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Fan Favorite Format Change Begins This Week At Pocono

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (June 4, 2009) – The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) today announced a change to its race format with the addition of “Double-File Restarts – Shootout Style” throughout each race. Beginning with this weekend at Pocono Raceway, the first- and second-place drivers will line up side-by-side as the green flag flies for each restart.

“We’ve heard the fans loud and clear: ‘double-file restarts – shootout style’ are coming to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series,” said NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France. “This addition to the race format is good for competition and good for the fans.”

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.

Photo by Steve Langley

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had better be stepping it up a bit, or history is going to repeat itself and he won’t be making the trip to the banquet in Las Vegas.

His year has not gotten off to a great start for one reason or another, but mostly simple mistakes in the pits lately have been the cause of his bad finishes. Bad pit stops, loose lug nuts, missing his pit stall… all have led to many of the problems with the finishes that could have been much better.

In ten races, Dale Jr. has only three top tens and one top five for the season. He’s currently 18th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup points, after loosing three spots last week in Richmond.

FastCar Newsdesk for Talladega Superspeedway, week of 04/23/09

Let the games begin. As rumors about the status of drivers like Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. made minor waves a couple of weeks ago, talk of crew chiefs’ jobs became more than that this week. Wednesday, Richard Childress Racing announced that the entire crews of the No. 29 and driver Kevin Harvick and No. 07 and driver Casey Mears will switch, with the changes taking effect next week at Richmond International Raceway.

Jeff Gordon ended a 47-race winless drought with his victory at Texas two weeks ago. Now the statistics suggest it could be Kevin Harvick’s or Mark Martin’s turn to do the same.

Both drivers are solid at Phoenix International Raceway – site of Saturday night’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 – and both carry a hefty winless drought with them into the desert.

(Photo by ICON Sports Media)

Harvick’s last win came in the 2007 Daytona 500 – 78 races ago. Martin has gone 97 starts without a victory (121 races). His last win came at Kansas in 2005.

NASCAR announced the broadcast schedule for the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Series race schedule on SPEED. It features coverage of NASCAR’s top developmental series on the leading cable network dedicated to motorsports. The 22-race calendar kicked off with the NASCAR Camping World Series West opener from Thunderhill Raceway in Kyle, Texas. The March 14 race will air on SPEED Thursday, April 2.

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.

Kyle Busch was in a league of his own as the veteran driver completely dominated the NASCAR Nationwide series Stater Brothers 300 at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana California.

Busch, who started on the outside pole took the lead on the first circuit and continued to pace the field to eventually lead 143 of the 150 scheduled laps.

(Kyle Busch photo courtesy of Icon Sports Media)

Busch nearly broke his own record at the track; just missing the mark he set at the track last August when Busch and his Joe Gibbs Racing team led 144 laps. Incredibly Busch has all but thirteen laps of the last two series event held at the speedway.

Jeff Gordon dominated the rain interrupted Auto Club 500, but did not win. Jimmie Johnson was leading until rain stopped the race on lap 87.

The race was continued on Monday. Johnson was leading the race until Carl Edwards took it away with 13 laps to go.

The race ended under caution as Dale Jarrett spins out. These same drivers mentioned are strong front-runners at California.

Read on as I run down California by the numbers showing who has a better handle on the track than others.

Track Facts:

Size – 2 miles

Race Length – 250 laps / 500 miles

Banking / Corners – 14 degrees

Banking / Frontstretch – 11 degrees

Banking / Backstretch – 3 degrees

Kevin Harvick survives a wreck filled 75 lap shootout to win Richard Childress Racing their 6th Budshoot Out victory.
Harvick managed to weave his way through wrecks and survived a brush with the wall to be there at the end when it counted. Just look at the side of Kevin's car to see what I'm talking about. He even lost the draft twice. Man.
This race was a good kick off to the 2009 racing season.
I'll have more tomorrow.
Don't forget, this site has moved to http://www.4ever3blog.com/ and I'll only be double-posting for a short while so adjust your link lists and bookmarks.

In case you didn’t get to see these events, when they originally occurred, sit back, relax and have a few laughs on us here at MotorSportsNews.Net.

I’ve gathered just a few little things to lighten up the tension within the “Chase for the Cup”, as it is “On!”…

Video of Dale Jr. and Harvick in the Hollywood Hotel

Or this one:

 How Dale Jr. would like his MTV Cribs show to be:

and for the Denny Hamlin fans:

How about one for Kevin Harvick at the Hee Haw Raceway:

Who is Cameron Marion Bull?

Known professionally as “Cameron Marion”, Cameron is a beautiful young lady who hails from Kernersville, NC, just minutes away from Kevin Harvick’s race shop.

Cameron has danced for most of her life, but within the last two years, Cameron has turned to music.

On the Red Carpet

She has a beautiful voice, and the aspiration to sing at any of the NASCAR Series or ARCA or any other race track that would be in need of a National Anthem singer.

... of the Harvick vs. Edwards scuffle from last week.

Photo credit: AP

In case you haven't heard Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick got into a shoving match about Carl's bump-drafting techniques. See the Jenna Fryer article for more. Here is what a few people had to say about the possible match-up;

Dale Earnhard Jr: "It would be tough, Kevin never backed down from anybody. But you know that Carl is pretty tough. It’d be quite interesting.”

Kyle Busch: "I guess Harvick didn’t have very nice things to say, and Carl got his feelings hurt. I’m going to go with Carl, with his build. But I still think Harvick is a pretty good scrapper.”

The people at Shell sent me this jib-jab style video about "Americans For a Gunk-Free Nation" that has Kevin Harvick in it. These are the same people that gave me the autographed Harvick hats to give away.

I think, for what it is anyway, the video is actually kind of funny. The one burning question though is, "Isn't Dr. Feelgood in the video that Sam guy from 'Two Guys Garage' and the now defunct 'Shade Tree Mechanic'?"

Have a look;

Engine Watch 2008: Gunk on the Loose @ Yahoo! Video