The WING Racing Report

Kasey Kahne wins the Spring Cup race at Phoenix: #4 Kasey Kahne won the "Kolbat Tooks 500k" Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway for his 12th career win, 1st of the season and first in 81 races, since Atlanta in Sept. 2009. It is Kasey Kahne's first win in a Toyota after 11 wins in a Dodge. Kahne becomes the 18th different race winner in 2011. It is the first win for a car #4 since the late Bobby Hamliton won in the #4 Chevy at Martinsville on April 20, 1998.
#99 Carl Edwards finished 2nd followed by #14 Tony Stewart, #31 Jeff

Burton, #39 Ryan Newman, #43 A.J. Allmendinger, #00 David Reutimann, #9 Marcos Ambrose, #27 Paul Menard and #33 Clint Bowyer.
#99 Carl Edwards still leads the Chase by 3 points over #14 Tony Stewart with one race to go, all other drivers are out of Chase contention.
There were 14 lead changes among 7 drivers and 8 cautions for 30 yellow flag laps.

Vs







The Battle between the "Duck & Smoke"...Who with be The 2011 Sprint Cup Champ?

2011 Sprint Cup Driver Championship Chase Points Standings:
[after Phoenix, race 35 of 36 and Chase race 9 of 10]
1) #99-Carl Edwards [1 win], 2359
2) #14-Tony Stewart [4 wins], 2356, -3
These drivers below are officially eliminated from the Csase:
3) #29-Kevin Harvick [4 wins], 2308, -51
4) #2-Brad Keselowski [3 wins], 2294, -65
5) #48-Jimmie Johnson [2 wins], 2291, -68
6) #17-Matt Kenseth [3 wins], 2289, -70
7) #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. [0 wins], 2257, -102
8) #22-Kurt Busch [2 wins], 2252, -107
9) #39-Ryan Newman [1 win], 2252, -107
10) #11-Denny Hamlin [1 win], 2249, -110
top 10 go to the banquet in Vegas
11) #24-Jeff Gordon [3 wins], 2247, -112
12) #18-Kyle Busch [4 wins], 2224, -135

Sam Hornish wins the Nationwide Series race at Phoenix: #12 Sam Hornish, Jr. won the "WYPALL 200" at Phoenix International Raceway for his first NASCAR win. #22 Brad Keselowski finished second followed by #60 Carl Edwards, #18 Joey Logano, #6 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., #16 Trevor Bayne, #33 Clint Bowyer, #20 Ryan Truex, #31 Justin Allgaier, #62 Michael Annett. #2 Elliott Sadler, second in the points, was wrecked late in the race and finished 27th. #6-Ricky Stenhouse will enter the final race of the season with a 41 point lead. There were 7 cautions for 44 laps and 2 lead changes among 3 leaders.

Driver standings following Phoenix:
1) #6-Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 1179
2) #2-Elliott Sadler 1138 -41
3) #31-Justin Allgaier 1074 -105
4) #88-Aric Almirola 1059 -120
5) #82-Reed Sorenson 1043 -136
6) #38-Jason Leffler 996 -183
7) #09-Kenny Wallace 952 -227
8) #62-Michael Annett 918 -261
9) #11-Brian Scott 912 -267
10) #66-Steve Wallace 911 -268

Stewart wins at Texas: #14-Tony Stewart won the "AAA Texas 500" Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway for his 43rd career win and 4th of the season, all of them coming in the chase.
#99 Carl Edwards finished 2nd followed by #4 Kasey Kahne, #17 Matt Kenseth, #16 Greg Biffle, #24 Jeff Gordon, #88 Dale Earnhardt, Jr., #56 Martin Truex, Jr., #33 Clint Bowyer, and #43 A.J. Allmendinger
#99 Carl Edwards now leads the Chase by 3 points over #14 Tony Stewart. #18 Kyle Busch was set out from the weekend racing after an on track wreck between him and Ron Horniday Jr dueing the Camping World Truck Series. It looks like NASCAR finally got the Chase they have dreamed about with the new points system in place. Do you like it? Would you change it? If so, to what?
There were 23 lead changes among 10 drivers and 5 cautions for 21 yellow flag laps. The attendance is listed as 151,000, down from 156,000 last year.

2011 Sprint Cup Driver Championship Chase Points Standings:
[after Texas, race 34 of 36 and Chase race 8 of 10]
1) #99-Carl Edwards [1 win], 2316
2) #14-Tony Stewart [4 wins], 2313, -3
3) #29-Kevin Harvick [4 wins], 2283, -33
4) #17-Matt Kenseth [3 wins], 2278, -38
these drivers are more then a race out:
5) #2-Brad Keselowski [3 wins], 2267, -49
6) #48-Jimmie Johnson [2 wins], 2261, -55
7) #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. [0 wins], 2237, -79
8) #24-Jeff Gordon [3 wins], 2235, -81
9) #22-Kurt Busch [2 wins], 2229, -87
These drivers are officially eliminated:
10) #11-Denny Hamlin [1 win], 2217, -99
top 10 go to the banquet in Vegas
11) #18-Kyle Busch [4 wins], 2216, -100
12) #39-Ryan Newman [1 win], 2213, -103

Trevor Bayne wins the Nationwide Series race at Texas: #16 Trevor Bayne won the "O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge" at Texas Motor Speedway for his 1st Nationwide Series win. #18 Denny Hamlin, filling in for the parked Kyle Busch, finished second. The rest of the top 10: #60 Carl Edwards, #33 Clint Bowyer, #22 Brad Keselowski, #6 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., #12 Sam Hornish, Jr., #20 Joey Logano, #2 Elliott Sadler, and #32 Brian Vickers. There were 5 cautions for 20 laps and 11 lead changes among 7 leaders.

