There were 7 lead changes among 5 drivers: J. Logano 1-23; T. Raines 24-29; A. Almirola 30-37; C. Edwards 38-64; K. Busch 65-73; C. Edwards 74-143; K. Busch 144; C. Edwards 145-200

Next:
Saturday, November 20th -- Ford 300 at Miami-Homestead Speedway (season finale)

photo credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

Leading twice for a race-high 97 of 150 laps, Clint Bowyer easily beat Kyle Busch to the finish line by a little over a second.

“Everybody back at the shop did such a great job building this thing,” Bowyer said. “They were excited about it before we came down here, and any time these guys get excited about building a truck back at the shop, you know as a racecar driver that you’re going to have a good hot rod, and we certainly did.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-T1ISzrFSM

“I love this series,” Bowyer said. “I think this is some of the best racing we have in NASCAR. It’s fun to be back in it.” This is Bowyer’s second series victory in only starts. His last win in the series came at Texas Motor Speedway in November of 2006.

In a race that only saw four leaders, Busch was out in front for 25 laps.

“The guys gave me a great Z-Line Designs Tundra, but the 2 (Clint Bowyer) was the class of the field tonight,” runner-up Busch said. “We had a great points night tonight. Obviously, there are two winners here with Bodine and Clint, but maybe next week will be ours.”

In his first year as an owner and driver, Busch with Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) leads the series owners standings by 120 points over champion Todd Bodine’s #30 Germain Racing entry.

Johnny Sauter finished third followed by Matt Crafton, Aric Almirola and Mike Skinner.

Starting from the pole, rookie Austin Dillon led the first 24 laps and finished solidly in the top-10, going home 7th.

David Starr, Justin Lofton and Bobby Hamilton Jr rounded out the top-10.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 5 cautions for 27 laps: 18-23 (#89 accident Turn 4); 54-59 (Fluid on track); 62-66 (#4,9,25 accident Turn 2); 90-95 (#72 accident Turn 4); 115-118 (#3, 33 accident Turn 2)

There were 4 lead changes among 4 drivers: A. Dillon # 1-24; C. Bowyer 25-66; K. Busch 67-91; J. Buescher 92-95; C. Bowyer 96-150

Because Todd Bodine leads the standings by 202 points over 2nd place competitor, Aric Almirola, Bodine officially clinched his second series championship with one race remaining. Bodine becomes just the third driver in truck series history to win multiple championships behind Ron Hornaday Jr and Jack Sprague. He’s also the third driver to win the championship with one race left in the season behind Greg Biffle and Ron Hornaday Jr.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YNP3Epr6xE

Next:
Friday, November 19th -- Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (season finale)

photo credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR

It came down to the final restart, a three-lap dash to the finish and holding off Matt Kenseth for Hamlin to score his series-leading eighth win of the season at Texas.

“It was exciting,” Hamlin said about the closing laps. “I was able to side draft the 17 (Matt Kenseth) enough on the front straightaway to keep beside him so where he couldn’t clear me off of (turn) 2, and that was going to be very important. But when he cleared me in the middle of (turns) 1 and 2, he did it by gassing up really aggressive and early and I knew it was going to be a hard time for him to exit the corner that way, and he obviously ran out of racetrack and it opened up the door for us to cross over. For me it was great to win a race that way. I love racing for a win like that. Any driver will tell you if there’s one guy you’re going to trust underneath you, it’s going to be Matt. Obviously it’s great for him to have a good finish and obviously go for a win. But for me, it was very gratifying to win a race that way.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqOKnOHj_Ys

Kenseth held on for a runner-up finish. “I got a really good restart and he (Denny Hamlin) pulled as close as he could to me to get the wind off of me, which in lap 100 you wouldn’t do that to somebody because they’d be mad, but over last ten laps that’s totally fair. I’d probably be trying to do the same thing as much as I could to get the inside guy loose and get him uncomfortable,” Kenseth said. “I probably shouldn’t have been holding the wheel as much as I did but wanted to get a nice run off the corner, and as soon as he got away from my side for whatever reason and got behind me, my car just took off. It just felt like it raised the car half an inch and went straight, and I had to get out of the gas, so I had to keep from hitting the wall. Part of that is the way I tried to drive the corner and part of it was maybe from not having him outside me anymore, not having the car turning as loose as it was when he was there. I don’t know, it was a heck of a race down to the finish. Like I say, you hate it when you get beat.”

