by Jay | Mar 6, 2010 | NASCAR
HAMPTON, Ga. — Brand new truck. Same old result.
Driving a No. 2 Chevrolet that saw its first action this weekend at Atlanta, Kevin Harvick dominated Saturday’s E-Z-Go 200 to win for the third time in his last three starts in NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series.
In a race that saw several championship contenders fall by the wayside, Harvick crossed the stripe 1.308 seconds ahead of Kyle Busch at the end of a 14-lap green-flag dash to the finish. Aric Almirola came home third, followed by Steve Wallace, the 25th driver to register a top-five in his first race in the series.
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by Jay | Mar 4, 2010 | Maine, NASCAR, Wiscasset Raceway
NASCAR’s young guns race at Wiscasset
Andy Santerre brings his young drivers to “The Ames True Value Center of Speed 300” August 15th
(Wiscasset, ME) Cherryfield, Maine native and four time NASCAR EAST champion Andy Santerre will bring two of his young drivers to race at The Wiscasset Raceway on Sunday, August 15th. Currently the competition director for Revolution Racing, Andy is working with four young drivers that are part of NASCAR’s 2010 Drive for Diversity program.
“It’s going to be a challenge,” Santerre said, “This is a great step for these young kids to come into NASCAR and we give them a shot of a lifetime. They get to drive for our team, which is a top-notch team and have great equipment. This is not about them bringing thousands of dollars to a team. It’s about their talent.”
Talent is something Andy Santerre knows a little about.
During his 11-year career in what is now known as the K&N Pro Series East, Santerre won four consecutive championships from 2002-2005 and earned 23 wins, 85 top-five and 119 top-ten finishes in 166 starts. Santerre also spent time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in the late 90’s, and was victorious in 1999 after returning from a broken leg he suffered at the start of the season at Daytona.
Santerre joined Revolution Racing, a driver developmental team based outside of Charlotte in Mooresville, North Carolina in 2009.
Two of the young NASCAR drivers learning from Andy will be traveling with him to Maine to race in the 150-lap Late Model Feature at The Ames True Value Center of Speed 300 on Sunday, August 15th.
Sergio Pena, a 16-year old driver from Winchester, Virgina, is one of Revolution Racing’s developmental drivers that will be in Wiscasset this season. Andy didn’t know anything about this young driver until, in his NASCAR K&N Series debut, he put his car on the pole and finished second at the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown in Irwindale, California, in January.
Ryan Gifford, a 20-year old former developmental driver at Richard Childress Racing, will also be racing in Wiscasset August 15th. Gifford made four starts in the East in 2009 and finished in the top five three times. ”He’s a great driver,” Santerre said, “he has a lot of talent and is kind of the leader of the group.”
Joining Andy and the young drivers will be veteran crew chief Jerry Babb, another Maine native coming back for the big race weekend at Wiscasset. To give fans a chance to mix and mingle with our returning NASCAR veterans and young drivers the Wiscasset Raceway will have VIP tickets available for a lobster feed and meet & greet with Andy and the drivers. For more information, check the website at www.wiscassetraceway.info.
“We’re excited to give the fans at Wiscasset Raceway the chance to see the young drivers of NASCAR,” said Doug White, owner of the raceway, “we know there are also a lot of fans of Andy Santerre and we are proud to host them all at The Ames True Value Center of Speed 300 on Sunday August 15th. BE THERE!”
by Jay | Feb 27, 2010 | NASCAR, NASCAR K&N Pro Series
HUDSON, N.H. — Joey Polewarczyk Jr. will test a NASCAR K&N Pro Series East car with Fadden Racing next week.
Polewarczyk, who owns five career ACT Late Model Tour victories, will test for team owner Mike Olsen during a southern states swing to open the month of March. Polewarczyk will test at Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson, Ga., on Monday, March 1. On March 2, Polewarczyk heads to Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Greenville, S.C., and then to South Boston Speedway in South Boston, Va., on Wednesday, March 3.
“It’s a real great opportunity,” said Polewarczyk, who has three career starts in the K&N Pro Series, formerly known as the NASCAR Camping World East Series. “Even though I’ve had three races with these cars before, I haven’t ever really had one full day just to go and test the cars and get really comfortable. That, to me, is just going to build my confidence.”