Driver standings following Texas:
1) #6-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. 1138
2) #2-Elliott Sadler 1121 -17
3) #31-Justin Allgaier 1039 -99
4) #88-Aric Almirola 1039 -99
5) #82-Reed Sorenson 1034 -104
6) #38-Jason Leffler 978 -160
7) #09-Kenny Wallace 925 -213
8) #11-Brian Scott 909 -229
9) #66-Steve Wallace 896 -242

Kevin Harvick wins the Camping World Truck Series race at Texas: #2 Kevin Harvick held off #3 Austin Dillon on a green-white-checkered finish to win the "Win Star World Casino 350k" at Texas Motor Speedway. This was Harvick's fourth win in 2011. Rounding out the top ten were; #3 Austin Dillon, #21 Ty Dillon, #8 Nelson Piquet Jr., #88 Matt Crafton, #22 Joey Coulter, #13 Johnny Sauter, #4 Ricky Carmichael, #7 Miguel Paludo, #6 Justin Loftton. Lap 14 brought about the end of any chance of a championship run for #33 Ron Hornaday Jr. While passing a lap car, Hornaday Jr got a little loose, made contact with the #18 of Kyle Busch and they got up into the wall with slight damage to both trucks. After the caution came out, however, Busch retaliated, intentionally wrecking Hornaday Jr; turning him had into the wall.. Both trucks sustained significant damage. As a result, Hornaday Jr was out of the race, and a 34th place finish put him 48 points back in the championship race going into the final race at Homestead. Kyle Busch was parked by NASCAR and was summoned to the NASCAR hauler to meet with officials immediately following the race. They parked Kyle Busch for the entire weekend. I just can't help to think that if this was Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards or even Kevin Harvick, they would have been pulled them from the truck race but not the Cup race. NASCAR is losing control and makes too many knee-jerk decisions anymore. Boys Have at it? I'm thinking only some boys have at it, but not everyone. I'm sure there will be a rule change to follow. #31 James Buescher, who had been running second, dropped to third in the point standings; 28 points back after running out of gas while under caution with just three laps to go. Buescher ended up with a 19th place finish. There were 12 lead changes among 5 drivers, with 6 cautions for 32 laps.

Driver Point Standings following Race #24 at Texas Motor Speedway:
1) #3-Austin Dillon, 854
2) #13-Johnny Sauter, 834, -20
3) #31-James Buescher, 826 -28
4) #33-Ron Hornaday Jr., 806 -48
5) #17-Timothy Peters, 796 -58
6) #5-Todd Bodine, 775 -79
7) #88-Matt Crafton, 759 -95
8) #22-Joey Coulter, 757 -97
9) #60-Cole Whitt, 742 -112
10) #Nelson Piquet Jr., 712 -142

Tony Stewart wins Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville: #14 Tony Stewart won the "Tums Fast Relief 500" Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway for his 42nd career win and 3rd of the season. He passed #48 Jimmie Johnson with two laps to go to take the lead.
Jimmie Johnson finished 2nd followed by #24 Jeff Gordon, #29 Kevin Harvick, #11 Denny Hamlin, #31 Jeff Burton, #88 Dale Earnhardt, Jr., #56 Martin Truex, Jr., #99 Carl Edwards (who was a lap down on two separate occasions and got the lucky dog twice), and #39 Ryan Newman. #17 Matt Kenseth, who came into the race second in points and started second, was involved in a late race accident and finished 31st.
#99 Carl Edwards leads the Chase by 8 points over #14 Tony Stewart.
There were 23 lead changes among 12 drivers and 18 cautions for 108 yellow flag laps.

2011 Sprint Cup Driver Championship Chase Points Standings:
[after Martinsville, race 33 of 36 and Chase race 7 of 10]
1) #99-Carl Edwards [1 win], 2273
2) #14-Tony Stewart [3 wins], 2265, -8
3) #29-Kevin Harvick [4 wins], 2252, -21
4) #2-Brad Keselowski [3 wins], 2246, -27
5) #17-Matt Kenseth [3 wins], 2237, -36
6) #48-Jimmie Johnson [2 wins], 2230, -43
these drivers are more then a race out:
7) #18-Kyle Busch [4 wins], 2216, -57
8) #22-Kurt Busch [2 wins], 2215, -58
9) #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. [0 wins], 2200, -73
10) #24-Jeff Gordon [3 wins], 2197, -76
top 10 go to the banquet in Vegas
11) #11-Denny Hamlin [1 win], 2193, -80
12) #39-Ryan Newman [1 win], 2184, -89
(ties broken by 1sts, 2nds, 3rd, etc)

Denny Hamlin wins the Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville: Denny Hamlin, driving the #18-Traxxas Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports, wins the Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway. It was a typical short-track race, with a lot of beating and banging; damage to just about every truck on the track. A late race restart saw #18 Denny Hamlin on fresher tires and he was able to get by both #3 Austin Dillon and #33 Ron Hornaday on lap 187 to take the checkers and pick up the win. This is his first victory in twelve NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races. #33 Ron Hornaday Jr. was second. Rounding out the top ten were; #3 Austin Dillon, #13 Johnny Sauter, #22 Joey Coulter, #2 Kevin Harvick, #21 Cale Gale, #17 Timothy Peters, #62 Brendan Gaughan, #31 James Buescher. There were 12 lead changes among 8 drivers with 9 cautions for 50 laps.