Rain washes away Friday's Pocono schedule; 40 percent chance of rain Saturday

Hopefully we'll see some practices on Saturday

LONG POND, Pa. — Points leader Jimmie Johnson will start on the pole for the Sprint Cup race Sunday at Pocono Raceway as rain washed out qualifying Friday.

Because drivers never got on the track to practice, the field was set primarily by owner points.

That put Johnson and Carl Edwards on the front row for the race Sunday. Only 43 teams entered, so all 43 cars made the field for the Party in the Poconos 400.

Clint Bowyer, Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick will round out the top five, with Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch, Paul Menard and Brad Keselowski starting sixth through 10th.

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Starting Lineup

Earnhardt Jr Fastest in First Homestead Practice

Dale Earnhardt Jr., with a lap speed of 173.193 mph, was the quickest during the first NSCS Ford 400 practice session at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The current series points leader, Carl Edwards, was second quickest with a lap speed of 172.678 mph, while second in the points, Tony Stewart, was 15th quickest with a lap speed of 171.249 mph.

Rounding out the top-ten quickest during practice were Matt Kenseth (172.298), Ryan Newman (172.068), Jimmie Johnson (172.013), Kasey Kahne (171.920), Landon Cassill (171.887), Jeff Gordon (171.674, Kevin Harvick (171.652) and Juan Pablo Montoya (171.581) posting the tenth quickest lap speed.

Following shortly after this session, the teams “Happy Hour” (final) practice session (the last series practice session of 2011) is scheduled to run from 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM (ET) with qualifying set to get underway at 2:40 PM (ET).

Practice Speeds

Harvick and Johnson top 170 mph, Top Kansas' Second Practice Session

Kevin Harvick, with a lap speed of 170.401 mph, was the fastest in the second Hollywood Casino 400 practice session at Kansas Speedway.

Defending series champion, Jimmie Johnson, with a lap speed of 170.057 mph, was second fastest, followed by Carl Edwards (169.998), David Ragan ( 169.929) and pole sitter Greg Biffle (169.875).

Rounding out the top-ten fastest in practice were Denny Hamlin (169.811), Jeff Gordon (169.747), Kyle Busch (169.678), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (169.625) and Kasey Kahne (169.545).

Practice Times

Keselowski Fast Again; Tops Charts in First Atlanta Practice Session

Keselowski stays in groove (Getty)

There is no cooling off period for Brad Keselowski as he paced the first Atlanta practice session with a lap of 187.722 mph. Fresh off of winning at Bristol and going four straight races of placing within the top-three, Keselowski looks to be formidable again for Sunday night's race.

Denny Hamlin, with a lap speed of 186.679 mph, was second on the charts which should be a good sign for the struggling No. 11 team trying to hold on to the final Chase spot with only two races remaining until the field is set.

Clint Bowyer is in a similar position to Hamlin -- fighting for his season -- where he has to take care of business with a win or finish in the top-five with hopes that Tony Stewart falters. So far, so good for Bowyer as he ran the third fastest lap (185.016).

Martin Truex, Jr. (184.911) was fourth fastest and Mark Martin (184.794) was fifth. Both of these drivers have looked much better of late and could be onto something for the rest of the season. Truex Jr. also led the way with the fastest 10 consecutive lap average.

Rounding out the top-ten fastest was Brian Vickers (184.223), Greg Biffle (184.125), AJ Allmendinger (184.113), Jimmie Johnson (184.107) and Kasey Kahne (184.058).

The teams will return on Saturday for their final practice session that will run from 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM (EDT) and then return later in the day for their 5:10 PM (EDT) scheduled qualifying session. Results from today's practice session will set the qualifying order.

First Practice Speeds

Kurt Busch Tops The Charts In Sonoma's First Practice Session

Kurt Busch fastest in first Sonoma practice session (Getty)

Kurt Busch, with a lap speed of 93.014 mph, was the fastest during the first Cup series practice session at Sonoma.

Busch gained the top speed in the final moments of practice while in qualifying trim, but had the second fastest time prior while in race trim which should be a sign that Busch has something pretty strong for the road racing regulars to contend with Sunday.

The bulk of all the top speeds were gained late with drivers in qualifying trim. In race trim, Marcos Ambrose topped the charts for the first hour of the 90 minute session.

Second fastest with a lap speed of 92.559 mph, was last week’s winner, Denny Hamlin, and he was followed by Kasey Kahne (92.546), Kevin Harvick (92.361) and Martin Truex Jr. (92.359).

Rounding out the top-ten fastest in practice were A.J. Allmendinger (92.309) who was sixth fastest, Jamie McMurray (92.298) seventh, Tony Stewart (92.276) eighth, David Gilliland (92.206) ninth and Marcos Ambrose (92.184) was the tenth fastest.

The teams will return to the track for their 6:40 PM (EDT) scheduled qualifying session this evening, and then they will have two more practice sessions on Saturday (12:30 PM-1:15 PM & “Happy Hour” – 1:45 PM-3:00 PM EDT).

Top-5 Friday Practice Speeds:
#22-Busch 93.014
#11-Hamlin 92.559
#4-Kahne 92.546
#29-Harvick 92.361
#56-Truex, Jr. 92.359
slowest: #46-Pilgrim 89-597 & #38-Ave 89.170.
notes: #6-Ragan ran off course early but was able to drive away without hitting anything. #7-Gordon also slid off track but avoided damage.
This session will set the qualifying order for tonight's qualifying, with slowest out first and fastest out last, all cars, the field is not separated by top-35 in owners points anymore.

Sonoma Practice Speeds


Kurt Busch Comments Friday From Sonoma

KURT BUSCH (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE STRENGTH OF YOUR TEAM RIGHT NOW? “I would give us a B-plus. We’ve run really well, consistent. We just haven’t had those break-through performances with a win. Every area of the team is graded. Whether it’s aerodynamics, motor department, chassis design, pit crew. I’d say that we’re an “A” and a “B” in every category, but we end up with a B-plus overall. There are teams out there that are A-pluses in certain areas and As in others. I know that we can be better. Right now, we have a great shot at making the Chase. We just have to continue to grow as a team and make sure that when we hit the Chase, we’ve got an A-plus grade because you can’t throw away points in the Chase. You have to make sure that you capitalize on every moment. Like last week, we led some laps. I thought that we were a fourth-place car. We drove home 11th. Those seven points in the Chase kill you. Seven points right now aren’t so bad.”

CAN YOU ARTICULATE THE DIFFERENCES IN THIS TRACK? “Most oval races, you get into that groove of (turns) 1, 2, 3, 4 and you’re working on a general chassis setup that just goes left. Here at a road course, there’s 11 turns that we count. It’s about shifting gears. It’s about going up and down the hills, turning left, turning right. There’s more of a percentage of turning right here than left, so our primary focus is turning right. Just trying to get the car to balance itself on the short run as well as the long run because you’re paid really well when you run well on the long run.”

Busch taking the run strong in 2009 at Sonoma (Getty)

WHAT MAKES THIS A GREAT RACE ON SUNDAY? “The fact that you get to see cars turning right and left; the whole gist of road racing with stock cars. It’s not the Grand Am series or GT class of cars where they’re spread out. You’ll see guys beating and banging on each other on a road course. You don’t see that all that often.”

WHEN YOU HAVE A BAD RUN AT A TRACK, DOES IT STICK WITH YOU FOR A WHILE? “It just pumps you up even more to know that you were that close and you just need to do one or two things different to seal the deal. Marcos Ambrose will be tough this weekend. We raced hard against him at Watkins Glen last fall and ended up coming out on top. (Juan) Montoya won, we were second and Ambrose was third. We know that we have to race those guys if we want to win the race on Sunday.”

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THE WAY THAT JEFF GORDON RACED HERE LAST YEAR? “It was an off-day for Jeff. He apologized to a handful of guys afterwards and for some reason (he) pinpointed me. I thought that was interesting because he drove straight through our right rear, gave us a flat and we finished 32nd. You have your bad days. You have your moments of beating and banging. It’s one of those things where the lines keep getting drawn further and further towards the aggressive side here at Sonoma. You don’t see it so much at Watkins Glen, but here, everybody seems to get more and more aggressive at the end of the races.”