Polewarczyk, 20, competed for Fadden Racing last September in his only K&N Pro Series race of the 2009 season. He started fourth before finishing 28th in the 35-car field after being involved in a late-race incident not of his own making.
Polewarczyk made his K&N Pro Series debut at Thompson (Conn.) International Speedway in July 2008 with a 16th-place finish for owner Barney McRae. Later that season, he posted a career-best finish of sixth at New Hampshire in a Dave Davis-owned car.
“It’s getting closer to racing season here, so just to get some seat time next week and get away from the snow up here will be nice,” Polewarczyk said. “It will be good to get back at it.”
Polewarczyk finished fourth in the ACT Late Model Tour standings in 2009.
by Jay | Feb 14, 2010 | NASCAR
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — With a last-lap pass of superspeedway ace Todd Bodine, Timothy Peters won Saturday night’s NextEra Energy 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway.
With a push from polesitter Jason White, Peters passed Bodine on the backstretch and won the race to the finish line. Bodine, who had won the previous two season openers at Daytona, crossed the stripe in second place but spun into the infield grass after taking the checkered flag.
“I can’t believe it — this thing drove like a Lexus tonight,” Peters said of his No. 17 Toyota Tundra. “We just won Daytona! I was just content where I was at, but the 23 (White) came up and gave me a great run.
“I can’t believe it — I’m going to Disney World!”
Peters’ only previous win in the series came at .526-mile Martinsville Speedway.
Dennis Setzer, White and Matt Crafton rounded out the top five, as Bodine took solace from his second-place run — magnified by wrecks that ruined the nights of defending series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. and Mike Skinner, perennial contenders for the truck series title.
“You’re a sitting duck leading,” Bodine said ruefully. “I saw the replay when I was sitting down there in the mud (after spinning). Timmy did what he had to do.
“We’re disappointed. There’s no doubt about it. But second’s nothing to sneeze at.”
Two separate crashes on the pace laps — before the race had started — promised an action-filled evening, and, indeed, before the race was a lap old, Aric Almirola took the field three-wide in Turn 3. Austin Dillon, making his first superspeedway start, broke loose between trucks and ignited a nine-truck collision that damaged the trucks of Kyle Busch and Landon Cassill, among others.
“I really don’t know what was happening,” Dillon said after exiting the infield care center. “I was sucking up to Jason White, and someone got under me. Just looked like they weren’t being very patient there to start. Just caught in the middle and got banged around there a few times and tried to save it — just nothing I could do there.”
Hornaday was the victim of a 10-truck wreck after a bump from Ricky Carmichael turned him into the outside wall at the end of the backstretch on Lap 32. The same wreck ruined the winning chances of front-row starter Elliott Sadler. Skinner’s race ended early after a tap from Peters launched him into the Turn 3 wall on Lap 62.
by Jay | Feb 13, 2010 | NASCAR
DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. — Tony Stewart held off a snarling pack of cars on his bumper to win the DRIVE4COPD NASCAR Nationwide Series 300 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday.
Stewart, who had won four of these races prior to this sunny Saturday, dodged a multitude of sensational wrecks to win his fifth of the last six Nationwide races here.
Carl Edwards roared back to a second-place finish after triggering Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s upside-down exit from the 120-lap race at the 92nd-lap mark.
Stewart teammate Kevin Harvick was third and Justin Allgaier fourth as the cars zigged and zagged their way to a wild finish.
Rounding out the top 10 were Brian Vickers, Paul Menard, who started the race in last place, Joey Logano, James Buescher, Kasey Kahne and Steve Wallace.
Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski, who raced up front most of the afternoon, wrecked back in the pack on the last lap.
A 10-car wreck shortly past the halfway point ended Danica Patrick’s day, much to her dismay. It was one of those “I didn’t have any place to go to miss the wreck” deals.
It all unfolded ahead of her out of turn four when Josh Wise was tapped from behind by Colin Braun, which created a domino effect that eliminated a total of 10 cars, including Patrick, who had been the center of a media blitz for the past 10 days.