Hamlin wasn’t the most dominate driver Sunday afternoon, but was there at the end when it mattered most. “You know, all I can say is just as soon as the shade went down, or the sun went down, our car really seemed to take off, and just a lot of hard work to put it all together,” Hamlin explained. He led twice for 31 laps including the last 28. Hamlin has posted seven top-10 finishes in the past eight races and has won two of the last three giving him the lead in the standings with just two races remaining.

“I’m going to race Phoenix as if I’m 33 (points) behind to be honest with you,” Hamlin said. “There’s no comfortable margin going into Homestead because anything can happen. So for me Phoenix being an up-and-down racetrack for me, I’ve got to really be focused on practice day to get what I need to give Mike the information that I need and just 100 percent stay focused is all I can do. But like I say, I’ll not going to be conservative having the lead. I’m going to want to stretch that out before we get to Homestead. So that’s pretty much my mindset.”

Reigning series champ Jimmie Johnson went home 9th after fighting for track position all day due to several unusually slow pit stops by his team. Second in the standings, Johnson trails Hamlin by 33 points.

“Well, the last four years we have been in a different position,” Johnson said. “I have lost plenty of championships in the past and this is racing and it doesn’t come easy and you are not going to get what you want every single year and every single weekend. I can promise you this. I am trying as hard as I can; I know my team is, and we are doing everything we can. Thirty-three points back is not where we want to be but we are going to work to get back on top.”

Kevin Harvick continues to stay in the hunt for the championship. Finishing sixth, Harvick is 59 points out of the lead.

“It was actually a pretty mellow day,” Harvick said. “I didn’t think we’d be anywhere in the hunt to tell you the truth after practice and they did a great job getting the car ready. When it got dark, our Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet, we just got really loose and we got in the wall, twice actually. They fixed that and everything went as good as it could.”

The afternoon at Texas belonged to Greg Biffle. He lead a total of eleven times for a race-high 224 of 334 laps, but suffered transmission problems as the laps ticked down.

“It is really tough,” Biffle said about his day. “We know we have had this problem and have neglected to fix it. We have had numerous opportunities. We had bad drive train vibration problems and today it bit us. It shook the guts out of the transmission today and they still don’t know what it is. They think they know what it is, but I am not sure if they really know.” Still, Biffle was able to hang in there for a 5th place finish.

It was a wild day at Texas rampant with tempers and a pit crew swap.

Following a spin out on lap 160, Kyle Busch was penalized a lap for speeding on pit road angering him enough to give a one finger salute to his pit box official all caught during the live television broadcast. NASCAR penalized Busch two more laps for his behavior.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPB_x8hRaYY

Kyle Busch: “We’ve had fast race cars this whole weekend — probably had a good enough car like Denny’s (Hamlin) to try to win the race, but it’s just real unfortunate there. I got spun out and just everything else went downhill from there. Through the whole day we had a really fast race car and the guys on this M&M’s team gave me a great race car that was fast, that was capable of winning, but it’s just unfortunate that I tried pulling back and getting down to the bottom lane and I got spun out in doing that. Where I had another guy earlier in the race do that to me and I let him in. You get spun out and wrecked like that and you’re not supposed to lose your cool — I mean, hello. I came down pit road and we got the right sides changed and then tried to get back out there. I wasn’t trying to speed, but apparently I must’ve been a couple lights over or something like that on my tac where it was just a small speeding penalty, but it wasn’t intentional. Obviously, I got the penalty for that and then the ensuing ones later. I apologize to all of my guys for letting them down and for getting so behind today that we could never make it up.” Busch finished 32nd, two laps down.

