photo credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images for NASCAR

“I’ve always enjoyed coming here,” McMurray said. “Certainly this is just one of those tracks that every driver would like to say they’ve been able to win at. Plus we only race here once a year so it makes it twice as hard to be able to have that. It’s a very special place, for sure.”

McMurray added another prestigious and coveted trophy beside his Daytona 500 crown with his second major win of the season Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He became just the third driver in NASCAR history to win the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same season -- right behind Dale Jarrett in 1996 and Jimmie Johnson in 2006.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKGeVVraHM8

The victory came after another devastating loss for teammate Juan Pablo Montoya. For the second consecutive year, Montoya lead the most laps but failed to secure a victory. Starting from the pole, Montoya lead early and often for a race-high 86 laps. Montoya lost the lead late in the race when his team opted for four tires and six others opted for two including McMurray. With 15 laps remaining, Montoya hit the wall and took Dale Earnhardt Jr with him in the crash. Montoya finished 32nd. Last year, Montoya lead a race-high 116 of the race’s 160 laps and was penalized for speeding on pit road late in the race. He wound up finishing 11th last year. It hasn’t bode well for polesitters to win at the Brickyard. Only two polesitters have gone on to win in now 17 races.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt4BMJM5Fv8

“I’m a big believer in fate,” McMurray said. “I really believe that this was Juan’s weekend. He had a really good tire test here. He ran so well last year, had a chance to win the race. I just think that things normally work themselves out. I’m looking with 15 or 20 laps to go and Juan is leading. Not that I was content, but, If this is the way it’s supposed to be, then that’s just the way it is. Then I was like, I’m going to be really happy for Chip and Juan and everybody at our team because this is really big. It’s just a major accomplishment what we’ve all been able to put together. That team, the 42 team, has had some really good cars. They just have had some bad luck and got put in bad position. So, I don’t know, it was unfortunate for them.”

Chip Ganassi became the first car owner to win the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same year.

“This is such a team sport,” Ganassi said. “Let me tell you how that other team helped us win today. There was 10 laps to go. For all yesterday and today, all the crew chiefs talk about is, What do you do with 10 to go? Four tires? They can point to the races where four tires have won, you can point to the races where two tires have won. We were in the enviable position of running 1-2. A lot of times when you’re running like that, you can do a split strategy so you have both sort of angles covered. I was behind the pit stand. Johnny Morris brought up to me, Maybe we ought to think about two. The 42 was going for four. I looked at Bono. I said, Do you think we should do the split strategy here? He said, Yeah, let’s go for two. I said, Okay. That was the call. The only reason we could do that is because we knew the 42 was going for four. As a team, we had sort of both strategies covered there, I guess. That’s the great thing about having a teammate.”

It was a good day for the points leader, a former Brickyard winner himself. Kevin Harvick lead five laps late in the race and restarted on the front row beside McMurray, but couldn’t get the advantage.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx5y7PE6KBQ

“It was a good day,” Harvick said. “We had a solid top-five car. We took a gamble there at the end to take two tires. On the first restart, it took off great. We were able to run Jamie down and pass him. Second restart, it didn’t take off so great. Just got tight. He drove around the outside of me. I guess just the first cycle on those new right side tires carried us through. We were just tight the whole second restart, but still a great day. Took a chance to try to win the race. All but capitalized on it and came up one short.”

Harvick extended his lead in the standings to 184 points ahead of 2nd place, Jeff Gordon. Gordon never played a factor in the race and finished 23rd.

Greg Biffle traded the lead with Montoya throughout the day. He lead the second highest amount of laps clocking 38 laps out in front. Biffle finished third.

“It was a pretty good day,” Biffle said. “Car ran really good. I was excited we could run with the 42 car. Last couple years he’s been really fast here. We could run with him today. Wish we would have done two tires at the end like everybody else. We thought more guys would do four, but wasn’t the case.”