WHY ARE WE SEEING MORE AGGRESSIVE RACING HERE? “I’m not sure. We have our cars here that put up a big fight and don’t take the damage as rough as they use to. You can really lean into somebody pretty hard and still maintain your track position.”

CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE DRIVING ABILITY OF YOU YOUR BROTHER? “Kyle does a great job everywhere he goes. Whether it’s the Truck, Nationwide, Cup series, he’s found that success, in the Truck series as a driver and owner. It’s great to watch him put it all together. He’s competitive every week. Whether it’s mile-and-a-half, short track or superspeedway, he can driver at all the race tracks. I like to joke around and say that I taught him too much, he’s absorbed it all and done very well with it.”

WHAT DOES KYLE DO WELL? “Just raw speed. He gets that car as fast as it can be and finding that lap time out on the track.”

IF THERE WAS ONE CORNER THAT YOU COULD TAKE ONE-TENTH OF A SECOND OFF, WHERE WOULD THAT BE? “For racing, I would like Turn 10. That’s the fast right-hander behind the drag tower. If you can get through there quick, that puts you in position for getting into Turn 11.”

WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO WIN ON SUNDAY? “It’s a tough battle. You can’t expect to win. You have to go there and give it your best all through practice. Stick with the race strategy and knowing when to pit. When you’re out there racing, there are certain guys you know to race early in the run. Then there are guys late in the run that you know to race. To win here, it’s a culmination of putting together so many elements because we only do road racing twice a year. You have to be able to adapt. Most importantly, the car has to run its lap times lap after lap after lap. Not missing a gear and staying on track and executing the basics are what it takes to win here.”

WHERE DO YOU LOOK TO PASS ON THIS TRACK? “Looking to pass here is tough. There are opportunities to take advantage of other drivers when they make mistakes. I’d say Turn 7 and 11 are your primary choices. They’re two hard braking zones. A big deceleration rate and you can out brake people in these corners. You have to look to pass anywhere when somebody makes a mistake and take advantage of that.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS QUALIFYING HERE? “I think it’s very important. When you start up front and you’re right in that lead group, you’re out of the trouble, out of those double-file restarts where it seems like cheap shots happen. You’re out there just trying to hang on. If you’re up front and can separate yourself from the rest of the group, then life is easier.”

- Darnell Communications for Dodge Motorsports, Press Release

Keselowski Captures Coca-Cola 600 Pole; Driver Quotes Following Qualifying

Sporting News Wire Service

Keselowski captures second pole of his career Thursday at Charlotte

A strong practice session translated into an excellent qualifying run for Brad Keselowski, as the driver of the No. 2 Penske Racing Dodge won the pole for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Keselowski sped around the 1.5-mile track in 28.112 seconds (192.089 mph) Thursday to win the second Coors Light Pole Award of his career, the first coming this past September at New Hampshire. Keselowski edged A.J. Allmendinger (191.693 mph), who will start his second consecutive Sprint Cup points race from the outside of the front row.

Series points leader Carl Edwards, winner of last Saturday's Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte, will start third after at lap at 191.686 mph. Edwards' lap was one-thousandth of a second slower than Allmendinger's (28.170 seconds versus 28.171). Denny Hamlin (191.367 mph) will line up next to Edwards on the outside of the second row.

Jeff Burton (191.245 mph) qualified fifth. Jimmie Johnson, David Reutimann, David Ragan, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Clint Bowyer will start from positions six through 10, respectively. Stenhouse, driving the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford in place of Trevor Bayne, is the first driver to make his Cup debut in the Coke 600 since Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 1999.

Andy Lally, T.J. Bell, Scott Wimmer, Tony Raines and Scott Riggs failed to qualify for the 43-car field.

Starting Lineup

Coca-Cola 600 Qualifying Notes:
• Brad Keselowski earns his second career pole in his 65th start.
• Brad Keselowski's first pole came at Loudon (2010).
• Brad Keselowski becomes the ninth different pole winner in 11 qualifying sessions this season; Dover was rained out.
• A.J. Allmendinger (second) scored his best start in nine Charlotte races.
• Carl Edwards (third) posted his seventh top-10 start in 12 races this season.
• Denny Hamlin (fourth) posted his best start in 12 races at Charlotte.
• Jeff Burton (fifth) posted his best start since starting fourth in the Daytona 500.
• Jimmie Johnson (sixth) posted top-10 starts in last eight Charlotte races, longest current streak
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr. qualified ninth in his career-first start; he is the 26th driver to make his Cup debut in the 600 and the first since Dale Jr. in 1999.

Driver Quotes Following Qualifying

Ragan won the Sprint Showdown just ahead of Keselowski

DAVID RAGAN ON QUALIFYING EFFORT: “We’re prepared. We know what’s in front of us. Qualifying here tonight is just the beginning. It’s obviously a good tone-setter for the rest of the week and allows us to pick a good pit stall. Hopefully, we can wind up here in the top 10, but 600 miles is a long race. You’ve really got three stages, you’ve got the first 150 or so laps – the middle part while the track is changing – and then when it gets really cool in the evening. We feel like we’ve got a good game plan and we’re ready to go try and win this thing.”

GREG BIFFLE ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP: “The car was pretty good, but it just slid the nose a little bit in three and four. I just chattered the front tires, but I thought it was gonna be way faster than that actually. It’s a long race and we know that it’s cooling down fast, so we’ll get bumped down but that’s the way it goes.”


AJ ALLMENDINGER ON QUALIFYING: “The U.S. Air Force Ford is really quick. I’m proud of Mike Shiplett and all the guys and I think we’ve got a good race car. The mile and a half program hasn’t been our best. We’ve been struggling with it a little bit and haven’t been as good as our teammate, Marcos, and a lot of the Fords, so I thought last week in the All-Star Race we got better. We still weren’t as good as we wanted to be, but we learned some things. We came back here with a different plan to work on setup and, so far, at least in qualifying trim, it was pretty good. That will at least get us in the top five or top six, which, for 600 miles it doesn’t really matter at that point. You just want to start up front and now we’ve got to work on Saturday to make the car better and then stay there on Sunday.”

CARL EDWARDS ON HIS CAR THIS WEEK: “We’re fast and that’s a car that we didn’t plan on bringing to this race. I don’t know if you saw it, but I tore up the other car. This one is fast, so we’ve got a fast Scotts EZ Seed Fusion and it looks like we’ll probably be third. That will be a great starting spot. We’ll get a great pit stall and it’s a great way to start off our 600 weekend.”

“The car is very good. Bob and I were a little frustrated with our lap and then we realized that’s OK to qualify third considering where we were a year ago. I think AJ said it well. We’ve been working hard at all of this stuff and the cars are fast. I think at least one of those Fords is gonna be a threat to win on Sunday, so I hope it’s our Ford. It looks like we’ve got a great start.”

Edwards thinks this weeks car may be better than last week

EDWARDS ON WHICH CAR IS BETTER, COKE CAR OR ALL-STAR: “I think this car might be better actually. I didn’t know that the car I tore up had been torn up at Phoenix and it raced at Martinsville and got beat and banged up there. I didn’t feel so bad after that, but this one that we’ve got now is a brand new car and it’s neat.”

EDWARDS ON WHAT’S GOING ON IN MISSOURI? “I’m really proud to be from Missouri, and I’m extra proud after what I’ve seen here the last week. The whole state of Missouri and Oklahoma and Kansas for that matter, everyone has really joined up and volunteered. There are firemen and first responders and hospitals. A couple buddies of mine took their tractors down there to Joplin and they made a base at a church and they went out and helped people get trees off their houses and gather up their belongings. It’s a tragedy. We’re praying and thinking of them and as we learn more, we’ll know who we can help more.”

MARCOS AMBROSE ON QUALIFYING: “We’re just gonna pay the price. We’re not gonna qualify well. We just didn’t get it right this afternoon when the track was hot and it is what it is. It’s a long race, but every spot counts.”

RICKY STENHOUSE, JR. ON HIS EMOTION AFTER QUALIFYING: “I’m relieved to get this thing in. I knew the car had the speed. Our Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion was fast in practice. Whether I could put it all together was a different story and we were able to, which was good. I didn’t imagine we would have a lap that good, but we’ll definitely take it. I left a little bit out there because we just had to get in. These Wood Brothers guys did an awesome job and I just can’t wait to get in the race on Sunday and just try to make all the laps we can. It’s a long race. I’ve got a lot to learn. That was just qualifying, so, hopefully, on Saturday we’ll have a good practice and a good Nationwide race. Our Fastenal Mustang was fast in Nationwide practice and, hopefully, have a good race and get into Sunday and just really learn a lot.”