It was a battle between the two Jeffs in the Chase -- Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon that ended in a fist throwing altercation during the seventh caution period.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmDrOqr6O2Q

Jeff Burton: “Coming off of turn four, he (Jeff Gordon) drove underneath me. I should have let him go and I didn’t. The caution came out and he pulled up next to me to tell me he was upset at me and he went on. Then I went to pull up next to him to acknowledge him, to say he was right and I turned left and he was turning left and we just hung up. When we hung, off we went. I honestly don’t know what happened. It was my fault. 100% it was my fault. It was like once we got together, I couldn’t get off of him. I didn’t mean to hit him. I meant to pull up to him and tell him he was right because he was upset with me for what happened off of turn four. I should have let him go. You can’t see off of there right but you can’t see over there right now. You don’t to be side-by-side. I don’t blame him for being for mad. I’d have been mad too.”

Jeff Gordon: “He (Jeff Burton) was trying to talk to me and explain to me what happened. He felt like I came up on him and that he didn’t mean to wreck me but I’m sorry, I will never believe that. I’ve been driving a race car long enough to know what your intentions are and I know what they were there. I think maybe if a guy wrecks you prior to that but I didn’t do anything to him. I was just showing him I wasn’t happy. I didn’t touch him. And he just flat-out wrecked me. I don’t know. The last few weeks have not exactly gone our way and I feel like what happened in Martinsville, I deserved a little bit of that, not all of it but maybe I did some through the past, but I can’t think of anything me and Jeff Burton have ever had a disagreement with that should have led to that.”

Burton left 36th while Gordon was 37th.

With Gordon out of the race and his team mate Jimmie Johnson struggling after troublesome pit stops, the call was immediately made to replace the #48 pit crew with the #24 team.

“All I can do is give 100 percent on my side,” Johnson said. “I don’t train the crew guys. I don’t work on the car. There’s only so much I can do. I’m going all I can and I know Chad (Knaus, crew chief) is and I know these guys are. Even though today it was an embarrassing moment for my over-the-wall guys, they’re giving all they can. Sometimes you just get beat. That’s the way it is and today it just didn’t work out.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3EEeZAOaZY

“Ultimately it is my decision obviously, but we needed to do something,” Knaus said. “This is a team. The 24/48 shop has always operated as a team and that is the way that we see it. It is sad that we had to do that but in interest of Hendrick Motorsports and what we have to do, you have to do that stuff. It is not uncommon. We’ve seen it happen before and we’ll get home and try to get it fixed up and get our boys back.”

It’s the first time in four years that Johnson hasn’t been the points leader at this point in the season.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 9 cautions for 40 laps: 13-16 (Fluid on track); 43-46 (Debris on track); 60-63 (#77 accident Turn 3); 133-136 (#56 accident Turn 4); 152-156 (#56 accident Turn 2); 160-162 (#18 spin Turn 1); 192-200 (#56 accident Turn 3); 301-304 (Debris on track); 329-331 (#26 spin Turn 2)

There were 33 lead changes among 13 drivers:  0; G. Biffle 1-13; R. Gordon 14; G. Biffle 15-43; D. Gilliland 44; M. Bliss 45; M. Martin 46-48; G. Biffle 49-60; P. Carpentier 61; G. Biffle 62-96; M. Martin 97-103; G. Biffle 104-108; J. Johnson 109; D. Hamlin 110-111; M. Martin 112-133; C. Mears 134; J. Logano 135-137; G. Biffle 138-152; A. Lally 153; J. Logano 154-156; G. Biffle 157; J. Logano 158; G. Biffle 159-176; J. Logano 177-194; A. Lally 195-197; J. Logano 198-200; G. Biffle 201-244; K. Harvick 245; M. Kenseth 246-247; G. Biffle 248-286; J. Logano 287-288; G. Biffle 289-301; M. Martin 302-305; D. Hamlin 306-334

Next:
Sunday, November 14th -- Kobalt Tools 500 at Phoenix International Raceway

photo credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

Keselowski became the 22nd driver in the series 29-year history to win the Nationwide championship and the first Dodge driver to do so. Unbelievably, this is team owner Roger Penske’s first NASCAR championship.