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

There were 6 cautions for 25 laps and 14 lead changes among 10 drivers: J. Montoya 1-16; L. Cassill 17; K. Conway # 18; J. Nemechek 19; J. Johnson 20; J. Montoya 21-37; M. Martin 38-47; G. Biffle 48-49; J. Montoya 50-62; G. Biffle 63-98; C. Edwards 99; J. Montoya 100-139; J. McMurray 140-144; K. Harvick 145-149; J. McMurray 150-160

There’s no other way to put it. Champions do well on the historic 101-year old race track.

photo credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

A former, reigning or future champion has gone on to win fourteen races in NASCAR’s sixteen year history there. The winner of this race has gone on to win the championship during the same year eight times thus far.

Jimmie Johnson is the defending race winner. He is the winner of the past two Brickyard races and three of the last four races there.

“I think any kid that races thinks of the Indianapolis 500 as an event they want to compete in, especially from the generation that I was in,” Johnson has been quoted as saying. “It may be a little different in today’s world where people think more of the Daytona 500. But in my generation it was the Indy 500. To have my career path lead me toward stock car racing I knew that I wouldn’t have a chance to race in the Indy 500. But with stock cars racing at the Brickyard it’s the next best thing.”

Between Johnson and Tony Stewart, they have the past five races at the Brickyard.

“It’s my home race, obviously,” Stewart said. “Growing up in Indiana and every year watching the Indy 500 and the whole month of May leading up to it, a race at the Brickyard is more than just a regular points race. It’s always been a big race to all of the Cup drivers, but then when you grow up in Indiana, it just makes it that much more important.”

Regardless of whether the race this Sunday is at the legendary Brickyard, it’s back to thinking of the points-picture after an off-week. This Sunday’s race marks the fourth one in “The Race to the Chase”, the 10-race stretch before “The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup” championship begins.

“What do we have to do to win more races before the Chase starts,” points leader Kevin Harvick explained as his team’s mindset. Harvick leads the standings by 103 points over 2nd place driver, Jeff Gordon. Harvick has a win at Indy under his belt coming in 2003. Actually, Harvick along with Ricky Rudd, the 1997 Brickyard winner, are the only two winners who’ve won a race at the Brickyard and have yet to win a championship.

“When I think about Indy, I think about a lot of tradition,” Harvick said. “Indy is one of those places where everybody wants to win.  Next to Daytona, it is kind of the second place where you check it off as one you want to win.  We’ve been fortunate to win there, and we know what that feels like.  I grew up as a fan of Indy cars, and I really wanted to race open wheel cars, so to be able to win there and just to compete there, is pretty cool.”

Jeff Gordon leads all drivers with four wins at the Brickyard. It places him second on the all-time win list at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears. Formula One driver Michael Schumacher is tops on the list with five wins.

“The Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy 500 — guys like Rick Mears and A.J. Foyt, Johnny Rutherford, Al Unser — all those guys were heroes of mine that I aspired to be,” Gordon said. “Living in Indiana, racing around Indiana, Indianapolis Raceway Park, the fairgrounds, Bloomington, all over the place, it was every short-track, open-wheel, Sprint Cup driver’s dream to race at Indianapolis one day. To be able to do that in the very first ever NASCAR stock-car race there in 1994, win it, then go on to win it three more times is something that I probably put up as the highest accomplishments of my career.”

Chip Ganassi could make history on Sunday as the only car owner to win the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 all in the same year. His drivers, Jamie McMurray and Dario Franchitti, won the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500, respectively.

“So many times you have drivers who are good at a particular type of track,” Ganassi said. “Fortunately, our guys are good at the tracks that have the big races. Believe me, that’s a big help, and it’s no small thing.”

Jamie McMurray has posted one top-five and three top-10 finishes at the track in his seven starts there, but it’s Juan Pablo Montoya that came close to winning last year after leading 116 of 160 laps. Montoya was penalized for speeding on pit road with thirty-five laps remaining and could only notch an 11th place finish. He’s also a former Indianapolis 500 winner (2000).

TV coverage of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway begins at Noon on Sunday on ESPN.

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The Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series will also be in action from the Indianapolis area. Both races will take place about 20 minutes down the road and under the lights at the O’ Reilly Raceway Park, or ORP for short.

Ron Hornaday Jr is the defending race winner in the truck series. He leads the series with three wins there. He went on a tear last summer around the time of this win and won five consecutive truck races.

