National Speed Sport News

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - NASCAR has expanded its regional racing television coverage to feature 28 events this year on Speed and nine events on Versus.

The expanded calendar includes 21 events from the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and seven races from the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour.

This comprehensive package includes airing of every race on the NASCAR K&N Pro Seriesread more

GLENDORA, Calif. - Former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kurt Busch will make his competitive drag racing debut during this weekend's 41st running of the Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway.

The driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge for Penske Racing will get behind the wheel of his rebuilt 1970 Dodge Challenger to compete against a field of between 70 and 90 Super Gasread more

By now, everyone has heard of or seen replays of the Carl Edwards-Brad Keselowski incident during Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. On Tuesday, NASCAR officials placed Edwards on probation for the next three events for his retaliatory actions, which sent Keselowski's Dodge flipping into the frontstretch wall at the 1.5-mile superspeedway.

But instead ofread more

National Speed Sport News has seen an influx of letters from readers concerning the Carl Edwards/Brad Keselowski incident during Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. We've decided to share some of those letters with our readers.

Yesterday NASCAR announced it would be placing Carl Edwards on probation for three races, with no further actions against him expected by theread more

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - NASCAR President Mike Helton said Tuesday that NASCAR has placed Carl Edwards on probation for the next three races after Edwards intentionally wrecked Brad Keselowski at Atlanta Motor Speedway Sunday.

Unless Edwards does something additional to provoke another punishment from NASCAR, this will be the only penalty levied against him as a result of the crash.

Helton said thatread more

HAMPTON, Ga. - Carl Edwards got even, but in the process, he might have bitten off a bit more than he can chew…points-wise, that is.

Edwards retaliated against Brad Keselowski near the end of the Kobalt Tools 500 on Sunday, 283 laps after Keselowski sent Edwards for a ride that severely damaged his Scotts Ford.

The result was Keselowski's car getting airborne and hitting the wall in theread more

HAMPTON, Ga. - It's springtime in Atlanta, so there must be some talk about Goodyear tires on race day, right?

Right.

Depending on where you were at the end and how your day went, there were many differing opinions on how the new-construction tires that Goodyear brought to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Kobalt Tools 500.

Race winner Kurt Busch said he was happy with the way his tires performed on hisread more

HAMPTON, Ga. - "I'm going to have to win this race three times, maybe four. I've already won it once."

That was what Kurt Busch said to crew chief Steve Addington as a seven-car melee erupted behind him, just before taking the white flag in Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500.

It didn't take that many tries, and Busch did indeed win the race, his second straight victory in the spring race at AMS, holding offread more

HAMPTON, Ga. - Kevin Harvick made it look E-Z.

Harvick was the class of the field Saturday, piloting his No. 2 E-Z-GO Chevrolet to victory in the E-Z-GO 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

"When you have the sponsor on your truck and they sponsor the race too, that makes life good," Harvick said. "We just had a great truck. We didn't make a whole lot of changesread more

DENVER - According to Furniture Row Racing driver Regan Smith, the gloating is over and the chemistry remains intact for the hard-charging Denver-based NASCAR Sprint Cup team.

Smith, an avid hockey fan, is still feeling the sting of Team USA's loss to Canada in last weekend's gold medal final. But for two Furniture Row crew members he is close to during a race weekend - Ryan Coniam (crew chief)read more

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - NASCAR has made a slight change to the point system used for its two modified touring divisions.

Drivers competing in the NASCAR Whelen Modified and NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified divisions will be awarded bonus points for leading laps, much like NASCAR does in its three national touring series.

"This will bring the two modified divisions in line with NASCAR's three nationalread more

HAMPTON, Ga. - Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge for Roger Penske, enters this weekend's Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway as the defending race winner.

His victory in this race last year was the start of a solid season, which eventually lead him to a fourth-place finish in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings. He's hoping this year he can pick up where he left off with anotherread more

LEEDS, Ala. - Danica Patrick's return to the IZOD IndyCar Series this week left her so upset that she fled the garage area with an angry scowl late Thursday evening.

The fact she had to board a private jet and fly to Las Vegas to be ready for Friday morning's NASCAR Nationwide Series practice session probably didn't help her mood.

Patrick has been running on "high revs" ever since showing up atread more

LAS VEGAS - Jeff Gordon, trying to punctuate his dominating performance in Sunday's Shelby American NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race with his first victory since last April 5, pushed his DuPont/Pepsi Max Chevrolet as hard as he could against Hendrick Racing teammate Jimmie Johnson.

"I ran so hard trying to get his car to tighten up behind me, you know, with dirty air. I blocked him. I did everythingread more

LAS VEGAS - With everyone at Las Vegas Motor Speedway watching rain clouds and NASCAR newcomer Danica Patrick, Kevin Harvick overcame two costly pit stops to win Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series Sam's Town 300.

Harvick, driving the Rheem Chevy, led the most laps (82) in adding this victory to the one he earned here in 2004. He survived two mid-race pit road errors, one for a jack problem andread more

LAS VEGAS - Las Vegas native Kurt Busch blisted the track record at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Friday, collecting his first pole at his hometown track.

Busch earned the pole for Sunday's Shelby American NASCAR Sprint Cup event with a lap of 28.614 seconds at 188.725 miles per hour. The previous track record of 185.995 was set by his brother Kyle Busch in 2009.