“I’m proud of the effort all season long. Everyone at the shop that gets us to the races and gives us the fast race cars that we need to win races and a championship. It’s very special,” Keselowski said.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToiY9uegVwQ

Roger Penske, Penske Racing: “What a terrific season it has been for Brad and the No. 22 Discount Tire/Ruby Tuesday Dodge team in the Nationwide Series. Penske Racing is very excited to share our organization’s first NASCAR championship with our partners at Dodge. We want to thank Ralph Gilles and his team at Dodge Motorsports for their hard work and dedication and we look forward to many more celebrations in Victory Circle with both the Chargers and the Challengers in the future.”

Ralph Gilles, Dodge President and CEO: “Winning the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship is a remarkable achievement for Brad Keselowski, Penske Racing and Dodge. Brad not only won the championship, but drove the Dodge Challenger to victory in two of the four new car races. The countless hours spent maximizing the performance of the Dodge Charger and Dodge Challenger for competition has produced the ultimate reward – the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship. We’re extremely proud of our partnership with the entire team at Penske Racing. The competition this year has been intense, making this championship even more satisfying. This is the perfect end to an amazing season.”

Keselowski is the fourth driver from Michigan to win a NASCAR national touring series title behind Johnny Benson, Jack Sprague and Benny Parsons.

“Congratulations to Brad, Mr. Penske and the entire Nationwide Series team for winning this year’s championship,” Michigan International Speedway track president Roger Curtis said. “It doesn’t happen that often when a Michigan native wins a NASCAR series championship so it’s with great pride as a fellow Michigander that I congratulate him. He makes our state very proud.”

photo credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

photo credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images

Edwards celebrated by not only giving fans his signature back flip, but grabbed the flag and ran into the grandstands. For his third win of the season, Edwards had to hold off a dominant Kyle Busch.

After leading three times for a race-high 107 laps, Busch lost the lead to Edwards on a restart with 10 to go. Kyle did get one more chance to retake the lead after Clint Bowyer’s engine blew with 3 to go setting up a green white checkered finish for the 10th time this season.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxb2ikReq8A

“It was a good day,” Busch said. “It started out really good. Our car was fast there in the beginning, but we just didn’t quite have the speed it took there toward the end of the race with the way the 22 (Brad Keselowski) and the 60 (Carl Edwards) made adjustments and got going really, really good. We just didn’t have the speed quite like they did. Through the corners it seemed like I could make up a little ground, but I couldn’t maintain it down the next straightaway. Disappointing day finishing second.”

The points leader Brad Keselowski started 16th, lead one lap and finished third which was exactly what he had to do in order to clinch the series championship with two races remaining.

“We wanted to win the race. It was a great fight there at the end,” Keselowski said. “I’m thrilled for my Ruby Tuesday/Discount Tire Dodge team. This is an awesome team that just fights real hard. We wanted to win the race; it just didn’t go in our favor. We had a strong showing, placing third. That’s what it takes to run up front and be there at the end. I’m proud of the effort all season long. Everyone at the shop that gets us to the races and gives us the fast race cars that we need to win races and a championship. It’s very special.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToiY9uegVwQ

“What a terrific season it has been for Brad and the No. 22 Discount Tire/Ruby Tuesday Dodge team in the Nationwide Series,” team owner Roger Penske said. “Penske Racing is very excited to share our organization’s first NASCAR championship with our partners at Dodge. We want to thank Ralph Gilles (Dodge President and CEO) and his team at Dodge Motorsports for their hard work and dedication and we look forward to many more celebrations in Victory Circle with both the Chargers and the Challengers in the future.”

“Winning the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship is a remarkable achievement for Brad Keselowski, Penske Racing and Dodge,” said Gilles. “Brad not only won the championship, but drove the Dodge Challenger to victory in two of the four new car races. The countless hours spent maximizing the performance of the Dodge Charger and Dodge Challenger for competition has produced the ultimate reward – the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship. We’re extremely proud of our partnership with the entire team at Penske Racing. The competition this year has been intense, making this championship even more satisfying. This is the perfect end to an amazing season.”

