Harvick Strikes the Winning Note in NASCAR Nationwide Nashville 300

Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

Kevin Harvick went from playing the blues after Friday's truck race to rocking the NASCAR Nationwide Series Nashville 300 event. Driving another outing in his Kevin Harvick Incorporated #33 Chevrolet, cross the finish line first for the second time in the early 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series.

The #20 Toyota of Joey Logano clinched the pole in qualifying for the Nashville 300 leading the Nationwide Series field with Kevin Harvick's #33 Chevrolet starting alongside. Unlike the rather dull Camping World Truck Series event, the Nationwide Series race provided a much more eventful competition.

With 8 caution breaking up the action, the a major collision occurred when the field regrouped after a previous yellow flag period. On the double-file restart, multiple drivers saw an opportunity to advance their positions. Dicing three-wide and later four-wide for spots on track at lap 113, the four-wide scenario proved unwise as Brendan Gaughan, Steve Wallace, Mikey Kile and Jason Keller entered turn three. With the #62 Rusty Wallace Racing Toyota of Gaughan hugging the apron as the track, teammate Steve Wallace drifted high tangling with Mikey Kile and Jason Keller. With Michael McDowell and the Roush-Fenway Racing driver Colin Braun also collected in the massive incident, the debris field of auto parts necessitated a red flag stoppage for over 14 minutes to clean up the turn 3-4 segment of the Nashville Superspeedway. Climbing out of his battered #66 Toyota under his own power, Steve Wallace could be seen hobbling in pain to the Ambulance and out of the in-front care center. On the #66 driver's twitter page, Wallace stated "Man that wreck hurt like hell". The cars of Wallace, McDowell and Keller were all retired from the event immediately after the crash.

Not anyway as severe as the lap 113 crash, two caution periods involved the dramatic exploits of two drivers. On lap 43, the #1 Pheonix Racing Chevrolet of James Buescher made contact with the #38 Great Clips Toyota of Jason Leffler through turn 2. With the #38 spinning into the wall, it took numerous laps before the Great Clips Toyota returned to competition. While the incident appeared largely unintentional, Leffler returned to the race track under a different impression. Heading down the frontstretch on lap 143, the damaged #38 Toyota pinched the #1 car against the wall in retaliation against Buescher.

The latest in on-track feuds in NASCAR, this incident comes after the two-race exchange between Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin at the end of 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series. Still fresh in many race fan memories, the on-track skirmish occurred at the Atlanta Sprint Cup race where this time Keselowski caught the ire of Carl Edwards. For the Nashville 300, NASCAR officials dealt with Leffler the same way they addressed Edward's payback, parking the #38 for the duration of the event. On Jason Leffler's twitter page, the driver posted after the race "Got crashed 40 laps in to the race! 38 great clips car was fast! Then all hell broke loose! Damm".


Photo Credit: John Sommers II/Getty Images for NASCAR


Under green, the Joe Gibbs Racing #20 of Joey Logano gave his Game Stop sponsor some valuable representative. Holding the top spot for 122 of the 225 laps at Nashville, Logano never gained ground after a final pit stop. Logano finished 8th in the race despite the speed he showed throughout Saturday.

Through closing laps, Kevin Harvick and crew chief Ernie Cope chanced a two-tire change as an advantage to gain track position. The gamble paid off as the #33 Chevrolet was able to repel the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and Penske Racing Dodges.

The final laps had the Braun Racing #32 Dollar General Toyota driven by Reed Sorenson mounting a charge on Harvick. Taking the runner-up position, Sorenson's hard-fought effort came short of a victory which Dollar General pledged would amount to a $50,000 donation to Autism charities.

Third place went to Nashville's Camping World Truck Series winner Kyle Busch. Eager to complete a sweep for the Nashville Easter weekend festivities, Busch commented that his #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was only a bit short of winning.

Both Penske Racing drivers Brad Keselowski and Justin Allgaier found top-5 finishes on the Nashville Superspeedway. Finishing 4th, the #12 of Allgaier bested his Sprint Cup racing teammate Keselowski driving the #22 Dodge by the single position. Beaten by his younger teammate, Keselowski was at least able to finish in front of arch-rival on-track Carl Edwards. Edwards' #60 Valvoline Ford, placing 6th on the day, was the only Roush-Fenway Racing runner to go incident-free through the 225 lap distance.

In 7th place, Scott Wimmer brought the #7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet across the finish lane for the season's best effort. Leading 18 laps, Wimmer will step aside from his driving duties with JR Motorsports last week at Phoenix as Landon Cassill takes over the #7 ride for 4 NASCAR Nationwide races.

After 5 races, the NASCAR Nationwide Series season driver's standings has five drivers within 61 points. Carl Edwards leads the group with just 16 markers separating him from Brad Keselowski.

Next week, the NASCAR Nationwide Series rejoins the NASCAR Sprint Cup race weekend at Phoenix International Raceway.