“It was really strange,” Hornaday said. “I knew when we won that race that we had done something incredible but the impact of it did not sink in really with any of the No. 33 team members until later. I think we were all riding the victory high. Then it ended after Nashville, but we went on to win the championship so we were content with that. Looking back on it this season I can’t believe we were ever in that position to begin with. The competition is so tough and it is any driver’s race week-in and week-out. (Mike) Skinner probably should have won that race last year but we pulled it out somehow. I just continue to be reminded how lucky I am to be with such a competitive team.”

It might be hard to believe Hornaday is on a 22-race losing streak for just the second time in his career.

Todd Bodine leads the standings now by 101 points. It might be hard to believe that he has never won at the famed short track.

“O’Reilly Raceway Park is a flat track that’s real easy to overdrive,” Bodine said. “The goal of practice is to be sure the Germain.com Tundra can turn good through the center of the corners and keep from getting loose off the corners. The goal for the driver in the race is to practice something no race car driver ever wants to practice, patience.”

TV coverage of the AAA Insurance 200 presented by J.D. Byrider at O’ Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis begins at 8 this Friday night on SPEED.

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Kyle Busch is one of six drivers planning to pull double duty at ORP. He has won a series leading seven Nationwide Series wins already this season even though he’s only running a partial schedule in the series. It’s bad news for the rest of the field this Saturday night, but he’ll be there to race.

“Obviously, ORP has been a great place for me,” said Busch. “I started my first ever NASCAR race there back in 2001 when I was just 16. I won there in a Hendrick car when I was a Nationwide Series rookie, when our crew chief made a great call to pit off sequence. In 2008, I think we led all but three laps and won in the Z-Line Designs Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. It’s a fun track and I think we’ll be pretty strong there and I’d obviously like to get my Truck Series win at ORP. We’ve run well there in the past and hopefully we can put the Toyota Tundra in victory lane and get some owner points.”

While Busch is a threat to win, it continues to be the Brad Keselowski vs. Carl Edwards show for the championship. Keselowski continues to lead the standings, while Edwards continues to be his closest competitor. This week, NASCAR penalized the two drivers for rough racing in last Saturday’s race which saw Edwards in victory lane while Keselowski wrecked after leading the most laps. This week, Keselowski leads the standings by 168 points after Edwards was also penalized 60 championship driver points.

“We’ve been strong on the short tracks this season,” Keselowski said. “I think ORP is a great place for us to regain some of the momentum we have lost over the last couple of races. We had a pretty big lead in the points heading into Chicago and we’ve seen that dwindle a bit. When you have two weeks like we’ve had it makes you thankful that you had a big lead. It would be different if we weren’t competitive over the last few weeks, but that’s not the case. Paul Wolfe and all the guys continue to give me fast Discount Tire Dodges. We’re definitely not in a slump, but we need to get back on track.”

By the way, Edwards is the defending race winner.

“To be coming back there Saturday night as the defending race winner means a lot to me,” he said. “Hopefully we can have a good run at what I think is one of the greatest race tracks in the country.”

TV coverage of the Kroger 200 benefiting Riley Hospital for Children at O’ Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis begins Saturday night at 7:30 on ESPN.

photo credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images

Was it just a case of “hard racing” or did Edwards wreck race leader Brad Keselowski for the win?

Keselowski and Edwards lined up 1-2 for the final restart and as the green flag waved, they raced side-by-side, trading the lead back and forth until contact between the two sent Keselowski spinning.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz9OXptTwVQ

Edwards: “I just couldn’t let him take the win from me. My guys work way too hard for that.”

Keselowski: “He turned left into me and wrecked me on purpose. I gave him the lane, and he still wrecked me.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHYFzueLki8

Edwards scored a series-leading third win at Gateway International Raceway and first of the season. It’s his 27th series win, tying with Jeff Burton for 5th on the all-time wins list.

Keselowski spun across the finish line as he was hit by oncoming traffic, finishing 14th, after having the dominant car through the race and leading a race-high 136 of 200 laps.