Joey Logano finished 4th followed by Martin Truex Jr, Jason Leffler, Reed Sorenson, Kevin Harvick, Paul Menard and Steve Wallace rounded out the top-10.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 5 caution flags for 24 laps: 44-48 (#30 accident Turn 4); 82-85 (#05 accident Turn 2); 148-152 (Debris on track); 186-190 (#42 accident Turn 2); 199-203 (Fluid on track)

There were 10 lead changes among 7 drivers: J. Buescher 1-4; K. Busch 5-43; C. Edwards 44-55; R. Stenhouse Jr. 56-82; K. Busch 83-139; Brad Keselowski 140; A. Almirola 141-143; K. Busch 144-154; C. Edwards 155-186; T. Bayne 187-190; C. Edwards 191-205

Next:
Saturday, November 13th -- Phoenix International Raceway

photo credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images

“This Tundra was awesome tonight,” Busch said. “I can’t thank all the guys on this KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) team enough. They did an awesome job. It’s fun to be able to have the success we’ve had and hopefully we can continue to get some more for next year.”

Busch dominated leading three times for 80 of 147 laps including the last 20 after passing points leader and rival Todd Bodine on the final restart.

“On that last restart there I got a good jump,” Busch said. “I got a good jump and didn’t beat Todd (Bodine) to the line and ended up kind of being alongside him into Turn 1, and I don’t know if my lane just had a better draft or what—we pulled away down the backstretch and held on there.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLJWsX_ZWmE

“I don’t know whether I got a better push from behind, I had a better lane that we drafted, or what happened there, but he didn’t stay next to me as well as I expected him (Todd Bodine) to,” Busch said. “I got clear of him, and I was like, Man, this right here was fortune. I wasn’t expecting to be clear so quick. I figured I’d have to race him.”

This is the second victory for Busch at Texas after winning last year’s fall truck race there. What’s an even more impressive stat is Busch picked up a series-high seventh win of the season in 14 starts. He’ll be busy this weekend as Kyle will compete in all three NASCAR races at Texas.

Johnny Sauter was a tough contender leading 31 laps in the race himself.  With 55 to go, Sauter ran out of fuel and had to spend the rest of the night having to make back ground. Still, Sauter scored a runner-up finish.

“We just ran out of fuel,” Sauter said. “The upside of it is we had the dominant truck here tonight. We passed Busch on the track for the lead and we held them all off. We needed a caution to get the track position we lost after that stop and I couldn’t believe we got it. We had a shot at the end but it’s still frustrating.”

Matt Crafton won the pole, but had to start the race from the back due to unapproved changes his team made to the truck after qualifying. Crafton fought back for a third place finish.

“I have no idea what happened to the truck over night,” Crafton said. “It looked like someone sat on it, leaned on it, or dropped something heavy on the bed at the base of the spoiler. We had to go in and do some welding and NASCAR said we had to go to the back. I was anxious because this is a fast track and there were some drivers in the field that had never been here before. And, just as I expected, there was some trouble on the first lap and it was right in front of us. I barely got by, but we could have been knocked out of the race on the very first lap when we should have been up there leading.”

Todd Bodine finished fourth followed by Elliott Sadler, James Buescher, Aric Almirola, Mike Skinner, Parker Kligerman and Ricky Carmichael.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 4 caution flags for 22 laps:  3-5 (#7,20 accident Turn 4); 42-48 (#3 accident Turn 1); 53-59 (#11, 25, 33 accident Turn 2); 122-126 (#6 spin Turn 2)

There were 10 lead changes among 7 drivers:  0; K. Busch 1-7; R. Hornaday Jr. 8; K. Busch 9-60; J. Sauter 61-91; T. Bodine 92-98; A. Almirola 99-100; J. White 101-102; B. Hamilton Jr. 103-110; T. Bodine 111-126; K. Busch 127-147

Todd Bodine leads the driver standings by 230 points over 2nd place driver, Aric Almirola. With just two races remaining, Bodine can clinch his second championship next Friday at Phoenix International Raceway if he: finishes fourth without leading any laps; finishes fifth and leads at least a lap or finishes sixth after leading the most laps.

