Edwards Storms Ahead of Busch to Win Texas Nationwide Race

Photo Credit: John Harrelson/ Getty Images for NASCAR

By Reid Spencer


Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service



FORT WORTH, Texas (Nov. 6, 2010) — Carl Edwards knew he had to get everything he could on a restart with two laps left in Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway.

Kyle Busch, who finished second to Edwards, was convinced the race winner got too much.



Nevertheless, after a green-white-checkered-flag finish, it was Edwards who celebrated his third win of the season and the 28th of his career, after thwarting Busch’s attempt to win his record sixth straight NASCAR Nationwide Series race at the 1.5-mile track.



Edwards, however, couldn’t prevent third-place finisher Brad Keselowski from clinching the Nationwide drivers championship, the first NASCAR title for team owner Roger Penske. With two races left, Keselowski leads second-place Edwards by an insurmountable 465 points.



Edwards held the lead when caution flew for the fifth time on Lap 198 of a scheduled 200, when smoke billowed from Clint Bowyer’s Chevrolet as it sped through the tri-oval. That gave Busch, who led a race-high 107 laps, a final chance to battle Edwards for the lead, but the fight failed to materialize.



Why? Busch contended Edwards hit the gas before the restart zone delineated by red stripes on the outer walls.



“Carl Edwards jumped the restart by about three lengths before the double red marks,” Busch said after the race. “Does it freakin’ matter? The race is over. The guy’s in Victory Lane. It doesn’t matter.”



Edwards was unapologetic.



“I had to do everything I could,” Edwards said. “Kyle and those guys have a spectacular car, and he does a really good job on restarts. So I just got the best restart I could, and it ended up winning us the race. He’s tough. He raced me really well on the one before that (Lap 191), but I knew if I gave him an inch, he’d beat us.”



Understandably, Keselowski was elated at clinching the championship.



“I’m so very fortunate and blessed to have this opportunity with (crew chief) Paul Wolfe and Roger and everybody back at the shop,” Keselowski said. “The guys that are there miss their kids’ Little League games working hard on my car,



“We almost had a win here today. I wanted to win this one, too, but it didn’t work out.”



Edwards made sure of that. He passed Busch on Lap 155 and held the top spot until Parker Kligerman spun off Turn 2 on Lap 185 to cause the fourth caution of the race. Edwards retained the lead after a wild restart on Lap 191 and pulled away from Busch before a caution on Lap 198 slowed the field and sent the race to overtime.



Joey Logano finished fourth, followed by Martin Truex Jr.



Notes: With the victory, Edwards won $75,000 in Nationwide’s Dash4Cash program. Thirteenth-place finisher Justin Allgaier won the $75,000 Dash4Cash season-ending bonus as the eligible driver who scored the most points in the four Dash4Cash races. … Edwards’ victory was his 50th combined in NASCAR’s top three series. … Busch posted his 11th top-10 finish in 12 races at Texas.

Hulkenberg's Hulking F1 Upset: Williams Driver on Brazil GP Pole

Photo Credit: Glenn Dunbar/ LAT Photographic

The second to last grand prix remaining for the 2010 Formula 1 season, 24 drivers along with teams realize these final races of the year as the final opportunity to score power and glory. Some drivers like Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton the Formula 1 world driver's championship is at stake making every on-track session precious time.

As predicted, rain swept over the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in time for Formula 1 qualifying Saturday. However, a break in the wet weather presented itself during the timed session allowing for tire strategy to figure handsomely into the team's planning for Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying. Fernando Alonso led Q1 with 1 minute, 1.987 seconds while Mark Webber's Red Bull-Renault would top Q2 with 1 minute, 18.516 seconds.

As weather improved into the Q3 session, the option of running the Brazilian circuit on slick tires was actually a viable option. When drivers were chanced on the dry weather tire, lap times plummeted to nearly 4 seconds under the Q2 fastest times. With times under the 1 minute, 16 second range coming from Lewis Hamilton's McLaren-Mercedes, Fernando Alonso's Ferrari as well as the Red Bull-Renault pairing of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, a 2010 Formula 1 rookie beat all of them to start the Brazilian Grand Prix in the top spot.