We know it’s not the first time the two have tangled. Edwards served a three race probation in March after wrecking Keselowski at the March Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta.

Reed Sorenson scored a runner-up finish. Polesitter Trevor Bayne finished third after leading 19 laps himself. Paul Menard was fourth followed by Steve Wallace, Brian Scott, Colin Braun, Josh Wise, Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Tony Raines finished in the top-10.

In his series debut, Martin Truex Jr’s younger brother Ryan finished 28th. After running solidly in the top-10 for much of the race, a blown tire sent him into the wall and crashing out with twenty-two laps remaining.

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

There were 6 cautions for 30 laps and 12 lead changes among 4 drivers: T. Bayne 1-2; Brad Keselowski 3-46; T. Bayne 47-51; Brad Keselowski 52-119; C. Edwards 120-121; K. Harvick 122-127; C. Edwards 128-141; Brad Keselowski 142-147; C. Edwards 148-168; Brad Keselowski 169-180; T. Bayne 181-192; Brad Keselowski 193-198; C. Edwards 199-200

photo credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR

Reutimann led 52 laps during Saturday night’s Lifelock.com 400 including the final 31 after passing Jeff Gordon for the position. Over the final 10 laps, Reutimann had to hold off a fast charging Carl Edwards to cruise to Victory Lane.

“We had a really good car from the time we unloaded,” Reutimann said. “The worst, we got really free that last run. The 99 (Carl Edwards) started gaining on us. We kept pedalling. Thankfully he didn’t have enough time to get to us.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCBMrJvdUQs

This is the second win for Reutimann in 118 Sprint Cup Series races. His first cup win came at Charlotte after a rain shortened 2009 Coca-Cola 600.

“I felt like there was a cloud over it (the 600 win), no pun intended, but a dark cloud hanging over our head with that win at the 600,” Reutimann said. “Everybody just says, Yeah, you guys won, but. Rodney Childers (crew chief) won me that race. He made the right calls. He won me the race tonight. We win and lose as a team. Now I’m just wondering like, Okay, here you go, just leave me alone. We won the race. We did a good job. Everybody did a good job. Everybody around me worked together to get us where we are.”

The Margin of Victory? Reutimann beat Carl Edwards to the finish line by 0.727 seconds.

“It’s second, you know what I mean. It’s okay, but it’s not winning,” Edwards said. “But the good thing is that we had the fastest car at the end of the race. If you have the fastest car at the end of the race every week, you’ll win plenty of races. If we can just do this more often, we will have turned the page and we got a lot of good things to look forward to. Hopefully we can go back, look at what we did tonight and apply it for the races to come.”

“Man, just kept getting bigger in the windshield and I didn’t have enough laps. I was trying so hard to catch him. I want to say a special congratulations to David. He is a class act, a really great guy. You guys know that. It’s cool to see how happy he is.”

Jeff Gordon was out in front for 47 laps and looked strong throughout the night, but once again couldn’t get to victory lane.

“We just fought between loose and tight all night long,” Gordon explained. “Early in the race, we were just real loose on throttle on the exit. We tightened the car up. Didn’t really help the exit. Seemed to tighten it up everywhere else where it was at least drivable. When that top groove came in, that worked pretty good for me. There at the end, that top groove just wasn’t working for me. I had to run around the bottom. Then we got loose everywhere. The last run, Carl was saying the same thing. They got loose, too. I don’t know if the track loosened up, what it was. Everybody seemed like they were really fighting loose at the end.”

Gordon’s winless streak has now extended to 48 races, the longest of his career. However, Gordon is currently second in the point standings. A great position to be in with six more races remaining until The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup begins.

Jimmie Johnson shot out of the gate strong and lead the first 92 laps, the most among all of the night’s leaders. Several mishaps set Johnson back to finish 25th, one lap down. First, Johnson missed the entrance to pit road during a green-flag pit stop on lap 93 and then he spun on the backstretch on lap 136 after racing close to Martin Truex Jr. The trouble wasn’t over for the driver of the #48 after a flat right front tire sent him down pit road on lap 169, trapping him two laps down at that point. “I felt like we could still salvage a top five or something and I cut a right front tire down and then just got in the wall,” Johnson said. “Between sliding through the grass and touching the wall, it messed up the body and the nose started dragging pretty bad there for the final run or two.”