“I think that just shows how good our guys are and how good Jr (Mike Hillman Jr, crew chief) and the team have been getting the truck setup,” Bodine said. “I’ve said quite a few times, the first five races we struggled with making them drive good and then went to work and figured it out and they’ve been driving great — that’s what allows you to keep that consistency. Even on a bad night and a bad run like tonight, bad tires at the end and pushing like crazy, we still finished fourth. I think it just shows how good the team really is.”

Kyle Busch has a shot to win the 2010 owners championship for his own racing organization, Kyle Busch Motorsports. With his second consecutive race win, Busch extended his lead in the owners standings to 72 points over Germain Racing’s #30 entry driven by Bodine.

“The cool thing about it is it’s our first year and we’re in the running for it,” said Busch. “We’ve got a great opportunity to go to Phoenix and to go to Homestead and score enough points to win this deal. We also can give it up, too. We’ve got to be careful in what we do and make sure the preparation is there. For our first year to come out here and be so strong and have the guys that I have pulling every single week for us, working as hard as we work and having the partners that we have, they’re pumped about it. They love every minute of it. It’s been fun. We’re still looking for more next year and secure some bigger sponsors for some more races, but hopefully we can get some of that done during the off-season and go to Daytona and look forward to the full year.”

Next:
Friday, November 12th -- Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway

photo credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images

After the white flag was displayed, a 5-car accident ended the race under caution causing NASCAR to sort the finishing order from the last scoring loop the leaders passed on the track. The process continued to keep officials busy several hours after the race ended. Racing side-by-side, teammates Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick had to wait upwards 5 minutes after the caution flag to find out which one was the winner.

“I thought we had it for sure,” Bowyer said. “Door to door there and all of a sudden Dillon (Mike, spotter) is yelling at me in my ear that the caution was coming out. I looked over to make sure I was ahead of him. I thought I was, but I didn’t know.”

“Cool that it came down to myself and Clint,” runner-up Harvick said. “We didn’t know who won. I knew that we had beat him to the start/finish line, but I didn’t know when the caution had come out. Great day for RCR (Richard Childress Racing). Great day for our points position.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl1Cczj7iRk

“I felt pretty good,” Bowyer said. “I knew I had Juan behind me. I just wanted to have ECR power pushing me and I knew I had a good shot at it (the win). Certainly we did that with Juan (Pablo Montoya). I didn’t know if his motor was going to last but we were fixin’ to find out. He wasn’t going to let off of me and I appreciate his help today. Kevin (Harvick) coming up on the outside.”

It’s the second win during the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup for Bowyer, having also won the first Chase race held at New Hampshire. Bowyer was penalized 150 driver points after his car failed post-race inspection dropping him from 2nd to 12th in the standings.

“You know, that deal was, I’m still frustrated. Took the wind out of my sails. The two races after that whole mess, it was a disaster. If we had that back, we were along our normal routine, I don’t think we would have had those bad runs that we’ve had. It’s pretty uncharacteristic of our race team to have those two wins here in the Chase and then three really bad races,” Bowyer said. “It has been very frustrating. Haven’t had much to look forward to. Didn’t have much to look forward to, other than the fact I knew my racecar was very, very fast going into this race. I knew there was a lot of preparation put in place. The engine boys were very happy. When those boys are excited about something, you better get excited as a racecar driver because you’ve got something that is probably going to be an advantage.”

Montoya left third. “The best chance I had to win the race was push Bowyer up front, when we got to the line, try to make a move,” Montoya said. “I’ve been twice here, I’ve been running second or third, whatever. Every time you’re there, a caution comes out on the last lap. If you make a move, then it doesn’t come out and you finish 20th. It’s what it is.”

Bowyer and Harvick’s RCR teammate, Jeff Burton tangled with Dale Earnhardt Jr on lap 135.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IERvajn3vVg

“I got into Jeff and didn’t hit him square and turned him down the race track and ended up wrecking him. We just didn’t hit him square, misjudged the push I was going to give him and did it incorrectly,” Earnhardt said. “Cost his crew a great race car and opportunity to win. He had a really fast car, I apologize to Richard (Childress) and all of those guys over there. My boys too, they worked really hard on my car. We had a terrific engine today and a real fast car. We were racing along there, probably more racing than we should have been doing, but it is fun. I just kind of caught up and got a little over zealous there getting ready to push Jeff there.” Earnhardt was out in front for 24 laps, the most in the race.