Burton looked sharp in in practice and qualifying

JEFF BURTON ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP (5TH): “Obviously you always hate to be first in practice and not first in qualifying, but that’s good nonetheless. Obviously we’ve had a tough year and feel like this has always been a good race track for us. Hopefully we can get a good night. It’s good for us to start there and that’s our best effort of the year and that will help us with our pit stall and I’m real happy with that. I’m a little disappointed because we gave up a little bit from where we were in practice but nonetheless I’m still happy with that.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP (6TH): "It wasn’t bad. We had a good practice session and a good qualifying session. I would have liked to have been up there in the top three for the optimal pick on pit road but we’ll take that.”

JOHNSON ON WHAT THE KEY IN THE 600 MARATHON? “Well, it’s a long race and a lot of things take place. So it’s tough to pinpoint just one thing. In a compromise I would say that probably the best phrase to use is that it starts in the day and ends at night. And then what we saw with tire strategy playing out through the All-Star weekend, pit road strategy and what you do there might be a big part of this. Fuel mileage could be an issue. So you’ve got to be on your toes.”

RYAN NEWMAN ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP (12TH): “We didn’t back-up the position we ran in practice. It was a good effort. I’m not happy with it. But we did what we thought was right and just came up short today.”


KEVIN HARVICK ON HIS QUALIFYING (28TH): “It is still not going to be great but everyone on our Budweiser Chevrolet team did a great job just getting it competitive. I feel like we are going to be fine in race trim. We just have been off since we unloaded in qualifying trim. We’ll keep at it. That is better than where we were in practice, so that is an improvement.

HARVICK ON HIS SPECIAL PAINT SCHEME: “Budweiser is a big supporter of our troups so we are running a special scheme this week. Kind of our jet-fighter flat black scheme paying tribute to all of those who serve.”


DALE EARNHARDT, JR ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT (25TH): “I don’t if it is one of the best cars we’ve had in qualifying. We’ve got this feeling we are looking for. We got closer to it. We’ve been terrible all year long in qualifying and today not much better with the grip and the way the car felt in the direction we need to go. We had a real big wiggle in the middle of one and two and jumped up the track and lost some time there. We are gaining on it. Our car was great today when we unloaded in race trim. We were faster than everyone that was around us. I look forward to the race.”


TONY STEWART ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT (22ND): “It was pretty good in one and two. We’ve heard a lot of guys talking about not getting their cars turning down in three and four so I probably turned a little bit early but I made sure I got down and probably gave up a little time there. We made a pretty good gain there. We just didn’t gain as much as we would have liked but there are some guys that were faster than us in practice that we have beat already. Probably going to end up 18th-20th in that range but you have 600 miles. If you don’t get there, it doesn’t matter whether you start first or 43rd, if you have a car that is going to win the race; you are going to win the race no matter where you start. We just have to do our thing.”

Gordon feels pretty confident coming into Coca-Cola 600

JEFF GORDON ON QUALIFYING 11th: “It was a good lap for the Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet team but it wasn’t a great lap. Coming to the green, it definitely didn’t stick the way I was hoping it would. It kind of made me a little nervous. It made me a little bit hesitant to attack three and four like I needed to to be on the pole. The car definitely has got it in it. These guys showed it last week and been showing it today. It is a decent lap. We can do it from there.”

GORDON ON HOW HE FEELS ABOUT THE RACE? “We were feeling good from the All-Star Race, this is the same car that we had there. Obviously in the Drive To End Hunger colors on it this weekend. The car felt good. That wasn’t my best lap. I knew that we weren’t going to be on the pole and you always wish you could do it over again.

“The car is definitely driving really good and we just missed it just a slight bit there. The All-Star Race was great for us. The car was good and we feel like we learned some things from that. I think that we can definitely show that in the 600 this weekend.”

MARK MARTIN ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT (13TH): “Our car has got speed but it is playing hide and seek with us. Showed itself a time or two and we’ve been seeking the rest of the time. That is fairly decent. But, you know, there was more there, we just didn’t get every bit of it. Every ounce of it. Last week we qualified a little too loose, tonight we qualified a little too tight. It will be ok. We are up ahead of a lot of good cars and we are going to have a lot of good cars ahead of us.”

CLINT BOWYER ON HIS QUALIFYING (10TH): “I screwed up a little bit getting into three. Got through one and two so good, I just tried to get it all in three and got in there a little bit too hard and it kind of come around on me a little bit and had to wait on it to settle back down so I could get to the gas. Hurt my guys a little bit. But that will be a good starting spot for the big, long race.”

Hamlin and No. 11 team still searching for first win of 2011

DENNY HAMLIN ON HOW IMPORTANT QUALIFYING IS: “We’re by no means a qualifying race team, so that’s a good sign for us and this weekend. I’m looking forward to it. I felt like last weekend there were some minor adjustments a little bit more time on the longer runs — we had a pretty good car last weekend. So hopefully now this weekend we’ll get all these bugs worked out and spun around for our FedEx Toyota team. We’re excited about this weekend and looking forward to getting back to victory lane.”

DAVID REUTIMANN ON RUNNING HIS ALL-STAR CHASSIS: “The guys at Michael Waltrip Racing did a great job getting this car back and turning it around. It’s wasn’t the original plan, but we’ve got a good Aaron’s Dream Machine. Really proud of my guys and happy to have the Armed Forces Foundation paint scheme on the car this weekend so we’re hoping to give it a good run.”

BRIAN VICKERS ON HOW GOOD HIS CAR IS FOR THIS WEEKEND: “I think the car is good. We haven’t run in race trim yet, but we really changed a lot of stuff from last week in our base package coming into this week. So far I’ve been really happy with it. I felt really good about one and two. I missed three and four a little — I just rushed the throttle. I felt so good about down there that I tried to get too much down here. That was my fault, but I think the car is good.”

VICKERS ON WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO HAVE PEOPLE'S PICTURES ALL OVER HIS CAR: “It’s pretty awesome. Just the reception from everyone — from the industry to the fans — I’m on there and I’m excited about it. I’m in the car every week and I’m excited about being on the race car. I literally spent five minutes telling the guys here on the team about my photo on here. If I’m that excited, I have to imagine that everyone else is pretty stoked.”

Kyle Busch wasn't too happy about qualifying effort

KYLE BUSCH ON MEANING OF WINNING COCA-COLA 600: “We would love to win this thing. It’s a long race and that’s where we hope our car will really come into play is 500 or 600 mile mark. Just haven’t quite got the speed out of it today that we’ve been looking for. We unloaded last week off the truck and we were really fast. For some reason, this week we seem to be not being able to find it right now. We’ll go to work tonight, think about it and come back Saturday and make some good changes to it. Hopefully, we’ll have a good happy hour and then go get them on Sunday.”

“When you come to Charlotte, it’s typically the part in the season where you look at where you are. You factor in a little give and take — you could probably be three spots better or five spots worse when it comes Chase time. If you just run steady and do your own deal and concentrate on what you’re doing then you’ll be a Chase contender. That’s where we are right now so we feel good about things.”

JOEY LOGANO ON HIS CAR DURING QUALIFYING (23RD): “We just didn’t pick up what we needed to pick up. At times, we were just a little bit too free through the lap — kind of a four-wheel skate going — sort of the same thing we were fighting all day. We’re going to go back and look at it a little bit and see what we can find.”

- FROM FORD, TOYOTA AND CHEVY PRESS RELEASES

Burton Fastest in First Charlotte Practice Session

Burton had something working well in Q-trim Thursday

Jeff Burton, with a lap speed of 188.580 mph, was the fastest during the first Coca-Cola 600 practice session at Charlotte. Burton looks to capture his fourth win at Charlotte and third Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday. His last win on the track came in the fall of 2008.

Carl Edwards was second fastest with a lap speed of 188.029 mph, and was followed by Jimmie Johnson (188.009) who was third fastest, Denny Hamlin (187.970) fourth and Ryan Newman (187.728) was the fifth.

