NEWTON, Iowa — Closer and closer to that first victory each time out this season, Chase Elliott was able to take home the checkered flag Saturday at Iowa Speedway in the Graham Tire 150 for his first NASCAR K&N Pro Series triumph.
Hattori Racing Enterprises had a dominating day at Iowa Speedway for the Graham Tire 150 on Saturday, May 19, 2012. Hometown hero, Brett Moffitt won his second consecutive pole position and dominated the 150-lap event until contact after a restart with a rookie driver at lap 143. Moffitt held on to finish 5th.
Brett Moffitt, driver of the #11 Castle Packs Power Toyota Camry earned his second Coors 21 Pole position in a row by setting the fast time of 23.829 for qualifying. He was the first car to qualify and was never bumped from the pole.
“The car was real good in qualifying,” Grimes, IA native, Moffitt stated. “We were fast in practice, but I was not at all happy with the way the car was handling. I was real tight and just couldn’t get through the corners. But just like at Richmond, my guys worked their guts out and gave me a fast car for the race.”
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Jimmie Johnson used a carefully planned strategy of driving his No. 48 Lowe’s Patriotic Chevrolet hard for the first and last segments, and coasting for the three in between, to capture his third NASCAR Sprint All-Star race plus a cool $1 million. With this third All-Star checkered, Johnson joined the late Dale Earnhardt and teammate Jeff Gordon as the only three-time winners of this annual non-points paying race on the NASCAR Sprint Cup tour.
The five-time champion won the first 20-lap segment of the event the then deliberately faded to the back for the next three 20-lap segments at Charlotte Motor Speedway. His plan was to keep the No. 48 Chevy out of trouble, then make his play for the win in the fifth and final segment. Johnson’s win in the first segment meant he was guaranteed to be the first driver down pit road. A nice bonus for him was that he had the first stall, which was the prize for his Hendrick Motorsports team winning Thursday’s Pit Crew Competition.
Full Story and Results – CALCULATED STRATEGY EARNS JIMMIE JOHNSON THIRD NASCAR ALL-STAR WIN
More Sprint Cup Photos from Darlington Raceway
After months of frustration, Jimmie Johnson gave Rick Hendrick his 200th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory, running away from the rest of the field on a green-white-checkered-flag restart that took the Bojangles’ Southern 500 one lap past its scheduled distance. (more…)
More Nationwide Photos from Darlington Raceway
For Joey Logano, Friday night’s victory in the VFW Sport Clips 200 Nationwide Series event at Darlington Raceway was tinged with regret.
Yes, Logano drove away from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin after a green-white-checkered-flag restart to win his second straight race in the series and third of the season.
But Logano got the opportunity for his 12th career victory only after a well-intentioned bump went awry and wrecked championship contender Elliott Sadler on a restart with five laps left in regulation distance.
“Obviously, this win was a little bittersweet — you don’t want to win ’em that way,” said Logano, who called Sadler after the race to apologize and left a voice mail. “Your heart drops. You know he’s running for points.
Full Race Story – Joey Logano pulls away at Darlington Raceway for second straight Nationwide Win
Sprint Cup Photos from Talladega Superspeedway
Executing perfectly a move he had saved for the right occasion, Brad Keselowski pulled away from Kyle Busch on the final lap to win Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at at Talladega Superspeedway in a green-white-checkered-flag finish.
Busch had pushed Keselowski to the lead on Lap 193 of 194 in a race that went six laps past its scheduled distance at the 2.66-mile track. The two cars ran bumper-to-bumper until Turn 3 of the final lap, when Keselowski entered the corner high and dived to the bottom of the track, separating his No. 2 Dodge from Busch’s No. 18 Toyota.
Read Full Story – Brad Keselowski prevails in Talladega Superspeedway thriller