“It’s just racing,” Burton said. “Junior and I work really well today and pushed each other a lot. We just didn’t get lined up that time and I guess he got me in the right-rear quarter panel and got me turned around. It wasn’t anything on purpose. We just didn’t get lined up. It’s going to happen some more and things are going to start to get busy right now. It all got started going into Turn 3 and it got three-wide and it kind of changed everbody’s line a little bit and I think I moved a little different than he thought I was going to. He didn’t do anything wrong; it’s just plain and simple racing.”

Burton wound up 41st while Earnhardt went home 39th.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

For lap-by-lap coverage, click here (nascar.com)

There were 6 cautions for 19 laps: 70-73 (#12, 43 accident tri-oval); 135-138 (#1, 31, 88 accident turn 4); 142-145 (#26, 29, 33, 34, 42, 47 accident turn 2); 153-155 (Debris); 182-184 (Debris; 188-188 (#14, 37, 43, 82, 83 accident frontstretch).

There were 87 lead changes among 26 drivers, close to the new record at Talladega of 88 lead changes (among 29 drivers) set this past April.

Only three races remain in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Jimmie Johnson continues to lead the point standings with Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick still in the hunt for the 2010 championship.

Johnson spent the entire race riding in the back until the closing laps of the race when he and his Hendrick teammate Jeff Gordon made a serious charge to the front. Johnson lead two laps, but lost drafting help when Gordon dropped back fearing he was losing his engine. Johnson finished 7th.

“We’ve known all along that the No. 11 (Hamlin) and the No. 29 (Harvick) would be strong in all the Chase races; and my good tracks are their good tracks as well. These final three tracks I consider all good ones for the No. 48 team and I know they are for the No. 11 and the No. 29. I think the fans are going to have something exciting to watch and it’s a very, very small points margin right now. I’ve just got to go out and lead laps and win races.”

Hamlin finished 9th after having to come back from being a lap down. Hamlin lead nine laps, himself.

“It wasn’t very fun,” Hamlin described his day. “I didn’t get to race as hard as I would like to at times and thought I was in a good position there. I was actually in a great position with two (laps) to go. I had the 5 (Mark Martin) pushing me, but as soon as we passed the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) he stopped pushing and that’s teamwork. That’s what I would expect of a teammate. We were in a bad spot. We weren’t around our teammates when it counted right there at the end.”

Hamlin was 6 points out of the lead heading to Talladega, but now finds himself 14 points back.

With his runner-up finish, Harvick made some ground on the lead from 62 to currently 34 points.

“We came here to obviously lead some laps, run up front and try to win the race. Obviously we came up one short of that, but we beat the guys that we needed to,” Harvick said on pit road after climbing from his #29 ride.

Next:
Sunday, Nov. 7th -- AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway

photo credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

A photo finish? Yes. Controversial? Perhaps.

Busch beat out Aric Almirola by a mere .002 seconds. It will go down in series history as the closest finish ever since the advent of electronic scoring. Call it deja-vu at Talladega. It came down to a photo finish between Busch and Almirola last year for the race win.

“That was cool,” Busch said. “Man, Aric (Almirola) deserved to win the race and deserved it from last year. I had Johnny (Sauter) pushing on me and I was getting loose through the tri-oval -- just trying to stay with the 51 (Almirola). I turned it back to the bottom to try to straighten it back out and I was still loose alongside of him. I thought the 13 (Sauter) was going to my bottom so I wanted to block him. It was just crazy there at the end. I can’t thank Traxxas, Toyota Tundra -- these guys do an awesome job here at Kyle Busch Motorsports. M&M’s, Flexco, NOS Energy Drink, Gillette and my good friend Jim Hunter who passed away this morning. Thoughts go to him and his family and everybody. Real proud of all these guys and this is a cool one.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRvdyIeY4EQ