Rounding out the top-ten fastest in practice were Brad Keselowski (187.676) who was sixth fastest, Kasey Kahne (187.624) seventh, Clint Bowyer (187.474) eighth, Kurt Busch (187.461) ninth and A.J. Allmendinger (187.363) was tenth fastest.

The teams will return to the track later this evening for their 7:10 PM (EDT) scheduled qualifying session, before returning to the track on Saturday (as there is no track activity on Friday) for their final two practice sessions (11:30 AM – 12:15PM & Final Practice: 12:50 PM 1:50 PM – EDT).

Top 5 Speeds from Thursday's 90 minute practice session:
#31-Burton 188.580
#99-Edwards 188.029
#48-Johnson 188.009
#11-Hamlin 187.970
#39-Newman 187.728
#21-Stenhouse Jr. was 12th fastest
slowest: #81-Riggs 180.234 & #37-Raines 181.026

Complete List of First Practice Speeds


Driver Quotes Following First Practice Session

TONY STEWART ON HOW HIS CAR IS FOR SUNDAY: “I think it’s pretty good. I’m pretty happy with the balance so far in race trim. It’s just staying focused on what we’re doing. There have been so many distractions in the last week and a half, and everybody wants to talk about Kansas or something else that doesn’t pertain to anything that we’re doing right now, that it’s hard to focus on it.”

STEWART ON THE 600 BEING A LONG RACE IF THE CAR ISN'T RIGHT: “500 miles is a long time when you’re car’s not right. I’m not sure that we’re practicing in the heat of the day here for qualifying tonight; so that’s why we’ve got Saturday to work on the race stuff.”

RYAN NEWMAN ON THE TEMPO OF THE RACE AND LEADERS BREAKING AWAY: “I think a big part of that depends on the caution flags when you get bunched back up, because you can have a bad run on your second fuel run and be one of the slowest cars on the track if you pulled the lead out and still stay out front. So a good part of it is the restarts because the restarts are so chaotic it seems. But yeah, a team can dominate with or without the temperature change and the track change and everything else. The guy who leads the most laps might only lead 50 of them, you just never know.”

NEWMAN ON KYLE BUSCH SPEEDING TICKET: “My point about the license part of it is if you don’t have to have a driver’s license to compete in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, then, no matter what, it’s DMV (Department of Motor Vehicle) related in my opinion. If he would have clobbered a mail box at 128, then that is a Federal situation. There are different ways of looking at it is my point. If something was to happen to it…it is just a private car incident that has no affect on his eligibility to drive a Sprint Cup car or a Nationwide car. But, to me, it is a very gray area in reference to the police officer and what he did as to how he got away as clean as he did. I think that is probably your judgment question. If it was you running 128 in a 45, would he have treated you the same way? Every officer has to answer that question a different way depending on who he is dealing with.”

Reutimann Fastest in First Fontana Practice Session

Reutimann looks poised to sit on pole

David Reutimann, with a lap speed of 186.143 mph, was the fastest in the first Fontana practice session. Second fastest was Denny Hamlin with a lap speed of 184.886 mph, and was followed by Greg Biffle (184.658) who was third fastest, Brad Keselowski (184.625) fourth and Jamie McMurray (183.983) was fifth fastest.

Rounding out the top-ten fastest were Kasey Kahne (183.824) who was sixth fastest, Juan Pablo Montoya (183.739) seventh, Brian Vickers (183.702) eighth, Matt Kenseth (183.645) ninth and Mark Martin (183.622) was tenth fastest.

The teams are scheduled to return to the track for their 8:10 PM (EST) qualifying session later this evening, and then return again on Saturday for their final two practice sessions (2:30 PM – 3:15 PM & “Happy Hour from 3:50 PM – 4:50 PM – EST

Top 5 speeds from Friday first practice session for the Auto Club 400:
#00-Reutimann 186.143
#11-Hamlin 184.886
#16-Biffle 184.658
#2-Keselowski 184.625
#1-McMurray 183.983
slowest: #60-Bodine 177.000 & #37-Raines 175.743
incident: #18-Busch wrecked off turn 4 after hitting some water on the track and will have to go to a backup car.
notes: The beginning of practice was delayed for 2 hours after morning rain and "weepers" in turn 1 & 2 had to be dried. The practice lasted 45 minutes.
qualifying order: qualifying order will be set how a driver practices, the top 35 first, slowest first to fastest, then the go-or-go homers after, slowest to fastest. (Jayski.com)

Cal First Practice Results

Friday's Driver Quotes From Auto Club (California) Speedway

Jimmie is the King of California

JIMMIE JOHNSON FRIDAY QUOTES:HOW HAS SPLITTING UP THE RACE SHOPS AFFECTED YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH JEFF GORDON?: “I honestly can’t say that there’s a big difference. The times I see the other drivers are really at track in our meetings and debriefs or our post-race phone calls, meetings that we go through and all of that is still the same. Inside the shop there are some changes — minor again because we only changed the drivers. We didn’t change the teams around. I think that it was a very well thought through plan. It’s worked well and I think we’re off to a good start. Shaking things up a bit has been helpful. We as a group are still trying to figure out the mouse trap that we’ve built over the off season so we’re all getting stronger and better as a team. It’s going really well. The one thing I can say is that just have (Dale Earnhardt) Junior teamed up with Stevie (Letarte, crew chief) — you all know their personalities and Steve is a fun guy. It brings that out in Junior a lot more. I see a lot of smiles on his face and Stevie is just Stevie doing his thing. It’s entertaining to say the least.”

HOW WOULD YOU ASSESS YOUR SEASON SO FAR?: “I think we’re in good shape. We’re not where we want to be. I think we still have a lot of room for improvement from the speed in the cars, a little bit on pit road — although if we hadn’t had that issue late in the race at Bristol, if you look at our average pit stop time, even including that — it’s the best we’ve had as the 48 team. Those guys, the stops leading up to that last one were in the 12s. They did an amazing job. We have speed on pit road. We’re finding the speed with the car and I think that if I can rate us — we’ve done maybe in the B or B minus range right now. Not bad with all that we’ve changed over the off season. A lot of room to grow.”

HOW CONCERNED WOULD YOU BE IF YOU DON’T RUN WELL THIS WEEKEND?: “The progression is absolutely right. So Vegas is the first mile-and-a-half and we’ve had a couple weeks to work on some new ideas and then hopefully we can get out and get to work today. Every lap is going to help us progress our cars. If we leave here with a poor run, it’s right in front of us, we know we have a lot of work to do. I feel like we have a direction and hopefully we’re competitive and run well. This weekend’s race will really tell the tale.”

DO YOU THINK YOUR TEAM IS STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS?: “It is a work in progress, but it’s weird how and I’ve seen this over my career, you could be out of rhythm, not have the runs going like you want, but you go to a track that’s good for you and the results come. In a small way, I know we’re here and I have expectations and hopes of winning, but if I really think it through, I would say that a top-five run would be our goal. Don’t want to lose anymore points and want to continue to build a gap between where we are and 10th. There’s still a chance that we could win here. We’ve come here before struggling and have found a way to win. I’m optimistic about our chances.”

CAN YOU USE ANY DATA FROM THIS RACE LAST FALL?: “We ran really good here and finished second or third — something like that. Think we had a late restart. I know we led a lot — us and the 5 (Mark Martin) ran really, really well so that will be the baseline setup that we work off of. Then from a concept standpoint, the areas that we’ve been exploring over the off season and at Las Vegas, we’ll start heading that way as the weekend progresses, but we’re going to come back real close or we are very close to how we left here last fall.”


KEVIN HARVICK FRIDAY QUOTES:

Harvick doesn't think Edwards is driver to beat

IS CARL EDWARDS THE GUY TO BEAT RIGHT NOW?: “I don’t think so. He hasn’t won every race has he?”

DO YOU THINK THE OTHER RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING DRIVERS ARE LOOKING FOR MORE SPEED?: “I think those two teams obviously are in different situations than the 27 (Paul Menard) or the 29. Our cars have really had speed three out of the four weeks. Vegas was my fault, we drove up into the top-five and were where we needed to be and I got a speeding penalty and kind of ruined that day. We’ve had top-five cars every week and I felt like three out of the four weeks we had cars capable of winning races. I feel comfortable about where our team is.”