2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series . Nashville 300 at Nashville Superspeedway Top 10 Race Results

Pos # | Car # | Driver | Sponsor/Car Make

1) 33 Kevin Harvick Armour Chevrolet
2) 32 Reed Sorenson Dollar General Toyota 
3) 18 Kyle Busch Z-Line Designs Toyota 
4) 12 Justin Allgaier Verizon Wireless Dodge
5) 22 Brad Keselowski Discount Tire Dodge
6) 60 Carl Edwards Valvoline Ford
7) 7 Scott Wimmer Lifetime Army Wives Chevrolet
8) 20 Joey Logano GameStop/Legend of Zork Toyota
9) 15 Michael Annett Pilot Travel Centers Toyota
10) 62 Brendan Gaughan South Point Hotel & Casino Toyota
Other Notables

11 98 Paul Menard Richmond/Menards Ford
12 99 Trevor Bayne Diamond-Waltrip Racing Toyota
14 88 Kelly Bires Suave Men Chevrolet
34 1 James Buescher  Phoenix Racing Chevrolet
36 66 Steve Wallace 5-hour Energy Toyota
39 38 Jason Leffler Great Clips Toyota

Webber Swims to Malaysian Grand Prix Pole

Photo Credit: Mercedes GP

Touching down on the Asian continent after an eventful Australian Grand Prix, the 2010 Formula 1 tour prepares for their 3rd race of the season, the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Coming off victory in Australia with his McLaren-Mercedes, Jenson Button returns to the 3.444 mile Sepang track as the defending race winner from 2009. 2010 competition ofr the Malaysian race is expected to be tough as the driver of the ultra-fast Red Bull Racing cars and the consistent Ferrari F2010s have shown early season strength.

As Formula 1 competitors and cars braced for Saturday qualifying, memories of the 2009 Malaysia race were probably flowing through many minds. Last season, the downpour followed by a mid-race thunderstorm permanently halted the Malaysian Grand Prix after running 33 of the 56 lap distance. In the final moments of the 3rd qualifying segment, rain became so intense that FIA race stewards threw a red flag.

With qualifying run, the Red Bull-Renault of Mark Webber set the fastest time by a considerable 1.3 second margin. Timing his run perfectly in before the heavy rain hit, Webber was able to blitz around the Sepang track 1 minute 49.327 seconds on intermediate Bridgestone race tires. Mark Webber takes the pole for Malaysian Grand Prix the weekend after getting reprimanded by the FIA for rough driving in the latter stages of the Australian Grand Prix. Webber bested the Mercedes GP driver Nico Rosberg who joins the Red Bull-Renault on the front row.

The second Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel starts right behind Mark Webber in 3rd place on the grid. Overall for 2010, Red Bull Racing has shown incredible pace but has encountered incidents through the first two grand prix events both mechanical and contact related.

In an outstanding fourth place, Adrian Sutil placed the Force India-Mercedes in the best grid position since his second place qualifying effort in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza last season. Not typically a front-running team, Force India has made massive strides to becoming a full-fledged Formula 1 constructor. Sutil's teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi also performed admirably in Malaysian Grand Prix qualifying placed 10th on the day.

Joining the front of the grid, Williams F1 also had an overall stellar performance. Setting 5th and 7th fastest times, Williams' rookie driver Nico Hulkenberg outrun his more experienced teammate Rubens Barrichello. Barrichello, holding the most starts of an active Formula 1 driver, was not the only seasoned veteran bested by his younger teammate. In the Mercedes GP team, Nico Rosberg 2nd place start tops Michael Schumacher who mustered an 8th place time.

While Lewis Hamilton through the first two Malaysian Grand Prix practices on Friday, Hamilton and the McLaren team had trouble finding pace amongst a wetter Saturday time trial. Having the worst qualifying luck of the McLaren F1 team was Australian Grand Prix winner Jenson Button. Benefiting from a daring wet weather strategy last week at Albert Park, the intensifying precipitation around Sepang elected not to cooperate with the reigning Formula 1 Driver Champion. Failing to find traction on Bridgestone intermediate tires, Button slid his McLaren-Mercedes off the circuit in the 1st round of the knock-out qualifying. Resting in the sand trap, Jenson Button was unable to improve on his 17th place time even though he was eligible for the second round qualifying. McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton remained on track (particularly after McLaren opted Hamilton onto full rain tires) but finished slower in 20th.

If the struggle of the McLaren team wasn't surprising enough, the legendary Ferrari Formula 1 team was also bitten by speed issues on Saturday. Sandwiching Lewis Hamilton's McLaren, Fernando Alonso placed 19th while Bahrain Grand Prix winner Felipe Massa seeded in 21th. In fact, both of the Lotus-Cosworth cars outran the vast resources of the Italian auto racing powerhouse.

Weather conditions are expected to be wet for the 2010 running of the Malaysian Grand Prix set to start 4 p.m. Sunday Malaysia time or 4 a.m. Eastern time. With quality driver and teams at the back of the field, the start of this grand prix is certainly going to be worth watching.


