Jeff Gordon Aims To End Hunger

As you all know, I had the privilege of traveling to Charlotte last week for a fantastic race weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. But in the midst of the Dollar General 300 and the Bank of America 500 practices, qualifying, and races I was able to bear witness to a bit of a softer side of one of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series most accomplished drivers.

On Friday, October 18th, I had the privilege of joining 4-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion, Jeff Gordon, as he joined forces with AARP-NC, AARP Foundation, and Second Harvest Food Bank in attempt to end hunger in elderly Americans. The event was held in Uptown Charlotte at Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, and was geared at addressing the issue of hunger among vulnerable older adults. 

Kenseth Claims 3rd Victory of 2011 at Charlotte

An absolutely fantastic first trip to Charlotte Motor Speedway has ended for me, and I couldn’t be any happier about making the trip down here to the home of NASCAR Racing. I have to hand it to SMI and all those involved with coordinating the race weekends here in Charlotte, as the folks here really know how to put on a show. I have had the trip of a lifetime this weekend and Bruton Smith has made me a life-long fan of Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Moving along to the Bank of America 500 now, I will tell you that it was a race that seemed like it would never end. It was by far the longest race I had ever covered, and for about 400 of the 500 miles, it ranked highly on my list of uneventful (accident wise) I had ever seen. 

Edwards: Victory at Charlotte

Carl Edwards has won the 30^th Annual Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage here at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was a rocky road to the backflip tonight, but in the end it was a restart from hell from Kyle Busch that allowed Edwards the win.

Bypassing the first 180 laps of tonight’s 200 lap event, it all boiled down to 3 drivers when the checkered flag flew over the hood of the No. 60 Fastenal Ford.

Paul Menard won the Coors Light Pole Award earlier today in NASCAR Nationwide Series Qualifying, but led only the first 26 laps of tonight’s event when points leader, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. threw his hat in the mix as possible contenders for the win.

A late race caution was not the issue for then-leader Brad Keselowski, it was slowing down off of Turn number four here at Charlotte Motor Speedway that took Keselowski out of contention for the win tonight. The spin under caution put Kyle Busch to the lead with around 20 laps left, but the incident would not mark the end of the fireworks in the last 30 miles of tonight’s race.

Fast-forwarding again to the final restart, with just 4 laps left, Kyle Busch chose the outside line as his preferred line of restart. The restart dragged all the way within 30 feet of the pink Start/Finish Line before the throttles were hammered. Busch squandered heading into turn number one, and the fight was on for the win with Stenhouse Jr., Edwards, and Rowdy Busch all in the hunt for the point.

It was Edwards that flexed his muscles by the time the field may their way back to my vantage point off the end of Pit Road here at Charlotte, and it was a 6 car-length lead that Edwards would take with 3 miles left to run. Kyle Busch made his best efforts to reel in the battered No. 60 Fastenal Ford Ford Mustang (the car was seriously trashed, Jack Roush said he would actually kiss the car later tonight for staying together) but would only manage to sneak a peek under Edwards in the final turn.

Stewart Claims Pole for Bank of America 500

Bojangles Pole Night (awesome sponsor BTW) has come to a close with Tony Stewart edging out Roush Fenway Racing's Matt Kenseth by just 6-1000ths of a second to claim pole position for Saturday Night's Bank of America 500.

With his fast lap tonight, Stewart has claimed his 13th pole in 459 starts and his first of the 2011 season. This also marks the first time Stewart will start first here at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The top three starting spots Saturday will be Chase drivers with Matt Kenseth starting second and May's NASCAR Sprint Cup All-Star Race Winner, Cousin Carl Edwards starting third. A.J Allmendinger will start fourth and Greg Biffle rounds out the top five.

The other nine Chasers will start sixth or worse with Ryan Newman (6th) and Jimmie Johnson (9th) the only other drivers in The Chase starting in the Top-10.

Kevin Harvick will start 14th, sitting one-point behind points leader Carl Edwards. Dale Jr had a run at the pole for a few drivers, but was bumped back to 15th when the fast cars hit the track. Denny Hamlin starts 17th, and Kurt Busch will go 20th. The No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevy of Jeff Gordon was shown 23rd when the dust settled and Kyle Busch managed to lock up a 25th starting position. Bad Brad Keselowski will start last out of all the Chase drivers in 26th.

Be sure to follow me on Twitter @ML_B_Lo for up to the minute news this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. I am overly excited for all the racing action this weekend and look forward to the mayhem that will ensue on Saturday Night.

Clint Bowyer, 5-hour ENERGY Join Michael Waltrip Racing

Multi-Year Agreement Puts Top Free Agent in No. 15 Toyota

CORNELIUS, N.C. – Michael Waltrip Racing today announced Clint Bowyer will drive the team’s No. 15 Toyota with 5-hour ENERGY as the primary sponsor for the next three NASCAR Sprint Cup seasons beginning at the 2012 Daytona 500.

michaelwaltrip.com

The announcement ends months of speculation for the highly valued free agent.
“This has been a very long summer, but I think for everyone involved, the best decision was made to be at Michael Waltrip Racing,” said Bowyer.