Points leader Kevin Harvick suffered engine problems throughout the entire night which had him in the garage for repairs. Harvick struggled to complete 251 of 267 laps. Regardless of his 34th-place finish, Harvick maintains the lead in the standings by 103 points over Jeff Gordon.

Clint Bowyer finished fourth followed by the polesitter Jamie McMurray, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Burton, Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart and Paul Menard rounded out the top-10.

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

There were 4 cautions for 21 laps and 10 lead changes among 7 drivers: J. McMurray 0; J. Johnson 1-92; J. McMurray 93-164; J. Gordon 165-200; D. Reutimann 201; J. Gordon 202-212; D. Reutimann 213-231; C. Bowyer 232; C. Edwards 233-234; J. Montoya 235; D. Reutimann 236-267

The Sprint Cup Series will enjoy an off-week before heading to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, July 25th.

photo credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images

Coming off of a win last week, Kevin Harvick remains on top of the point standings. “With our current situation in the points,” Harvick said. “We are going to do all we can to give ourselves an opportunity to win each week.”

Harvick has held onto the points lead after the past eight races. At the half-way point of the season, Harvick has scored 2 wins, eight top-5 and thirteen top 10-finishes plus he is on a streak of four top-5 finishes in the past 5 races. In addition, he’s the only driver to average a top-10 finish (8.1) this season.

Harvick excels at Chicagoland. In his 9 races there, he has posted two wins, five top-5 and six top-10 finishes. “Every time we go back there it seems like it just fits our program and my driving style and everything that we do,” Harvick said.

Winning races will be important to Harvick over the next seven races. Following the Richmond night race, the top-12 drivers will be locked in to compete for the championship. Once that happens, points will be reset based according to wins first. At this time, Harvick would be ranked third behind Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin, who have both scored a series leading five wins this season.

There hasn’t been a repeat winner in the past 5 races. Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart are the only two drivers with multiple race wins at Chicagoland. Harvick won the first two races held at the track in July of 2001 and 2002. Stewart won in July of 2004 and 2007.

TV coverage of the Lifelock.com 400 starts at 6:30 this Saturday evening on TNT.
400.5 miles = 267 laps
2009 Pole Winner: Brian Vickers
Defending Race Winner: Mark Martin
Qualifying is scheduled for Friday at 5:05 pm

The Nationwide Series also has reached the mid-point of the season after 17 races. Brad Keselowski currently leads the standings by 277 points over 2nd place driver, Carl Edwards. Keselowski and Edwards are both driving full-time in the series. Kyle Busch has a series leading six wins this season, but has decided not to pull “double-duty” and race in both series. Still, Busch is fourth in the series standings. On a side note, the Nationwide Series doesn’t have a play-off system like the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

And yes… Danica Patrick will race in the series this Friday night at Chicagoland. It will be her fifth race of the thirteen she’s planning to run this season.

TV coverage of the Dollar General 300 powered by Coca-Cola starts at 7:30 this Friday night on ESPN.
300 miles = 200 laps
2009 Pole Winner: Joey Logano
Defending Race Winner: Carl Edwards
Qualifying is set for Friday at 3:05 pm

Weekend Weather Forecast for Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, IL:
Friday: Partly Cloudy with a Hi 85 and a Low 63
Saturday: Mostly Sunny with a Hi 85 and a Low 63
Sunday: Party Cloudy with a Hi 87 and a Low 67

courtesy of Weather Bug (click here for full weather forecast)

photo credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

“Obviously it was a good night,” said the series points leader, Kevin Harvick. “Same old Daytona, cars moving around and bouncing around, and handling came into play, and you saw a lot of passing and shuffling, and then there at the end we had the big wreck and we were fortunate to be in front of it.”