WERE YOU MAD ABOUT THE WRECK IN BRISTOL?: “Things happen. You’re going to be mad at the moment. You sit there and you led the race, ran in the top-three all day and something happens then your first reaction is to get mad. Things happen.”

HOW LONG IS THE MEMORY AND WHAT IS THE ETIQUETTE FOR PAYBACK?: “I think a lot of that just depends on kind of where you’re at with everything and a lot of times as you get to the end of the year you have to let a lot of things go. There’s a lot that rides on what you do on the race track from a results standpoint and it affects a lot of things that you do. If you carry a lot of things too far too long sometimes it affects your team and the results that you get on the race track. That’s not fair to those guys.”

ARE YOU DISAPPOINTED THAT THERE IS ONLY ONE RACE AT AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY THIS YEAR?: “Honestly I wish all the race tracks would be held accountable for how many people are sitting in their grandstands. I think sometimes there’s just certain places that we go to — I think this particular track is a good venue that when we first started coming here supported one race very well. Sometimes a lot of people want more and you try to make two races out of it. I always tell people there is no reason to make two mediocre out of one good. This is a good one event and there’s several race tracks that should be held to the same accountability on a yearly basis in my opinion. I think that new markets and new, fresh fans that haven’t been able to see the races year after year would be an eye opener for a lot of race tracks.”

IS THIS RACE WEEKEND A FAIR TEST FOR THE TRACK?: “I don’t see why it shouldn’t be considered a fair test.”

WHAT SPECIFIC OTHER TRACKS WOULD YOU WANT TO SEE LOOKED AT?: “You’re smart — figure it out.”


KYLE BUSCH FRIDAY QUOTES:

Edwards says he still owes Kyle one

Are you surprised that Carl Edwards didn’t try to move you out of the way at Bristol? “He (Carl Edwards) did try. He did get into me once. He bumped me, but it wasn’t like he tried to get into the left-rear quarter panel and spin me out at all. We raced each other hard, we raced each other clean. That was good. If Carl wants to continue saying that he still owes me one, whatever, I don’t care. I’m racing my race and how I should be racing, and racing all of my competitors and not worrying about all of that stuff. To me, we’re here at California and I’m ready to move and see if we can’t win out here.”

What has made you become more mature and more relaxed this season? “A lot of people have pointed to that — with Samantha (Busch, wife) and getting married this off-season and stuff like that. I give a lot of credit to her and just some things that we’re doing together in our lives that we’re happy with and we’re doing. It’s been really good. Other than that it’s just great that people have taken a little bit of notice more to maybe who I am or what I am. With that, we just continue on moving forward and doing what we’re doing.”

How do you balance your new attitude along with still being competitive on the race track? “Tony’s (Stewart) is the best at it. Tony’s really quick at being able to just come up with snide remarks sometimes so I’m not that good. He’s got it going on. For me, I don’t know. You listen to some of the people that say, ‘Well, don’t change,’ and ‘Stay the way that you are and get in trouble,’ and all of that stuff. I can’t do that anymore. I’m more about just trying to make do with what I can do and keep things right. Like I told her, keep moving forward in what I’m doing and keep seeing the change. I think maybe last year or the year before or whatever it was maybe it was a little more fabricated. People were telling me what to do and how to act rather than me doing the work and actually becoming the person inside.”

How big of a weekend is this for Joe Gibbs Racing engines? “This will be a good weekend for us. The guys back at the engine shop, they’ve been working hard and working some long hours trying to get our issues resolved. They’ve done a really nice job. We haven’t had that many engine failures except what has popped up this year. You’re going to have some here and there when you’re trying stuff. You’re always trying stuff and you can always go so far on the chassis dyno or on the engine dyno, but until you get to the race track dyno is what I call it — the asphalt — you don’t necessarily know what exactly is under the hood. It will be a good test for us this weekend for sure with the big race track here and the long, sustained RPM at a high level with the out of gas through the corners. On the long run, you’ll be out of the gas a long time. Seeing how all of that plays out will be good. I suspect we’ll be fine.”

How is Joey Logano dealing with his bad luck this year? “I think he’s doing well. He’s high spirited — he’s a kid you know. He enjoys where he’s at. He likes the role he’s in, but he would rather be in the top-10 of course. Or at least just getting the finishes that they deserve in the past weeks. Joey’s (Logano) got a little frustration too. We were doing autographs yesterday for a bunch of people at Toyota headquarters and had a great day there and there were some people that were kind of razzing him a little bit about his bad luck and they’ve been trying tell him, ‘Hey, keep it up, keep your spirits up.’ A couple ladies, I told them to rub his head. We’re trying to change it for him, we’re trying to help him out. It’s not that he’s struggling at all — he’s fine. It’s just a matter of it beats you up a little bit mentally because you know you could be 10th to 15th or maybe even higher in points and you’re not there. I think he’s mired back in the 20s somewhere. He’s fine and he’ll get back up there. It’s just a matter of getting some good weeks going here and once he does get back on that string like he did last fall, I think he was the second higher points scorer in the final 10 races. He can do it, it’s not a matter of his driving talent, it’s just a matter of getting it all put together.”

What do you think of the fact that you are paired with Jeff Gordon and Richard Petty for most wins before age 26? “I beat them to 25, but they beat me to 26. I didn’t win enough this calendar year from May 2 to May 2. There’s still some opportunities for some more wins. Essentially that’s what it tells me. That’s what I read into it when you say that is I think I was the highest winner to 25, but now I’m not to 26. Whatever. It’s interesting. It has all come at such a young age, but there has been guys that have been here at a young age too that have been just as successful. You say the guys — (Richard) Petty and (Jeff) Gordon and so I’m watching video of (Jimmie) Johnson winning here and he’s another one of those guys. He wasn’t quite as young, but when you look at his career and how long he’s been here from 2002 — his rookie year to where he is now — going on 10 seasons. 54 wins or whatever it’s been — that’s a guy that you look at and say, ‘Man, he’s done a lot in a short period of time and five championships and everything else.’ Never finishing outside the top-five or 10 in points or whatever. That’s a guy that everybody would like to be if they had their choice and could pick somebody to follow after. We’ll see how things go here in the next few weeks and next few years and through my career, but all in all it’s been good so far. There’s plenty more for it to grow.”


CARL EDWARDS FRIDAY QUOTES:

Edwards-Busch rivalry is what NASCAR needs

IT IS HIGHLY PLAUSIBLE THAT YOU COULD HAVE WON EVERY RACE THIS YEAR. IS THIS THE BEST START TO A YEAR IN YOUR CAREER EVER? “I would say this is the best start of a season that I have ever had. The fact that we are as competitive as we are every week is great. I was just talking to Jack and I am really excited to practice today and race this weekend and that is fun. It is fun to come every week and know you have a shot to win.”

YOU DISCUSSED LAST WEEKEND THAT YOU STILL OWED KYLE BUSH ONE PRIOR TO THE RACE, BUT THEN YOU COULD HAVE TAKEN HIM OUT TO WIN THE RACE BUY YOU DIDN’T. WHY DIDN’T YOU TAKE HIM OUT? “I have thought a lot about last week’s race. I think I did the best I could. I don’t think that my car was fast enough to go up there and compete for the win at the end of the race. On the restarts I was pretty good but we were too far from the end of the race to start running into each other. It could have ended up way worse than a second place finish.”

SO THAT WAS A CONSCIOUS THOUGHT IN YOUR MIND AT THE TIME? “Of course. It is Bristol. I think I did the best job I could. After I thought about it a little bit, I realized that race went pretty well. It was okay. It is hard to finish second. Some guys handle it better than others. Standing there right after the race and knowing you finished second it tough. It is one of the hardest positions in this sport.”

BECAUSE YOU SAID YOU OWED HIM ONE FANS PROBABLY EXPECTED YOU TO TAKE THAT OPPORTUNITY ESPECIALLY SINCE IT PROBABLY WOULD HAVE MEANT YOU WOULD HAVE WON. HAVE YOU TAKEN ANY GRIEF FROM FANS OR PEOPLE ABOUT THAT? “No. It boils down to this. I had my shot to pass him and I couldn’t because I wasn’t fast enough. When things got going, his car was just faster. I couldn’t get back to him. If I could have got to him with one or two laps to go then maybe I could have made something happen. I know that is what all the fans wanted to see. Trust me, nobody wanted to see it more than me. I would have loved to be in that position. As it went, I wasn’t even in position to consider that.”

