Category: 1A Auto Blog Home

The “Wild Thing” Kyle Busch Wins The Budweiser Shootout!

Jeremy Nutt 4 Comments

If you watched the Budweiser Shootout on Saturday night like I did, more than likely you were at the edge of your seat for the entire race. NASCAR has done a great job with all of the changes that they made in the off-season to their super speedway package.

They worked hard to get the cars back to pack racing that the fans have longed for over the past couple of seasons, and by golly it’s BACK! The two car tandem seems to be gone and we’re back to pack racing!

The Budweiser Shootout Saturday night was one of the best that I’ve seen in years. A guy could push the guy in front of him, make a charge for the lead and then pull out of line with enough horsepower to control his own destiny. That was what we were missing and what seemed to be back during the Budweiser Shootout. That race was so good I’d watch it again.

How about that Kyle Busch save. Halfway through the race he all but lost the car in the middle of the pack. He turned to the left and then to the right, sparkes were flying everywhere off the front air dam and somehow he gathered her up and kept on cruising along at 200 mph.

If that wasn’t enough for you, on the green-white-checkered restart Kyle Busch pushed Tony Stewart towards the front as they created a 200 MPH freight train that took off from the pack; coming out of turn 4 Busch broke formation, made the slingshot move around the right of Stewart and took Stewart right at the finish line winning the Bud Shootout by half a fender!

If this is a preview as to what’s going to take place during the Daytona 500 next Sunday, I think the race fans are in for a treat. This should be one of the best Daytona 500’s in years.

Video Borrowed from YouTube:

Kyle Busch Save During The Race…THIS IS CRAZY!

Race Week Kicks Off With The Bud Shootout

Jeremy Nutt 2 Comments

Saturday night the lights will be lit at Daytona International Speedway, kicking off the 2012 NASCAR Speed Week. If you haven’t watched the Bud Shootout in the past this is always a great race to watch. It’s a non points race, so there’s always plenty of hard racing to go around under the lights of Daytona!

The starting positions will be drawn on Friday, by luck of the draw. As a driver your starting position will be totally random. The race is 75 laps with a 10 minute pit stop after the first 25 laps. Under the first caution teams are allowed to take on a fresh set of tires, adjust the chassis and refuel.

The race starts at 8:10 PM on FOX Sports

Will Earnhardt Win During The 2012 Season

Jeremy Nutt 2 Comments

Last year Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 7th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series under his new crew chief Steve Letarte. The previous year he had finished the season in 21st place in the points standings under his old crew chief Lance McGrew.

Although he still hasn’t won a race since 2008, Dale Jr. and Steve Letarte made huge strides and really improved over the 2011 season. He could have easily shot Kevin Harvick up the hill at Martinsville to reclaim the lead and put an end to his winless streak, but Dale said he wanted to race him clean, and I’m sure Junior Nation can respect that.

Then there was the Coca-Cola 600 when Jimmie Johnson blew up, Dale Junior was coming to the checkers and ran out of gas! Kevin Harvick ultimately once again claimed a victory during that race.

Dale also hung out at the back of the pack under Chad Kanaus’s request in an effort to stay out of trouble for the race which ultimately worked against junior to the point where, when he got out of the car he said he was done sand bagging at these tracks.

I think in the 2012 season Dale will finally end his dry spell and claim the checkers more than once.

Video Source YouTube:

Danica Patrick Scheduled To Run Coca-Cola 600 Instead Of Indy

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Danica Patrick has announced that instead of racing in the Indianapolis 500, that she would run NASCAR’s longest race of the year in the Sprint Cup Series,which is the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In 2005 Danica Patrick finished 4th in the Indy 500, claiming the highest finish by any female driver.

Danica will be racing in the Nationwide Series for Jr. Motorsports during the 2012 season, and has 10 races that she plans to run in the Sprint Cup Series on a limited schedule for Stewart-Haas Racing.

Danica said that she would love to run in the Indy 500 again one day possibly pulling a double between the two different series, and could possibly add the Brickyard 400 onto her schedule as her 10th race to be run in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Darian Grubb Joins Forces With Hamlin

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When Darian Grubb left Stewart-Haas Racing as the top dog, he wasn’t exactly sure where he would end up.There he sat as a champion crew chief for the 2011 season, and also without a job, as he was told that he would be let go at the end of the season by Tony Stewart.

Rumors had it that he might even stay at Stewart-Haas Racing but in a different role. Then there was an offer from Rick Hendrick at Hendrick Motorsports, who said that he would be more than happy to create a position for Darian.

After all of this, Darin Grubb has landed himself a position over at Joe Gibbs Racing as the crew chief for Denny Hamlin who drives the # 11 FedEX machine.

Denny Hamlin lost the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship in 2010 by only a few points to  Mr. “Five Time” Jimmie Johnson. He wasn’t a factor for the chase in 2011, so Joe Gibbs decided it was time to change things around a bit, and plucked Darian from the unemployment pool, then decided to put him to work as Denny’s crew chief for the 2012 season.

Darin made some great calls during the Chase Race, and netted Tony Stewart 5 wins with 12 races to go in the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Season. This enabled Tony Stewart to inch out Carl Edwards, who ultimately tied with Stewart for the championship, however the crown went to Stewart for his 5 wins of the season to Carl Edward’s 1 win.

I think that this pairing with Darian Grubb and Denny Hamlin will really turn the 11 team around for the 2012 season. It’s going to be pretty interesting to see how all of this pans out.

 

The Boys Head To Homestead With One Ta Go!

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Kasey Kahne drove the Red Bull machine to a victory last weekend at Phoenix International Raceway; Kyle Busch is at bay and on probation for his truck racing incident, and if you’re not on Brian Vickers bad side, and your name is Tony Stewart or Carl Edwards, you might just win the Nascar Sprint Cup Chase this weekend at Homestead.

Just three points… yes that’s right THREE!, separate first and second place Chase contenders Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart.

Last weekend at Phoenix, both contenders traded positions back-and-forth, like two heavy weight titans battling for every inch of real estate to get that extra point.

Edwards has been great all season, and Stewart has really started to pour it on at the end of the year, to make it not so easy for Edwards. Both guys went back and forth all race long last week, and still three points are all that remain for Stewart to over take Edwards.

This has to be the closest battles in Sprint Cup history. The race this weekend should be a great one to watch.

Johnson Hits The Wall Hard During Saturday Night’s Bank Of America 500

Jeremy Nutt 1 Comment

The Bank Of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, didn’t seem to have much going for it until the last 40 laps or so when guys started to get itchy and impatient. Midway through the field there was plenty of pushing and shoving going on.

Jimmie Johnson rolled into Charlotte third in the Nascar Chase, but his incident with Ryan Newman changed all of that.  Johnson was running low and Ryan Newman was going around on the high side, when the air off of Newman’s car seemed to upset the 48 of Johnson. Johnson’s Lowes Chevrolet began to spin sideways, when that happened Jimmie floored the gas to keep the car from backing into the wall, all of a sudden the 48 hooked sideways and went full tilt tight into the safer barrier.

Johnson’s car hit the wall so hard it moved the safer barrier back about a foot, stoved the whole front end of the Lowes machine in, and when he hit the safer barrier, the rear of the car lifted about 3-4 feet off of the ground from the impact.

Jimmie was taken to the infield medical center where he was immediately checked and released, and ended up being okay. If this accident were about 10 years ago the outcome more than likely would have been grim.

Nascar has done a great job in the past 10 years in evolving these cars to the point where the drivers can walk away from accidents like this. Jimmie Johnson now sits 8th in the Chase.