Harvick started from the pole after Friday’s time trials were washed out. Showers went through the Daytona Beach area Saturday evening delaying the start of the race by 90 minutes. Harvick took the lead on lap 2 and continued to lead often for a race-high 28 laps. The real story of the evening though was how Harvick had to avoid all of the crashes as the race went 6 laps into overtime.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYMpke3bzAY

Over the closing laps, Harvick ran second to his Richard Childress Racing teammate, Clint Bowyer. Just as the two were leading the rest of the field to what would have been the final lap, another accident involving Sam Hornish Jr, Elliott Sadler and Kurt Busch sent the race into overtime.

“Coming to the white (flag), I thought it was going to be the 33 (driven by Clint Bowyer) first and us second, and then the caution came out and we could see the white flag,” Harvick explained. “I was content about that. I knew those guys needed a good day, and I knew you never know what’s going to happen on the last lap with people pushing and shoving from the back. But on the last restart, once the 24 (driven by Jeff Gordon) pulled out and slowed those outside two lines down, that was pretty much the end of it.”

Each man was for himself on the final restart. Bowyer went backwards and ended up crashing. Harvick then held off late race charges by Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne to win his 13th Sprint Cup Series victory and second this season at Daytona International Speedway. Harvick’s Daytona 500 winning car will sit in the Daytona 500 Experience, right outside of the historic track, until after next year’s season opening race.

“I really felt over those last 20 laps I didn’t think they could beat us nose to tail with myself and the 33 (driven by Clint Bowyer),” Harvick said. “I really thought, like I said, coming to the white, I really thought that was how we were going to finish.”

By the way, Clint Bowyer finished 17th. We’ll have to wait until after the holiday to hear what Bowyer has to say.

It was a wild night. Four major accidents occurred over the closing 23 laps of the originally scheduled 160 lap distance. A red flag was called on lap 149 for 19 minutes and 34 seconds after a huge accident that nearly wiped out the entire field.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHFQ455C9xc

Even after being involved in an earlier wreck on lap 118, Kasey Kahne was able to bounce back for a runner-up finish.

“We had a great run, had a fast Budweiser Ford throughout the whole race,” Kahne said. “I felt like we ran the best cars the whole night. I hit oil or had to be something on the racetrack because the car just incidentally spun, and I hit the wall, and other cars were doing it, too. So I kind of missed the wreck because of that, because we were slowed up, as well, so it actually worked out for us or I would have actually been in that wreck with (Jamie) McMurray and (David) Ragan and those guys. After that it was just try to avoid. You know, I was happy to see every wreck in my mirror and just trying to avoid some of that stuff and stay out there. But we had a good car, it was just a matter of avoiding it, and we were able to.”

Jeff Gordon had to settle for a third place finish.

“Man, I’m just happy to survive one of these restrictor plate races. It’s been a while since we’ve done that,” Gordon said. “We had a pretty good night, car drove good, especially on the long runs, and we avoided the big ones and got ourselves in a good position to win the race. Got out in front, and I felt like I had a pretty good handle. I liked being up front while those two guys were lined up; we were good, but once they split down, one and two, they kind of faded, and I didn’t know — I thought they were passing one another, and instead they lined back up and I was just a sitting duck. At that point it was just about the restart, and got a good restart, was pushing Clint, and I don’t know what happened. It just seemed like he was riding the brakes, and we weren’t going anywhere. So I went to pass him, and that kind of just messed up our momentum to really have a shot at winning, so we’re pretty happy to finish third.”

After an emotional win the night before in the Nationwide Series, Dale Earnhardt Jr backed up his win with a fourth place finish. “We were terrible all night,” he said. “We were real lucky.”

Jeff Burton finished fifth followed by Carl Edwards.

Even after being involved in several of the night’s accidents, Kurt Busch finished seventh before crashing out.

“Carl (Edwards) turned right after the start-finish line and completely destroyed our car. We’ve seen him turn right before and destroy a Penske car at Atlanta with my teammate Brad Keselowski. It’s what it is. We could have limped home in seventh and not damaged like that. That was unnecessary.”