“I am a big fan of 5-hour ENERGY so I was really happy when they approached me about putting a deal together. We were diligent in working through our options and finally found the right fit. I have been so impressed with what’s going on at MWR. Then when the 5-hour ENERGY executives met with Michael and his people, we knew this was going to be our home.

Kurt Busch wins Dover's 42nd annual AAA Race

Sunday's race day started cold and rainy but the rain stopped, sort of, to allow the vortex theory take hold and allow the fall Dover race to run all 400 laps.

The pole sitter, Martin Truex Jr, stole the pole from Kurt Busch by the smallest of margins but after a few laps faded to ultimately finish 30th in the race.

Carl Edwards took over the lead and looked like the strongest car of the field after only a few laps, while Kurt Busch slide back in the pack a bit during the first part of the race. After a series of pit stops with a mistake, Carl Edwards had a speeding penalty on pit road and had a pass through penalty that left him a lap down and Jimmie Johnson assuming the lead and looking like he was going to charge back to the front and win yet another race and championship.

However, after another series of pit stops, Kurt Busch drove his car and made it stick as he passed Jimmie Johnson and kept the lead for the last 24 laps of the race to finish in victory lane.

It was Kurt's first win at the Monster Mile and left the elder Busch brother in 3rd place and 9 points back from first place in the chase.

The chasers standing and their finishing spot are shown below:

1 Carl Edwards -Finished 3rd

2 Kevin Harvick - Finished 10th

3 Kurt Busch - Finished 1st

4 Tony Stewart- Finished 25th

5 Jimmie Johnson-Finished 2nd

6 Brad Keselowski-Finished 20th

7 Matt Kenseth-Finished 5th

8 Jeff Gordon-Finished 12th

9 Dale Earnhart Jr.-Finished 24th

10 Ryan Newman-Finished 23rd

11 Denny Hamlin-Finished 18th

Sunday Morning at Dover

It is Race Day in Dover! We got to the track this morning about 7:30. We thought We would be the first to get here and found there were about 500 people here before us. The security and folks that operate the track were here at 6:00. Remember the race starts at 1:00 this afternoon.

As we came into the media center, the teams were waiting along the garage when I looked back at the grandstand they opened up the other gate and more teams flooded in 5 minutes before the gates opened.

It is interesting, the teams are talking quietly, no loud mouths in the bunch and though they are all in competition with each other, it is clear they all know and mostly like each other. I overheard talk about the casino, dinner, some lady who tried to pick up a team member and a team member who tried to pick up some woman. Seem both lost out.

The morning was very misty and chilly. not bone numbing cold, but pretty darn chilly. I took a picture of Booty Barker surrounded by his team, but quite bundled up. Clearly it is time for Nascar to move to a warmer climate and after Kansas we will be in warmer and hopefully dry climates. I know Texas needs rain, but please let it rain before and after November 6th, not during.

As I was on the track, I noticed that the top lane has been ground with groves exposing the gravel in the concrete. I have to ask if this give the drivers a warning they are close to the wall or if it helps with grip. I doubt there is any grip advantage, but I am sure the drivers can feel that difference in their tires.

More later. Happy Race day.

Carl Edwards Wins the Dover Nationwide race

Carl Edwards Pulled off a great charge late in the race to win the Dover Nationwide Race. With 48 laps to go, the field pitted and Brad Keselowski came out in front with Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne tailing the 22 Dodge.

However, in about 7 laps, Carl Edwards caught up to the 22 car and passed him never relinquishing the lead again till the end.

Unlike last year, there was no last lap crash to mar the race.

Elliott Sadler had won the pole but after a few laps lost the lead and then got pushed back in traffic after a caution for debris.

The top ten finishers were:

Carl Edwards

Brad Keselowski

Clint Boyer

Kasey Kahne

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Treavor Bayne

Reed Sorenson

Ryan Truex

Mike Bliss

Justin Allgaier.

The pole sitter, Elliott Sadler finished 14th.

Qualifying day in Dover

Qualifying day in Dover. Beautiful day, with sunshine and cool temps. The Cup Garage just opened 10 minutes ago and the teams are making their way across the Bridge to the inner track and the garage.

Yesterday Mark Martin was fastest in practice. I saw the team working on qualifying set up most of the afternoon, so the question remains if the cars that practiced well will qualify well. Keeping the car on the bottom of the track is the fast way around this monster mile. If you can do that in qualifying and then in a race, you have a good chance of a good finish. I dont think I would count out Mark Martin, though Kyle Busch has been good here in the past and Jeff Gordon won here a few years ago. Still keeping the car on the bottom is key.

Walking the track this morning I found enough brake rotors to service about 5 cars. I don't think the blowers will move those parts but found it interesting that there were so many of them. One of the rotors was right next to where Chase Elliott wrecked last night so that may have had a part of his crash or was the direct result of it.

Back to the garage this morning.

More later.