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Heading to Loudon, Carl Edwards trails by 127 points behind Kyle Busch and hopes to close the gap in the NASCAR Nationwide Series point standings. Carl finished in the top five at this race last year and hopes to take home the win Saturday when the race starts at 3PM on the ABC network.

Kyle Busch won the NASCAR Nationwide series Federated Auto Parts 300 at the Nashville Superspeedway.

Busch who has dominated the last six series events by leading the most laps has been plagued by a series of late race circumstance that kept him and his Joe Gibbs Racing team out of victory lane with just one win in the last five events.

Photo by Icon Sports Media

That streak was broken last night as Busch, who started from the pole again out paced the competition by leading 173 of the 225 scheduled laps.

Last years winner Brad Keselowski was making ground on Busch in the closing circuits but Busch held on to win by a 0.891 second margin to take his fourth win of the season and twenty fifth of his career.

FastCar Newsdesk for Richmond International Raceway, week of 5/1/09

The excitement of Brad Keselowski’s breakthrough Sprint Cup Series victory in James Finch’s No. 09 Chevy in last Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway has been tapered by the aftermath and injuries caused Carl Edwards’ nasty flip. Calls by drivers, journalists, fans, and others in the sport to redesign the racecars, the racetrack, the catch fence, the restrictor plates, the yellow-line rules and the grandstands at Talladega have permeated airwaves, blogs, and articles throughout the week, prompting a response from NASCAR officials.

Good golly.

You can’t visit a website or read a paper where they are not talking about Carl Edwards’ last lap crash at Talladega.

Now, I am not a NASCAR driver nor do I pretend to be.

But I am a race fan and I love the racing at Talladega.

I give the drivers a lot of credit for getting into those cars at this track knowing what the outcome may be. You may not get up into the fence as Edwards did, but you just might get caught up in a wreck that is not your fault.

But hey, can’t that happen at just about every track?

Photo by Steve Langley of MotorSportsNews.Net; click photo to view full size version

There was a drowning that occurred after Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 NASCAR Sprint Cup race. The victim was a female inside Victory Lane with race winner Brad Keselowski.

(photo by photographer Steve Langley)

No folks, she didn’t actually drown, and the victim was really the Sprint Cup girl (either Anne-Marie Rhodes or Monica Palumbo) you see just about every week with the winner in Victory Lane.

Brad was having a fun time after his very first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory and got a little carried away with the champagne.

Brad Keselowski Had a good showing at Nashville Superspeedway last weekend, posting a third place finish after starting 19th in the field, but quickly headed to the front of the line with a fast car and great pit stops during the entire day.

“Joey Logano and Kyle Busch were pretty much the class of the field,” Keselowski said. “I just couldn’t get to them on those last couple restarts. I’m really pleased with this third-place run though for sure. I’m even more proud of my guys and the work they did on pit road. Getting me those five spots early in the race was key to our success and I can’t thank them enough for their hard work week in and week out.”

Kyle Busch dominated and won the NASCAR Nationwide series O’Reilly 300 at the Texas Motor Speedway.

In doing so, Busch became the first Nationwide driver to win a series event at the facility from the pole.

The win marked Busch’s third consecutive series win at the race track. Incredibly the Las Vegas native led 178 of 200 circuits: Setting a new track record for laps led. Combined laps from his last three starts have Busch taking the point for 475 of 600 circuits at the Texas track.

2009 marks the twenty-seventh year for the series currently known as the NASCAR Nationwide series. The series officially kicks off next Saturday with the Camping World 300 at the Daytona International Speedway.

As teams prepare for the event they were greeted with NASCAR announcing new engine rules for the series. Similar to rules in the Camping World Truck series, teams are not permitted to compete in three consecutive events without using a previously used engine from the season. The measure is designed to cut costs for teams, many of which are struggling with the country’s current economic problems. The rule does not go into effect until March twenty-fifth and does not apply to races at restrictor plate tracks (Daytona & Talladega).

NASCAR Nationwide Series sponsor introduces ‘Nationwide Insurance Dash 4 Cash’ and NASCAR Nationwide Series ESPN ‘Driver Pick ’Em’ game at media day
Charlotte, NC — Nationwide Insurance announced today at NASCAR Nationwide Series media day that NASCAR racing superstar, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his company JR Motorsports will be featured in a new marketing campaign that will begin in February.