JEFF BURTON SAID THAT IF YOU ARE GOING TO SAY YOU ARE GOING TO OWE SOMEBODY, JUST DO IT, DON’T KEEP SAYING IT. “Yeah, that is fine. People can say whatever they want. I am going to do what I have to do and say whatever I am going to say. That is me.”

Burton: Just do it, Don't keep saying it.

AFTER THE PHOENIX RACE KYLE APOLOGIZED BUT YOU SAY YOU STILL OWE HIM. WHY DO YOU STILL FEEL THAT WAY? “The deal is I am just going to go race how I need to race. It is nothing personal. That deal at Phoenix cost me 28 points at least in my opinion. So, the least he can give up is one spot. I don’t know. I told him I owed him one and he asked for me to give it back to him at the All-Star race. You never know. Maybe that is how it will go. This is racing guys. You go to Bristol and are on a guys back bumper and you have a chance and you start thinking of all the little things and all the little reasons behind everything. Really it is fine. Hopefully him and I get to race a bunch this year and hopefully it is good clean racing. It might get exciting, you never know.”

WHEN IT COMES TO PAYBACK OR RIVALRY OR ANYTHING ALONG THOSE LINES, IS IT SOMEWHAT IN YOUR FAVOR AS A COMPETITOR FOR THAT GUY TO KNOW THAT YOU HAVE ONE STASHED IN YOUR BACK POCKET? “I think so. I can tell by the way he drove his car on those restarts that he knew I was there and he was worried about me. That is good. You want a guy to be in that position. At the end of the day, I thought about it a little bit after I got home. I was kind of a little bit whiny after that race. I should have just got out of the car and said that it was a good race and he did a good job and that is the way it is. I was just so frustrated because I wanted to win so bad. It is racing. It is competition. At the end of the day, he had the best car and won the race.”

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH RIVALRY. “I know. I know. I wouldn’t call it a rivalry right now but it is just hard racing and that is what it is.”

WHEN YOU LOOK AROUND THE GARAGE, HOW FIT IS IT COMPARED TO WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE SEEN WHEN YOU FIRST CAME INTO THE SPORT? “Real fit. When I first came in there was nobody in the gym. I would be by myself. Now there are tons of guys that are there at the gym and a lot of guys that are fit. I did a deal for Sports Science yesterday and they asked me that question. They asked how I stack up and I got to thinking about it. Guys like Jimmie, Vickers, Mark Martin a number of the guys I see them working out hard. Kasey Kahne. Those guys, I think they all would do really well in any type of insurance situation.”

WHAT IS WORKING FOR YOU GOING BACK TO PHOENIX LAST YEAR? WHAT IS DIFFERENT? “It is a number of things really. The team is working really well. It is the engine. Robbie Reiser is doing a good job. Everyone is working well together. It is not one thing. We are just fast and it is for all the right reasons.”


JUAN PABLO MONTOYA FRIDAY QUOTES:

Montoya says "Luck" is reason for good start

HOW CLOSE IS YOUR SETUP TO YOUR TEAMMATES SETUP?: “It’s not. Last week actually it was pretty close. Normally we run completely different setups in the front and the back. Just completely different ways of getting around the car. He looks for different things in the car than I do. I think I’m a little more aggressive on the wheel than he is. That’s why we run different setups.”

WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE YOUR GOOD START TO THIS SEASON?: “Luck. Last year we had the pace. You look at my numbers last year and averages with where we were running and we were pretty good. At the mile-and-a-half we struggled last year, this year mile-and-a-half we seem to have the car a lot better. At the short track we are still pretty good. I think everybody is doing a better job as well. It’s like when (Brad) Keselowski wrecked in Daytona, I had blue on the side of the car and didn’t even feel it. We’ve been that close. Last week when they all wrecked, we got hit from behind and everything is spun. It didn’t really do a major thing to the car. We’ve been in the right place at the right time. I think that makes a big difference. I think everybody is really positive about it and everybody seems to be in a really good mood about it.”

Matt Kenseth Fastest in First Las Vegas Practice Session; Four Roush Drivers in Top-5

2003-04 Vegas winner was fastest in Friday's practice

Matt Kenseth, with a lap speed of 186.599 mph, was the fastest during the first Kobalt Tools 400 practice session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Second fastest and with a lap speed of 186.297 mph, was David Ragan, followed by Juan Pablo Montoya (185.957) who was third fastest, Carl Edwards (185.893) fourth fastest and Greg Biffle (185.675) was fifth fastest.

“Our Ford is really fast,” said Ragan. “Everybody has been working really hard and I think that is evident with Carl and Matt and Greg and some of the other Fords that unloaded fast. It makes life a lot easier when you all unload fast like that. I am really happy with our Ford.

“Even in the Nationwide practice I was watching and you hear everyone talking about the bumps in turn one and I have been trying to find a sweet spot where I could drive around them and I kind of got so pumped up that I got such a good run coming off of four that I didn’t really hit my marks getting into turn one.

“Our car has so much grip that I can get back to the throttle really early. We will make a couple of minor adjustments and try to go get a good qualifying lap for our UPS team.”

Rounding out the top-ten fastest in practice were Marcos Ambrose (185.624) who was sixth fastest, Tony Stewart (185.561) seventh, Regan Smith (185.446) eighth, Brad Keselowski (185.357) ninth and Joey Logano (185.287) was tenth fastest.

The teams will return to the track later this evening for their 3:40 PM scheduled qualifying session, and then again on Saturday for their final practice session, which is scheduled to run from 10:10 AM – 11:25 AM.

Saturday's practice will be critical to the outcome of the race because only one driver went longer than 10 consecutive laps in the first session signifying that most of the race day set-ups will be finalized in the final session.

Nevertheless, seeing Kenseth at the top of the charts in any practice is intriguing. He's usually not one to show blazing speed in practice.

Note: Jeff Gordon spun coming off turn four on his second lap out, but did not hit anything. Also, Travis Kvapil made slight contact with the wall but didn't do any damage.

LVMS Practice Results - Jayski.com

Kurt Busch Comments Following Friday's Practice at Michigan

HOW WAS YOUR CAR IN THE FIRST PRACTICE? "I feel like things went good for us in practice. We managed our time right up against the window of when the rain came to maximize our race potential. We got one qualifying run in to make sure we were prepared. We ran most of our laps in race trim. The car felt comfortable. The track’s just not rubbered-in. It’s just not quite up to the point that it will be for Sunday’s race with more and more laps that need to be run on it. With the weather in question, we’ll see how it all plays out."

CAN YOU COMMENT ON BENEFITS OF BEING THE ONLY TEAM WITH ONE MANUFACTURER? "It’s great. The technology that crosses over between the race teams and production cars, it’s really neat to be part of that program. To walk through (Chrysler Tech Center) that facility, now being with Dodge for my sixth year, I almost know my way around that campus. It is special to be a program where we have all of our eggs in one basket. We are their factory team and they’re pulling for us like we’re part of the family."

YOU GUYS GET THE ADVANTAGE OF BEING THE SOLE TEAM GETTING ALL THE TECHNOOLOGY? "We have to work harder to make sure that we have the correct data that we need streaming both ways. With their wind tunnel and what they discover, we need to double-check it with ours. It’s cool because they have engineering-minded people there building production cars and assisting our race-car team. Then you have the engineering support of our race team supporting their needs and concerns. It’s unique to have the two worlds come together to push each other harder to build better products on the car and at the race track."

HOW HAVE YOU LEARNED TO DEAL WITH RUN-INS WITH OTHER DRIVERS ON THE TRACK? "Being a new guy, you don’t necessarily know how to handle all the situations. When you’re a new guy, you don’t get the benefit of the doubt. That’s where I’m at a mix with this whole scenario. I raced Jimmy Spencer early on in my career and I wasn’t supposed to be lipping off and sticking my neck out. Now it seems OK for somebody to do that. It’s amazing what 10 years in this sport can do. Not just on my side of it, but on how everything gets viewed. I don’t think that (Kevin) Harvick did anything terribly wrong. He was a veteran teaching a young kid a little bit of the ways of the world. That’s what a veteran did to me early on in my career and it helped to elevate my game pretty quick."