2010 Formula 1
Malaysian Grand Prix
Starting Grid

1. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
4. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes
5. Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth
6. Robert Kubica Renault F1
7. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth
8. Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP
9. Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari
10. Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes
11. Vitaly Petrov Renault
12. Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari
13. Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari
14. Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari
15. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth
16. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth
17. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes
18. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth
19. Fernando Alonso Ferrari
20. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
21. Felipe Massa Ferrari
22. Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth
23. Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth
24. Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth

Busch Plays Solo to Win Nashville Truck Race

Photo Credit: John Sommers II/Getty Images for NASCAR

For the first time in 2010, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series ran on consecutive weekends after running on the short track of Martinsville Speedway. In the end of the 150 lap event on the 1.33 mile Nashville Superspeedway, Kyle Busch claimed his first win with his own race equipment holding off an unsuccessful late race charge from Kevin Harvick. Debuting at Daytona this year, it took only 4 races for Busch to find victory lane as an owner/driver by dominated the Camping World Truck Series' Nashville 200 on Friday night.

A great win for Kyle Busch and Kyle Busch Motorsports, the Nashville 200 was overall a very hum-drum event. In fact, for the rest of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series field, the Nashville 200 ran like an old country song. With all but 8 trucks on the lead lap, even trucks on the lead lap could only vaguely contend against the Dollar General juggernaut. Not helping matters for the competitors was that only 2 cautions slowed the Nashville Superspeedway truck race. Considering the barn-burning action first 3 races of the 2010 Camping World Truck Series season, the Nashville 200 was off-tempo for excitement.

With only 5 lead changes between 3 drivers, Daytona truck race winner Timothy Peters driving his #17 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra provided the only sustained challenge to the dominant Busch leading 17 laps. As the race progressed however, Peters lost touch with the #18 truck but still wound up in a 4th place finish by the end of the event. The #30 Germain Racing Toyota of Todd Bodine would also lead for two laps under a pit stop exchange. For the balance of the race, Busch's #18 Dollar General Toyota led 131 laps around the 1.33 mile concrete oval racing surface. In all, Toyota Tundras lead every single lap of the Nashville 200.



Photo Credit: John Sommers II/Getty Images for NASCAR

In the closing laps Kyle Busch did encounter some grief with lapped traffic, aiding the efforts of the #2 Chevrolet truck of Kevin Harvick in chasing down the #18 Toyota. However, running side-by-side through one of the latter laps of Nashville, Harvick charged below Busch down the backstretch. Under attack, Kyle Busch was actually able to get lapped traffic to work in his favour as a low-running back-marker provided the #18 with a so-called pick against the #2 Chevrolet. Into turn 3, approaching the lapped vehicle, Harvick needed to backed off.

Going onto victory, Kyle Busch returns to the victory lane where in the NASCAR Nationwide Series last June he did his best Pete Townshend impression by breaking the unique Sam Bass-designed Gibson guitar trophy. To the silent relieve of Sam Bass and to Gibson guitar fans, the Kyle Busch's 2010 trophy left the victory lane ceremonies intact. Of course, the fact that this year's Gibson guitar marks Kyle Busch Motorsports' first truck win might have installed some sentimentality into the usually out-spoken NASCAR driver.

With the top 2 trucks piloted by driver/owner individuals, Kevin Harvick Incorporated primary driver Ron Hornaday Jr secured 3rd place on the #33 Chevrolet. His 2nd straight top-5 finish, Hornaday Jr is attempting a truck series title defense after crashing out of the first two events. 5th through 10th place in the Nashville 200 truck race has Todd Bodine, Matt Crafton, Mike Skinner, Aric Almirola, Stacy Compton and Rick Crawford crossing the line in that order.

As before mentioned, Timothy Peters came in 4th at Nashville making the driver the only competitor to achieve a top-10 in every NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event for 2010. Rewarded by his own consistency, Peters holds an 82 point lead in the series overall standings over Aric Almirola.


2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Nashville 200 at Nashville Superspeedway
Race Results

Pos # | Truck # | Driver | Sponsor/ Car Make

1 18 Kyle Busch        Dollar General Toyota
2 2 Kevin Harvick    Charter Communications Chevrolet
3 33 Ron Hornaday Jr. Longhorn Chevrolet
4 17 Timothy Peters    Crescent Tools/Red Horse Racing Toyota
5 30 Todd Bodine      Germain.com Toyota
6 88 Matt Crafton     Menards/Ideal Door Chevrolet
7 5 Mike Skinner     International Trucks/Monaco RV Toyota
8 51 Aric Almirola    Graceway Pharmaceuticals Toyota
9 60 Stacy Compton    Safe Auto Insurance/Wyler.com Chevrolet
10 14 Rick Crawford    Circle Bar Ford
11 13 Johnny Sauter     In Country Television/Curb Records Chevrolet
12 15 Steve Wallace    Red Top Collector Car Auction Toyota
13 90 James Buescher   Great Clips Toyota
14 3 Austin Dillon     Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Chevrolet
15 4 Ricky Carmichael Monster Energy Chevrolet


Other Notables

18 29 Brad Keselowski   Brad Keselowski Racing Dodge
21 12 Mario Gosselin    TireMonkey.com/James Carter Attorney Chevrolet
25 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb driverboutique.com Ford
26 92 Dennis Setzer         BTS Tire & Wheel Chevrolet