"I've qualified second plenty of times.read more

LAS VEGAS - Oregon-born NASCAR driver Greg Biffle has become the latest NASCAR driver to be a track owner.

Biffle has acquired an interest in Sunset Speedway, a three-eighths-mile dirt track in Banks, Ore., partnering with local resident Jerry Schram.

"I'm gonna be part-owner in Sunset Speedway in Banks, Oregon joining the likes of Tony Stewart and some of these other guys, and we've alsoread more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Legendary NASCAR racing crew chief Jake "Suitcase" Elder died today after a long illness. He was 73 years old.

Elder, who earned his famous moniker because he changed jobs frequently, began his career at Petty Enterprises in the 1960s and worked as a crew chief for winning drivers including David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt and Yates Racing.

"We are saddened to learnread more

BRISTOL, Tenn. - The racing groove is going to get even tighter at Bristol Motor Speedway with the addition of more than 160 feet of SAFER barriers.

Track personnel have begun extending the barriers at the exits of turns two and four at the .533-mile concrete oval. Work began last week on the project and it will be complete before NASCAR teams arrive for the Food City 500 weekend March 19-21.

"Weread more

1. Carl Edwards 335
2. Joey Logano 311
3. Kyle Busch 304
4. Justin Allgaier 303
5. Brad Keselowski 299
6. Brian Vickers 297
7. Steve Wallace 289
8. James Buescher 271
9. Greg Biffle 265
10. Paul Menard 256

Fin. St. No. Driver Car Laps Money Status
1 2 18 Kyle Busch Z-Line Designs Toyota 152 $68,845 Running
2 5 27 Greg Biffle Red Man Moist Snuff Ford 152 58,875 Running
3 13 22 Brad Keselowski Discount Tire Dodge 152 51,493 Running
4 4 60 Carl Edwards Copart Ford 152 36,275 Running
5 1 20 Joey Logano GameStop/Mario Kart Toyota 152 39,200 Running
6 12 66 Steve Wallace 5-Hour Energyread more

FONTANA, Calif.
One of the great malapropisms in recent NASCAR history came from none other than Ward Burton after he won the Daytona 500 in 2002. With all the appearances and media tours that come from winning NASCAR's biggest race, Burton said he was swept up in a "whirlpool of activity."

Jamie McMurray chuckled when told of Burton's comment from eight years ago, but he certainly can relate.

McMread more

1. Kevin Harvick 331
2. Clint Bowyer 312
3. Greg Biffle 304
4. Jamie McMurray 302
5. Jeff Burton 300
6. Mark Martin 297
7. Matt Kenseth 288
8. David Reutimann 273
9. Joey Logano 263
10. Carl Edwards 262
11. Kurt Busch 254
12. Jimmie Johnson 253

Fin. St. No. Driver Car Laps Money Status
1 7 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet 250 $332,803 Running
2 6 29 Kevin Harvick Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet 250 248,376 Running
3 14 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet 250 212,990 Running
4 10 5 Mark Martin GoDaddy.com Chevrolet 250 151,200 Running
5 19 20 Joey Logano Home Depot Toyota 250 158,040 Running
6 12 2 Kurtread more

FONTANA, Calif. - Jimmie Johnson won Sunday's Auto Club 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race because of a perfect combination of events that could have been called The Perfect Storm.

Brad Keselowski spun out of the fourth turn just as Johnson, Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle pitted. Because they were on pit road, it counted as a green-flag pit stop because they hit pit road before the sixth yellow flag of theread more

FONTANA, Calif. - Kyle Busch stole a victory from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Joey Logano, taking the lead on a green-white-checkered-flag restart to win Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series Stater Bros. 300 at Auto Club Speedway.

Busch's Toyota led just four laps in the 152-lap race compared to Logano's 130 laps in front of the field in another Toyota.

"That's crazy, can you believe that? That'sread more

Daytona Winner Earns Fourth-Career Pole For Auto Club 500

Jamie McMurray's whirlwind week continued as Sunday's Daytona 500 winner earned the pole for this weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Raceway in Fontana, Calif.

"I really ran my lap and I thought that would be a top 15 probably because it just didn't feel that great," said McMurray, who earned his fourth-careerread more

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Daytona Int'l Speedway officials have elected to attempt to repair the now infamous pothole in turn two of the world-renowned superspeedway.

DIS President Robin Braig announced Thursday that workers have begun installing reinforced concrete in turn two in an effort to fix the pothole that developed during Sunday's Daytona 500.

"This is the correct course of action to repair theread more

CONCORD, N.C. - In a surprising move, Roush Fenway Racing has named Todd Parrott crew chief of the No. 17 Crown Royal Ford driven by Matt Kenseth, effective immediately.

Parrott replaces Drew Blickensderfer, who became Kenseth's crew chief at the start of the 2009 season when he replaced Chip Bolin in that role. Blickensderfer led Kenseth to victories in the first two races of the 2009 season, butread more

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Just how strong is Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team?

His backup was better than others' primary cars as Johnson's spare Chevrolet claimed the victory in Thursday's first Gatorade Duel at Daytona qualifying race for Sunday's Daytona 500.

In a race filled with six former Daytona 500 winners, Johnson beat Kevin Harvick to the checkered flag by .006 second.

"Iread more