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE CAR IS BETTER THIS YEAR ON RESTARTS? "I feel like we have adequate power under the hood. What you need to compliment that power is what we call short-run speed. Your car has to be good on sticker tires and if you don’t have that, especially in this day in age with double-file restarts and green-white-checkers, if your car isn’t good on stickers you’re going to get run over and guys are going to pass you and (you will) find yourself in compromising situations. There’s always room to improve. One area that we feel like we’ve improved on is short-run speed, especially at Charlotte where we were able to win the All-Star race and have a good 20- to 30-lap car in the Coca-Cola 600. That ended up paying dividends for us by winning both of those races."

IS THERE ANY SENSE OF VINDICATION THAT PENSKE HAS STAYED WITH DODGE AND HAVING SUCCESS? "It’s special to be able to be the only group out there and have so much success. With the odds stacked up against you, you always feel like you’re running an uphill battle. With us and Dodge, Dodge and Penske, it’s a genuine respect for each other in knowing where we both stand. Whether it’s the competition side, contract side or engineering side, we’re working on it together. Anytime we come up to Detroit and race here in Michigan, we’re always pushing harder. It’s a nice balance knowing that those guys are working just as hard as we are. To come into this new (MIS) media center and see the different images on the wall, the Model-T line, I feel special that my Miller Lite Dodge is on the wall. Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Cale Yarborough on the wall, there’s a lot of heritage for all the manufacturers here in the Detroit area, especially at Michigan Speedway. We’re pushing hard. The Dodge group is our group. We’re pushing hard to win for them and sell on Monday."

FROM A COMPETITIVE STANDPOINT, WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE MORE DODGE’S IN CUP? "It’s hard for me to speak on the big, global plans for Dodge and all the brands. I do know that Ralph Gilles (Dodge, president and CEO) is very committed to our racing program. He’s a great guy. He’s real down to earth. He’s got some quick witted lines about him that you wouldn’t expect from a CEO. That’s the kind of guy that I look up too (smiles). The way that he runs the program, he’s very grounded and he knows that with the tough economic times that all the auto manufacturers are going through, we have to take one step at a time. Once we get through these next few quarters, I see more products being released. I see more excitement around the Dodge brand. When that happens and we see the sales, hopefully there’s going to be more opportunities to see more Dodge teams out there."

WHEN YOU WIN A ROAD COURSE EVENT, WILL YOU RUN A VICTORY LAP REVERSE? "We thought about it (laughs). If the race goes with a lot of green flag runs and there’s enough TV time left, I’ve thought about it. There’s a lot of blind corners going forward, I’m not sure what we’re going to do going backwards."

DO YOU FEEL PRETTY GOOD AS A ROAD COURSE RACER? "I still think that I can improve on the road course. Right now, the way that the game has changed, everybody is really competitive on road courses. It use to be where guys like Kenny Schroeder and Jimmy Spencer, they’d all joke around and say we’re not even going to show up on Sunday. We don’t need to run fast. Know a guy like Kasey Kahne can go to a road course that’s from an open-wheel, midget background and win at a road course. Tony Stewart’s dominated at Watkins Glen over the years. You have to be on your game. You have to show up and make sure that you don’t lose a lot of points. I had a good run for a while. We sat on some poles at Sonoma and Watkins Glen. We’ve had some top-five runs. It just seem like the fuel mileage is a big, big issue when you get to the road courses. You race the races from backwards to front on when you have to pit for the final time. You stretch your fuel for as long as you can go and that’s what we have to work on this time around."

DOES DIPLOMACY WORK WHEN DRIVERS HANDLE ON-TRACK ISSUES OUTSIDE OF THE CAR? "It can both ways. This is a sport about racing. It’s also a sport that’s been build off of rivalries and excitement that we see outside the car. In my mind, the racing needs to be done on the racetrack and that’s what needs to be covered. That’s the exciting part for me is to read who dominated the race or who passed who when or who gained the most spots the last few laps. And then there’s the drama, the People Magazine stuff that’s covered in our sport as well. You have to have ticket sales. At the end of the day, you want things to be settled on the race track."

From TRPR Kurt Busch Press Release

Vickers and Martin Top Final Michigan Practice Speeds

by M Roberts

The final two practice sessions run Saturday as a prep for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway gave somewhat of a preview of who will do well in the race. Most of the drivers who ran well in the first Michigan race in June had a good showing, with a couple shining much brighter than they did then.

One of the surprises from all the teams that ran well in June was that other than Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle, most have brought different chassis’ than they ran then. A portion of the teams have brought their Chicago chassis from the July race. Though the tracks are different in length, the banking in and out of the turns are similar. Others have either brought brand new rides and in a few cases, some have their Indy or Pocono cars.

The star of the day was Brian Vickers who has had some success on these type of horsepower tracks this year, but yet the team still opted to go with a brand new chassis in hopes of attacking the last four races in the race to the chase a bettering their current status of 14th and 96 points behind.

The decision looks to have paid off because if just comparing the June practice times to this weekends. Vickers was fast throughout the June Michigan practices, netted the pole, but finished only ninth, which is the main statistic they look to improve upon this week.

This week, Vickers looks much faster and better suited to captured Red Bull Racing’s first win and more importantly, chop their deficit in the Chase.

In the first session Vickers ran the quickest lap early on and went on to have the second best average speeds among drivers running at least 15 laps. He ended up getting 27 laps in and showed that he should be really good in the critical Michigan long runs.

During Happy Hour, Vickers laid down his quickest lap early which was second fastest overall. Overall, Vickers ran the most laps combined between the two sessions and was consistently fast throughout.

Mark Martin was fastest at Michigan in June’s Happy Hour and won the race. This week, Martin is once again fastest in Happy Hour as he’ll be attempting to win the sixth Michigan race of his career. Martin, surprisingly, didn’t bring his winning chassis from June, but rather his Indy chassis that finished second. For whatever reason that caused the change, this team is dialed in once again and will contend for the win.

Jimmie Johnson had the best car in June’s race leading the most laps, but his team brought his eighth place Chicagoland chassis. He was a faster in practice this time around, but equally good in average times. Michigan has seen Johnson have the best car on a few occasions, but can never seal the deal. It remains one of the few tracks Johnson has yet to win at.

While Johnson will be running hard for win to get bonus points in the Chase, Juan Pablo Montoya will be taking it easy and keeping his goals modest with gaining a high top-10 finish. However, his car looks good enough to contend for the win this week.

Montoya was third fastest in the first session, but the most attractive stat of all in practice was his average times and Montoya was faster than anyone in all combined average laps from both practices. He brought his second place finishing Pocono chassis and used notes from their sixth place Michigan finish in June to re-set it. Should Montoya win, it would be his second career Michigan win, with the other coming in Champ Cars.

Carl Edwards has the best average finish at Michigan among all divers, but his speeds were less than what he did in June when he finished fourth. Happy Birthday Carl!

Greg Biffle looked to have one of the best cars in June when he battled Johnson for the win for the final 10 laps, but struggled in both sessions today despite bringing the exact same chassis. Chances are based on their past at Michigan, Biffle’s team will make the needed changes to be better as the race goes on.

Jeff Gordon had a strong final practice in average laps times between both sessions where he came close to Montoya’s times. The most consistent area of Gordon’s 2009 campaign has been on the 1.5-mile and two-mile tracks. At Michigan in June, Gordon didn’t lead a lap, but he did finish second. He’s in that comfortable mode right now where he could let it all hang out for bonus Chase points and go for the win.

Dale Earnhardt Jr brought the chassis he ran at Indy and Pocono this week to Michigan and had a great Happy Hour with the eighth quickest lap. He ran 36 laps and was very competitive with the leaders in average lap speeds.

Kyle Busch is starting 39th and needs to have a good run to help erase his 56 point deficit in the Race to the Chase where he sits in 13th. Busch brought himself a chassis for this race in hopes of breathing some fresh air into the garage, but unlike Vickers, Busch’s practice times Saturday didn’t show much improvement from their June Michigan practice.