Others eliminated in the crash included Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Scott Lagasse, Braun, Brian Scott, Johnny Sauter, Menard, Robert Richardson, Jr., and Jason Leffler.
Another spectacular accident stopped the race with just 28 laps remaining. This time, it involved most popular driver Earnhardt, who was racing hard in third place when he was clipped from behind by Edwards, after Keselowski nudged him. The contact flipped Earnhardt upside down, and he rolled a couple of times before coming to rest rightside-up.
Harvick received some minor damage in the accident, as did Edwards and Keselowski. Earnhardt, Nemechek and Brendan Gaughan’s cars were damaged beyond repair.
Chrissy Wallace spun before the field completed a lap and hit the inside retaining wall, ending her day almost before it began. A little tap in the rear bumper from Menard started her spin which prompted the first caution of the day. It was not to be the last caution.
Just a few after a restart, the caution waved again. Mike Bliss accidentally bumped Trevor Bayne, triggering a multi-car spin. Patrick was almost involved but entered the smoke and came out the other side unscathed. Tony Raines and Braun were not so fortunate. They sustained some damage in the accident. On the restart at lap 11, it was Harvick, Earnhardt, Jr., Edwards and Logano up front.
At lap 25, Harvick was leading with Earnhardt second. Edwards was third, followed by Logano, Busch, Townley, Stewart, Biffle, Leffler and Kahne. Stewart and Biffle had raced their way into the top 10 after starting the race in the back of the field.
After a round of green flag pit stops at lap 44, Nemechek and Raines led a few laps when everyone but them pitted. Another caution on lap 50 bunched the cars up again. Mike Wallace spun between turns three and four to bring out the yellow flags.
When the race resumed at lap 56, Biffle was the leader with Busch second and Keselowski third.
Trailing the leaders were Edwards, Earnhardt, Nemechek, Stewart, Logano and Kahne.
Patrick had made her way back to 24th spot after handling problems forced her to the rear of the field.
by Jay | Jan 31, 2010 | NASCAR, NASCAR K&N Pro Series
Logano Captures Second NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown Victory
Runner-up Pena, 16, impresses in debut
IRWINDALE, Calif. – Joey Logano got his second NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown trophy and Sergio Pena nearly made a historic debut on the national stage.
Logano, 19, held off the 16-year-old Pena and two-time race winner Matt Kobyluck for the victory in the 225-lap race Saturday before a sold-out crowd at the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
It was Pena’s first career race in NASCAR’s top developmental series and it came in the non-points, postseason event, which has earned the moniker the “Daytona 500 of short-track racing.”
Logano made his mark by winning as a 17-year-old rookie in the 2007 edition; Pena, who only has one year of Late Model racing on his resume, nearly out-did that.
Logano and Pena waged a race-long battle for the lead from drop of the green. For most of the race it was the Pena in heated pursuit of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year. Pena was able to grab the lead on several occasions. Logano, however, got the best of two late-race restarts to pull away for the victory.
Kobyluck got by Pena briefly on Lap 218, and by the time Pena got back to second four laps later he didn’t have enough time to track Logano back down.
Logano wound up leading a race-high 171 laps. Pena led the other 54 and they swapped the lead five times. Following Logano, Pena and Kobyluck across the line was Matt DiBenedetto and Andrew Myers. Eric Holmes, David Mayhew, Eddie MacDonald, Paulie Harraka and Steve Park rounded out the top 10.
Reigning NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Champion Jason Bowles finished 11th while K&N Pro Series East 2009 titlist Ryan Truex was relegated to 26th after a late-race accident.
It’s been a whirlwind weekend for Pena, a Winchester, Va., native.
Pena, driving for Revolution Racing and Drive For Diversity, beat out three teammates Thursday in a race-off for a chance to qualify for the Showdown. He easily did that, earning the pole in Friday’s qualifying.
The win was a vindication, of sorts, for Logano, who crossed the line first in last year’s NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown, but was penalized to last place for aggressive driving on the last lap.
This was the second year the postseason event was held in January. The first five – 2003-2007 – were held in the Fall.