Kyle Busch: “That’s exactly what I thought -- I was like, I just want to push him (Aric Almirola). I got under his back bumper off of four and we came to the tri-oval and I started getting loose. I thought I had Johnny (Sauter) pushing me so I kind of steered up a little bit to try to save it. I couldn’t go too high because Johnny was going to go to my bottom so I had to bring it back down. I got underneath Aric and at that point you just have to stay in the throttle and keep digging. I don’t even know where the yellow line was. For as loose as my stuff was through there, I was trying to save it and get away from those guys and not spin out. All in all, great job by these guys. Everybody with Camping World and all the great folks -- the fans in the stands is cool too.”

Aric Almirola: “I was at his (Kyle Busch) mercy. He could have went to my outside, he could have went to my inside. I tried to do everything I could to try to protect as long as I could. I think NASCAR maybe should look at that. It looked like he went below the yellow line right there before the start-finish line. It was really close, but I hate to lose one like that. These guys work awfully hard on our speedway stuff. To lose one like that is bad. He’s below the yellow line.”

Johnny Sauter: “When you’re at the end of these races you have to get aggressive. The give and take that you do in the first 80 laps is out the window and it’s about taking whatever you can get. Almirola pushed us to the front and he did what he had to do to get hooked up with the guy he said he’d work with so he hung us out to dry. If I didn’t go with him we’d have been shuffled back to the end of the line and our day would have been done.”

With Busch on the yellow line, Almirola met with NASCAR officials following the race to discuss the finish.

“The reason they gave me was that Kyle’s truck was sideways when he was next to me, and that’s what made him go below the yellow line,” Almirola said. “I didn’t force him below the yellow line, they didn’t tell me that I did. They said that he went below the yellow line because he was trying to regain control of his truck. I guess they’re going to have to do a better job elaborating in the driver’s meeting on what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable.”

It’s the second consecutive series victory for Busch at Talladega and a series-leading sixth win of the season. Busch has now scored 83 victories in NASCAR competition across the top three touring series: Sprint Cup Series -- 19, Nationwide Series -- 42, Camping World Truck Series -- 22.

The “Big One”, typical to racing on the big track, happened with just three laps remaining which took out the series points leader and the pole sitter.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBPnzkEWk6Y

“That’s a shame that things like that happen,” Bodine said. “I think the 95 (Grant Enfinger) just gave me the shove from hell and thought he was going to bump me somewhere. Turned me sideways and caused a big wreck. My guys being the great crew they are were trying to put the truck back together to pick up a few spots.” Bodine finished 18th.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbxzY4w_HO8

Ron Hornaday Jr. was holding the steering wheel when he walked out of the infield care center. “Harvick always told me that if I couldn’t win to make sure I brought the steering wheel home so here it is,” he joked referring to his team owner, Kevin Harvick. Starting from the pole, Hornaday lead three times for a race-high 49 laps and will be credited with a 21st place finish.

Matt Crafton finished 4th followed by Ricky Carmichael, James Buescher, Timothy Peters, rookie Austin Dillon, Jason White and Craig Goess Jr. rounded out the top-10.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 5 cautions for 19 laps: 24-32 (#6, 7 accident turn 1); 61-64 (#9 accident tri-oval); 75-77 (#17, 84 accident turn 1); 87-88 (#57 stopped on track); 93-93 (#2, 5, 30, 33, 60, 95 accident turn 1)

There were 15 lead changes among 8 drivers: R. Hornaday Jr. 0; J. White 1-9; R. Hornaday Jr. 10-52; K. Schrader 53; R. Hornaday Jr. 54-58; C. Fontaine 59-61; M. Skinner 62; C. Fontaine 63-64; M. Crafton 65-68; K. Busch 69-74; J. White 75-77; R. Hornaday Jr. 78; C. Fontaine 79-88; K. Busch 89; A. Almirola 90-94; K. Busch 95

Todd Bodine continues to lead in the standings by 216 points over 2nd place driver, Aric Almirola.

Next:
Friday, Nov. 5th -- WinStar World Casino 350k at Texas Motor Speedway