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

There were 9 cautions for 37 laps and 47 lead changes among 18 drivers: K. Harvick 0; J. Johnson 1; K. Harvick 2-9; J. Gordon 10; K. Harvick 11-13; G. Biffle 14; Kyle Busch 15-17; K. Harvick 18-24; E. Sadler 25-26; Kyle Busch 27; E. Sadler 28; Kurt Busch 29-30; K. Harvick 31; Kurt Busch 32-39; E. Sadler 40-41; S. Hornish Jr. 42; E. Sadler 43-48; S. Hornish Jr. 49-55; J. Montoya 56-63; J. Gordon 64-69; B. Keselowski 70; J. Gordon 71-73; J. Montoya 74; D. Hamlin 75-78; S. Hornish Jr. 79-84; Kyle Busch 85-103; J. Burton 104-105; R. Gordon 106; M. Martin 107-111; J. Montoya 112-113; J. Gordon 114; J. Burton 115-117; D. Stremme 118; S. Park 119; T. Stewart 120-125; J. Burton 126-127; T. Stewart 128; C. Bowyer 129; K. Harvick 130; C. Bowyer 131; K. Harvick 132-133; J. Burton 134-137; Kurt Busch 138-141; K. Harvick 142-145; C. Bowyer 146-156; J. Gordon 157-158; C. Bowyer 159-164; K. Harvick 165-166

18 different race leaders set a new track record, beating the previous record of 15 set twice in 1986 and 2006.

With most of the drivers in Saturday night’s field getting caught up in wrecks, it was a bad “points night” for many. 8 races remain until “The Chase for the Sprint Cup” begins. The top-12 drivers in the point standings will be the only ones locked in to compete for the championship.

(Unofficial) Standings following the Coke Zero 400:
1)  Kevin Harvick, 2684 points
2)  Jeff Gordon, -212 points behind (moves up 3 spots)
3)  Jimmie Johnson, -225 points behind (loses 1 spot)
4)  Kurt Busch, -245 points behind (moves up 2 spots)
5)  Denny Hamlin, -284 (down one spot)
6)  Kyle Busch, -308 (down three spots)
7)  Matt Kenseth, -362
8)  Jeff Burton, -365
9)  Tony Stewart, -433
10) Greg Biffle, -450
11) Dale Earnhardt Jr, -507 (moves up two spots)
12) Carl Edwards, -514

Mark Martin lost two spots in the standings after being one of the unlucky ones to get caught up in the “Big One”. Martin fell from 11th to 13th in the standings. He’s 553 points behind the leader and 39 points from 12th.

For the complete (unofficial) standings, click here (nascar.com)

Chicagoland Speedway is next on the schedule.

Have yourself a safe and happy 4th!

photo credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR

“I was so worried that I wasn’t going to win, ’cause nothing but a win would get it—for everybody,” Earnhardt said. “I worked hard to try to win, not only for daddy—I’m proud of him going to the Hall of Fame, and he would be proud of this, I’m sure, but just all these fans. I hope they enjoyed this. This is it. No more 3 for me. That’s it.”

Earnhardt led 33 of 102 total laps Friday night on the way to his sixth series victory at the historic track, one less than his father’s seven series victories there.

After a third place starting spot, Earnhardt jumped out in the lead for the first time on lap 3, but it was short-lived. He didn’t have the car to beat until late in the race once grabbing the lead on lap 70.

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With less than 5 laps remaining, Paul Menard brought out the fourth and final caution after hitting the wall, sending debris from a blown tire all over the race track. It set up a green, white, checkered finish which gave the field one more chance at passing Earnhardt. There were no takers.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKTJHT8bXFs

“I was just relieved,” Earnhardt Jr said. “Victory Lane’s like when you’re a little kid and you’ve got a tree house or you and your buddies got a clubhouse in the woods. That’s what Victory Lane is to me, and I like going there. You miss it really bad, but you know it’s there and you can get back there again if you try really hard.”

It’s his 23rd victory in 115 races in the Nationwide Series and first since Michigan in 2006. His last Sprint cup Series victory also came at Michigan in 2008, 85 races ago.

“Every time I win, I just soak it up like a sponge,” he said.

Joey Logano lined up behind Earnhardt on the final restart, but was unable to make a move around the 3.