This may be a race where Busch has to bite the bullet and shoot for a top-15 finish rather than push the car more than it can do. He still has Bristol and Richmond coming up where he should run well considering he won their in the spring, so the best thing to do right now is points race, stay out of trouble, and stay out on a caution to lead a lap gaining five points.
　
Saturday Happy Hour: Top 5 Speeds
1) Mark Martin 181.717 mph - AVG 37 laps @ 175.414
2) Brian Vickers 181.621 mph - AVG 46 laps @ 176.653
3) David Ragan 180.519 mph - AVG 39 laps @ 175.650
4) David Stremme 180.451 mph - AVG 30 laps @ 175.286
5) Jimmie Johnson 180.419 mph - AVG 38 laps @ 176.650

Saturday’s First Practice: Top 5 Speeds
1) Brian Vickers 184.909 mph - AVG 27 laps @ 178.063
2) Tony Stewart 184.838 mph - AVG 18 laps @ 177.364
3) Juan Pablo Montoya 184.696 mph - AVG 13 laps @ 179.395
4) Joey Logano 184.544 mph - AVG 22 laps @ 177.939
5) Mark Martin 184.488 mph - AVG 22 laps @ 175.202
　
Top 10 Driver Rating for this weeks Michigan race following all practice and qualifying sessions with a slight mix of June’s Michigan race, current team situation, and overall Michigan track history.
1) Jimmie Johnson
2) Mark Martin
3) Brian Vickers
4) Juan Pablo Montoya
5) Jeff Gordon
6) Carl Edwards
7) Kurt Busch
8) Tony Stewart
9) Clint Bowyer
10) Greg Biffle

Newman Rockets to Top of First Michigan Practice

by M Roberts

The NASCAR Sprint Cup series first practice session Friday at Michigan International Speedway was primarily used for qualifying set-ups as the teams get prepared to qualify for Sunday’s CarFax 400.

Ryan Newman topped the first practice with a speed of 189.155 mph and he did so very early in practice. He ran only seven laps in practice which suggests they are pretty happy about what they have set up for Friday’s qualifying.

The majority of the top speeds mirrored the June Michigan race’s first practice. Most of the drivers who were primed and set for that race found themselves in the top-10 as well this week.

The overall speeds were slightly better this time around, but the names remain the same.
If things are similar and equal to June as the first practice may suggest, we could only be so lucky because the late race drama of Jimmie Johnson, Greg Biffle, and Mark Martin was a classic.

Johnson had the ninth fastest lap this time around after setting the top time in June‘s first practice. Martin, who eventually won the June race and had the fastest Happy Hour times before the race, reeled off the sixth fastest lap. Martin only qualified 32nd in that June race, but ended up winning making his starting position the furthest back to win at Michigan.

Brian Vickers, the pole sitter in June, had the tenth fastest lap this time around after being second fastest in the first practice back in June. Despite a good finish in the first race and more at other horsepower tracks, Vickers and the Red Bull team opted to go with a brand new chassis this week hoping to be better in the their Chase run.

The only issue of practice was Kasey Kahne who lost an engine early on that had to be replaced. This is definitely not the type of start Kahne was looking for considering his fall from the Chase last season in the same situation heading to Michigan with four races remaining. Kahne’s back to back 40th place finishes last season, beginning with Michigan, sunk his chances of holding on to a top-12 spot and missed the Chase for the fourth time in his five year career.
　
Friday’s Top 5 Fastest Practice Speeds
1) Ryan Newman 189.155 mph - AVG 7 laps @ 186.703
2) Joey Logano 187.169 mph - AVG 9 laps @ 185.351
3) Juan Pablo Montoya 187.144 - AVG 8 laps @ 184.646
4) Martin Truex Jr 186.144 - AVG 10 laps @ 184.877
5) Carl Edwards 186.640 - AVG 11 laps @ 182.941

Sonoma Post Practice Driver Ratings

by M Roberts

After both practices were run Saturday at Infineon Raceway in preparation for Sunday’s Toyota / Save Mart 350, there are several drivers heading the list that don’t get a lot of print time for being considered a contender to win. In a normal week, the discussions are all about Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, and Carl Edwards and how fast they are in practice.

This week we get to analyze the times of Robby Gordon, Marcos Ambrose, Ron Fellows, and A.J. Allmendinger because despite having lesser cars without the financial backing of the mega teams, they themselves are the equalizer. The 10 turn 1.99 mile road course is a welcome site for a few, while some of the traditional NASCAR oval drivers hope to just finish and leave.

For the two sessions, many teams were attempting differing strategies during different segments. Some teams were using older tires in an attempt to simulate longer runs, which made their times lower on the leader board.

Others were attempting fuel conservation strategies by not running so hard to see the difference in times and fuel used. Theoretically, the cars should have to pit every 33 laps, but some of the crews are talking like they can get close to 40 laps on one run which, if were true, would mean that a team could get by with only two pit stops in the 110 lap race. It always looks good on paper early on before the race as a game plan, but never seems to happen.

The ratings below are based on both of Saturday’s practice sessions with an emphasis on average times, mixed in with some of their past road racing history, along with a small pinch of where they start on the track because being up front is so critical.

1) Robby Gordon had the fifth fastest lap in the early session and then the third fastest in the final session. In the final session, Gordon had the fastest average times with 13 laps run which shows that he ’s maintaining high speeds for a longer duration than most and will help him mow down the 21 drivers ahead of him to begin the race.

I loved his confidence before the race regarding his brand new chassis. He’s been talking about it for two weeks since his Road Atlanta test session. The only fault with Gordon has been his parts, which seem to fail him just about every year on the roads since leaving RCR.

2) Ron Fellows has to start from the 29th position, but after some major changes in their set up Friday, they came out strong in both sessions. He laid down the second quickest lap during happy hour, but was also second fastest in average times for both sessions combined. He’s got NASCAR wins in the Nationwide and Truck Series, but hasn’t been able claim a Cup win yet.

3) Juan Pablo Montoya will start from the 17th position and looks to have the best car among all the well funded teams running this week. He was second quickest in the early session and fourth in happy hour with good average times in all. His only Cup win is at Sonoma during his first season and is sitting pretty good to end the drought this week.

4) A.J. Allmendinger has got things figured out after two great practice sessions Saturday. He had a strong upward progression in both practices beginning with seventh fastest early and then reeling out the fastest lap just as happy hour ended. He likely came in to get tires just as the session ended, but after running a total of 17 laps in that session, Allmendinger should be very good Sunday.

5) Ryan Newman may be one of the drivers that can get to the front quickly and maintain a solid position throughout the race. He’ll only have two rows of cars in front of him when the green flag drops and his final practice session was very encouraging for a driver that has good success on the road courses. He had the sixth fastest lap and average time in that session.

Best of the Rest

Tony Stewart didn’t practice well but it might be more about trying some different things with the tires and fuel mileage than what his car can actually do. Before qualifying Friday, Stewart had awful times and then went out and busted out the fourth fastest lap for qualifying. Starting up front will be huge for Stewart early.

Jeff Gordon has never looked worse in any road course practice session as he did Saturday. He stated that the team didn’t treat these races with the same emphasis as the other because there are only two roads, but that has been the case every year. They were one of the teams that tried lots of different strategies during both practices, but being 30th and 20th quickest in the final two sessions are not the Gordon times I have seen from him ever at a place that is considered his home track. I don’t believe the times, so I still consider him a contender.

Kyle Busch swept the roads last year and won at Mexico City in the Nationwide series. Other than running a strong qualifying lap that will start up front, he hasn’t done anything in practice to make me think he’ll hold the lead for very long despite it being hard to pass. Busch also had to change his transmission prior to happy hour with results that weren’t successful. However, I also didn’t think he could win at Sonoma or Watkins Glen last year.

Jamie McMurray has had very good runs at Sonoma and practiced well.
Last years pole sitter, Kasey Kahne, also had a strong practice session.
Clint Bowyer finished fourth at Sonoma last season and ran two great session coming in second and seventh.
Marcos Ambrose was fastest in the first practice but blew an engine and will be going to the back of the field. He came out to run only one lap in happy hour, but it wasn’t very fast.

In all, there aren’t many drivers that have joined the road racing winner fraternity. There are currently only seven active drivers that have won a road race at both tracks combined. This week has a great possibility of having someone join the ranks just because Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, and Kyle Busch don’t look to be as stout coming in as they have been in the past when they won.

That leaves us with Montoya and Robby Gordon as the top two candidates of past road course winners to win this week. While I’d love to see Ron Fellows finally break through, I think it’s Montoya’s race to lose based on all the variables.