Z-Line Designs Driver Rallies from Crash To Score Fourth Nationwide Series Win of 2011
Date: April 16, 2011
Event: Aaron’s 312 (Round 7 of 34)
Series: NASCAR Nationwide Series
Location: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (2.66-mile oval)
Start/Finish: 22nd/1st (Running, completed 124 of 124 laps in a green-white-checkered finish)
Winner: Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
It appeared that Kyle Busch’s day was over. After being involved in a multi-car accident on lap 89 of Saturday’s Aaron’s 312 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Busch’s No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota was a mangled mess, so much so that he was ready to take his car to the garage area so that his crew could load it up and get a head start on their trip home.
But crew chief Jason Ratcliff had other ideas. The veteran race-caller brought Busch to pit road where a swarm of Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) crewmen went to work on repairing the Z-Line Designs Camry. Quick and tenacious effort during a series of stops allowed Busch to rejoin the field without losing a lap. And with 32 laps remaining in a car seemingly held together with duct tape and sheer will, Busch rallied his way to the front with JGR teammate Joey Logano pushing him from behind. (more…)
Waterbury, VT – The American Canadian Tour will look for its ninth different Lee USA Speedway winner in this Sunday’s (April 17) 2011 New Hampshire Governor’s Cup 150 season opener. No driver has been able to repeat in the eight events held at the 3/8ths mile speedway since 2003.
Three of the previous eight winners will attempt to change that fact on Sunday, as seven-time ACT Champion Jean-Paul Cyr of Milton, VT (2005), ACT’s hottest driver at the end of 2010 Joey Polewarczyk, Jr. from Hudson, NH (2008) and defending NH Governor’s Cup winner Miles Chipman from Epping, NH (2010) have all filed entries. But that leaves over 40 other drivers aiming at their first career ACT win at Lee. (more…)
ACT Lee USA Opener Chance For Cyr And Dragon To Get Back In The Hunt
Waterbury, VT – After what was by anyone’s standards a disappointing 2010 season for long-time American Canadian Tour (ACT) veterans Jean-Paul Cyr and Brent Dragon, both from Milton, VT, both expect the opening event of the season at Lee USA Speedway on Sunday, April 17, 2011 to be a chance to get things turned into a positive change of direction.
Cyr is a seven-time ACT Champion and saw his long-standing championship record tied by Brian Hoar from Williston, VT in 2010. Cyr returned to ACT racing after taking a year to compete at Thunder Road Speedbowl in Barre, VT in 2009. He won the King of the Road title that season. He had a slow start coming back to the ACT at the beginning of 2010, and by his own admission was really never a contender. (more…)
SWEET TO DEFEND THUNDER ROAD TITLE AND MERCHANTS BANK OPENER
Waterbury, VT – Every hometown needs sports heroes. Barre, VT is a sports town. The “Granite Capital of the World” is a blue collar town with master craftsmen making a living working with huge slabs of granite, which their neighbors have hauled deep from inside Quarry Hill that looks over the city below.
For over fifty years, racing at Thunder Road International Speedbowl has been part of the fabric of this town and region. The latest local hero to follow in the tradition of local and regional heroes like Stub Fadden, Ronnie Marvin, Roy ‘Pappy’ Forsythe, Harold ‘Hardluck’ Hanaford, the Dion Brothers, Joey Laquerre and dozens more is another local kid, Nick Sweet, from Barre. (more…)