“I probably gained a lot of fans tonight by pushing the 3 to victory, but I’d much rather be in Victory Lane,” Logano said. “It’s cool to see the 3 in Victory Lane at Daytona. It’s really neat. A lot of people thought they would never see that again.”

Ricky Stenhouse Jr finished 3rd followed by points leader Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman, Brian Ickler and Steve Arpin rounded out the top-10.

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

The race marked the debut of the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger in the series. Both cars will be integrated full-time next season.

There were 4 cautions for 16 laps and 13 lead changes among 8 drivers: B. Keselowski 1-11; K. Harvick 12-13; C. Edwards 14-15; C. Bowyer 16-26; B. Keselowski 27-31; K. Busch 32-33; K. Harvick 34; K. Busch 35-40; J. Logano 41; C. Bowyer 42-47; K. Busch 48-49; J. Allgaier 50-60; K. Busch 61-69; D. Earnhardt Jr. 70-102

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“I’d say the bottom line to it is I love road course racing. I always have,” Johnson said. “I grew up racing off-road trucks, they were on road courses with jumps. Made a name for myself in that style of racing. To come into the Cup Series and not have success early irritated me. Chad in general, if there’s a track on the schedule, doesn’t matter what design it is, if that’s our weak spot, he’s gonna make it better. So we kind of got in this routine of road course, road course, road course. That’s why today is so special to us, why it has meant so much.”

Johnson lead a race-high 55 of 110 laps, but gave it up to pit after the second caution flag flew. With Johnson stuck back in the field, it was Marcos Ambrose who appeared as the new dominant leader. Ambrose was out in front for 35 laps, but suffered a mechanical issue on the final restart.

“I was leading the race and had trouble getting the motor cranked back up a little bit there,” Ambrose explained. “I was trying to save fuel, and the motor shut off. It didn’t recrank the way it should. I didn’t stop rolling, but it is what it is.”

Johnson took the lead back with 6 laps to go and cruised on to his fourth win this season and his first at a road course.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjYZtGTyE08

“I feel bad for him and his team owners,” Johnson said. “His team owners gave me my chance in Nationwide in ’98 maybe it was. So I’m very familiar with the team. I think Marcos had a very fast car in the short runs. I had a try or two at him before that, couldn’t get by him. So I’m not sure I would have gotten by him. It was definitely a gift kind of handed to us, as Chad said on the radio to me. From that point on, I just needed to get a good restart and get away from those guys.”

Robby Gordon scored a runner-up finish.

“It was obviously a good run for us,” Gordon said. “We came here to win the race. But second place is pretty darn close to winning it. My team needs a little bit of morale here and there. This will boost morale back at the workshop. I will say that we will come to Watkins Glen guns blazing. We’ll get a lot of confidence going into the Glen and spend a bunch of time getting more rear grip. At the end of the day, that’s what we struggled on with Jimmie. At the top of the hill, it got loose on me, had to save it, Kevin closed the gap on me a couple times. We have to go to work on our rear tires and rear grip.”

Points leader Kevin Harvick went home third.

‘We’re fortunate to be where we’re at in the points right now,” Harvick said referring to his points lead. “We’re able to race hard every lap and really not have to worry about what’s going on with the points. So each race is a different race. Today we were racing in the top five all day. You’re just trying to figure out what you got to do to try to win the race. You know, those guys have been running good and so have we. Just got to keep at it. I don’t know who is second now, but just race hard whoever it is. How many weeks we got left till the Chase?”

10 races.

Polesitter Kasey Kahne failed to lead a lap and spent the majority of his day trying to get back to the front. Kahne finished 4th. Jeff Gordon was 5th followed by Ambrose, Greg Biffle, Boris Said, Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya rounded out the top-10.

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

There were 7 cautions for 14 laps and 12 lead changes among 8 drivers:  0; J. Johnson 1-33; T. Stewart 34-35; M. Ekstrom 36-42; J. Johnson 43-57; M. Truex Jr. 58; B. Said 59-60; M. Ambrose 61-79; C. Bowyer 80; E. Sadler 81; B. Said 82-87; M. Ambrose 88-103; J. Johnson 104-110

Harvick continues to lead the standings while Johnson moved up to second, 140 points behind.

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