Piloting his Williams-Cosworth, Nico Hulkenberg rose from 9th place in Q2 to ripple a shockwave through the Formula 1 paddock with his first career pole at a 1 minute, 14.470 second lap time winning the spot by nearly a second over second place Sebastian Vettel. Hulkenberg and the Williams F1 team top qualifying effort marks the first time since the French Grand Prix in 1999 that a Formula 1 pole sitter drives with Cosworth power.  It is also worth remembering that the Brazilian Grand Prix was the site of Cosworth's last glorious victory. In the 2003 race, Jordan F1 team's Giancarlo Fisichetta drove a Ford-badged Cosworth to what was than a remarkable top podium spot.
 
Having owned the top of the speed charts on Friday, the Red Bull Racing pairing settled behind the Williams-Cosworth with Vettel taking 2nd and Mark Webber placing 3rd fastest. The Red Bull-Renaults were separated by little more than 1/10th of a second. One of the first drivers to brave the Brazilian track with slick tires, Lewis Hamilton slotted his McLaren-Mercedes into 4th place ahead of title leader Alonso's Ferrari.
 
Set for Sunday at 11 P.M. Eastern time, we'll see whether the 2009 GP2 champion Hulkenberg will hold off the currently more elite Formula 1 outlets through the Brazilian Grand Prix.
 
 
2010 Formula 1
Brazilian Grand Prix
Qualifying Results

Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth
Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
Fernando Alonso Ferrari
Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth
Robert Kubica Renault F1
Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP
Felipe Massa Ferrari
Vitaly Petrov Renault F1
Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes
Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari
Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP
Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari
Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari
Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber-Ferrari
Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes
Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes
Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth
Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth
Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth
Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth
Christian Klien HRT-Cosworth
Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth

Victorious Kyle Busch Trucks through Texas

Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/ Getty Images

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(November 5, 2010)
FORT WORTH, Texas — Kyle Busch blew past Todd Bodine on a restart on Lap 127 and held off Johnny Sauter over the final 20 laps to win Friday night’s WinStar World Casino 350 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Bodine chose the outside lane for the final restart, but Busch cleared Bodine’s No. 30 Toyota through Turns 1 and 2 and held the lead the rest of the way.

Sauter came home second, followed by Matt Crafton and Bodine, the series points leader. Bodine increased his margin to 230 points over seventh-place finisher Aric Almirola with two races left in the season. Bodine can clinch his second series championship by finishing fourth or better next week at Phoenix.

Busch’s seventh win in 14 starts this season gives him 23 career victories in the series.

“On that last restart there I got a good jump,” Busch said. “I got a good jump and didn’t beat Todd to the line and ended up kind of being alongside him into Turn 1, and I don’t know if my lane just had a better draft or what—we pulled away down the backstretch and held on there.”

In retrospect, Bodine felt he made a mistake in choosing the outside lane for the decisive restart. Busch disagreed.

“If I was in Todd’s position, I would have taken the outside lane for the last restart, too,” he said. “When you’re out there on the outside like that, it makes your truck a lot more stable, and the guy on the inside’s at your mercy.”

Instead, everything fell Busch’s way.

“I don’t know whether I got a better push from behind, I had a better lane that we drafted, or what happened there, but he didn’t stay next to me as well as I expected him to,” Busch said. “I got clear of him, and I was like, ‘Man, this right here was fortune.’ I wasn’t expecting to be clear so quick. I figured I’d have to race him.

“(Crew chief) Eric (Phillips) tightened me up on that last stop (on Lap 123) so I’d have a little more side bite to race against him and try not to get sucked around.”

Bodine had assumed the lead on Lap 111, when Bobby Hamilton Jr., who was off-sequence on pits stops, brought his No. 47 truck to pit road from the top spot. At that point Bodine held a lead of 2.198 seconds over Busch.

That advantage reached 3.243 seconds when Lance Fenton spun in Turn 2 to cause the fourth caution of the race on Lap 120. But that lead disappeared with the yellow flag and gave Busch the opportunity he needed on the Lap 127 restart.

Defending series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. continued his star-crossed season. On Lap 52, Hornaday slowed to avoid Miguel Paludo’s truck, which had slammed into the wall. Tayler Malsam’s Toyota bounced off the outside wall and turned Hornaday, who retaliated by spinning Malsam. Hornaday finished 32nd.

Note: With the victory, Toyota clinched its fifth straight manufacturers’ championship in the series. … Busch, who owns his No. 18 truck, extended his lead to 72 points over the second-place No. 30 truck, fielded by Germain Racing, in the owners standings. … Busch has a record seven wins at Texas across all three of NASCAR’s top series. On Saturday, he starts fourth in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge, attempting to win his sixth straight Nationwide Series race at the 1.5-mile track. … Parker Kligerman, 20, finished ninth in his truck series debut.