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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.

Kasey Kahne was last year’s pole and race winner. He would battle back after a pit road miscue, leaving with loose lugs. Other drivers stayed out while he took fuel and tires. He was able to easily outrun the gamblers Brian Vickers and Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the win.

Kahne is not the only strong one here as far as the numbers go; you will even be surprised who is on the list! Read on, as we examine who’s hot at Pocono and who is on a current hot streak.

Matt Kenseth benefitted from a late race caution to win the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at the famed Darlington Raceway.

Kenseth, driving for Roush Fenway Racing mounted a late race charge and was running second behind Kyle Busch.

Busch who completely dominated the event by leading 143 of the races 153 circuits was in first with Kenseth picking up as much as three tenths of a second per lap as the race was in its closing laps.

Kenseth caught Busch with two laps remaining but before the former Sprint Cup champion could mount a pass the yellow flag came out after Scott Lagasse and Joe Nemecheck got together on the back stretch.

The caution set up a green-white-checker finish.

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

How far can you get on a single tank of gas? That depends on such details as how much fuel you can fit in your tank, the efficiency of your vehicle and how much control you have over your bladder. Ford seems to think you can eke 1,000 miles out of a single tank of 87-octane with its new 2010 Fusion Hybrid – a figure that seems nearly impossible at first blush.

To meet this rather impressive goal, the aforementioned hybrid sedan would need to average 57 miles per gallon, an attainable figure since Ford’s preliminary testing indicates the Fusion Hybrid can manage up to 70 mpg when driven by a hyper-miller like Wayne Gerdes, who will join NASCAR racer Carl Edwards and a few assorted engineers as drivers.

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.”

Joey Logano might want to invest in lessons for the new Gibson, hand painted by artist Sam Bass, Les Paul edition guitar he won at Nashville Superspeedway Saturday. He took the lead for good with nine laps to go in the race to finish ahead of Kyle Busch. The pair of Joe Gibbs racing team members swapped the lead back and forth for a total of 172 of the 225 laps in the race.

Carl Edwards started on the pole but the strong Gibbs team was no match for Number 60 Save-A-Lot Foods Ford.

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.

Kyle Busch won the pole Thursday night for Saturday’s Nationwide Series O’Reilly 300. Busch won both of the Nationwide Series races at Texas Motor Speedway last year and has positioned himself for making it three consecutive.

Matt Kenseth will start second and Paul Menard qualified third. Fourth will show David Ragan with Jeff Burton rounding out the top five. Carl Edwards, Terry Cook, Tony Stewart, Dale Jr., and Joey Logano finish out the top ten.

Those that did not qualify were #40 Scott Wimmer, #43 Josh Wise, #26 Brian Keselowski, #49 Kertus Davis; and #31 Kerry Earnhardt.

Photo by MotorSportsNews.Net(work) photographer Steve Langley

Last year, Kyle Busch made history in March 2008 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

He became the first driver to win a Sprint Cup race for a foreign manufacturer since 1954.

Let’s run down the numbers at Atlanta and see who’s hot statistically speaking.

FastCar Newsdesk for Atlanta Motor Speedway, week of 3/5/09
Considering the vast number of engine failures this season, particularly at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, seeing several engine developments this past week is of little surprise.

One of the best parts of the start of any race season is the incredible fluctuation of the point standings. And this year is no exception. This week I take a look at the top ten (twelve) and see how things have evolved over the first four races.