Keselowski, Finch Pull NASCAR Sprint Cup Upset At ’Dega
Brad Keselowski became the first NASCAR Nationwide Series regular to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in nearly seven years when he scored a stunning last-lap victory in Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.
After a slow start to the season at the wheel of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Klondike Chevrolet, Keselowski moved up to sixth in the Nationwide Series point standings following a ninth-place finish in Saturday’s Aaron’s 312 at Talladega Superspeedway.
The last Nationwide Series regular to win a Sprint Cup Series race was Jamie McMurray, subbing for injured Sterling Marlin at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in 2002.
Click Here to View More NASCAR Photos
Now, the Nationwide Series moves from the high banks of Talladega to short track action in Friday’s Lipton Tea 250 at Richmond International Raceway. Keselowski had mixed results on the .75-mile oval in 2008. He improved from a 33rd-place starting position to finish 11th in the spring race. Last September, he qualified third for the Emerson Radio 250, but finished 21st.
Keselowski was not the only Nationwide Series regular to win Sunday at Talladega.
His victory came at the wheel of the No. 09 Miccosukee Resort Chevrolet owned by James Finch, who owns the No. 1 Miccosukee Resort Chevrolet raced by Mike Bliss in the Nationwide Series.
Bliss went out with overheating problems 40 laps into Saturday’s Aaron’s 312, after getting tangled up in an early-race incident. The 41st-place finish was only the fourth time in his 151-race Nationwide Series career that he’s finished 40th or worse. The last time was October 2007 at Texas, when he was 43rd after an accident on lap 3.
Bliss had been running in the top 10 prior to Saturday’s race, with the DNF dropping him back to 13th position in the point standings.
Darnell To Debut In Roush’s Talladega-Winning No. 6
Erik Darnell has big shoes to fill when he makes his season debut in Jack Roush’s No. 6 Discount Tire Ford for the Lipton Tea 250.
David Ragan won his first NASCAR touring series victory last weekend in the Aaron’s 312 at Talladega Superspeedway. That moved the Georgian up to third in the Nationwide Series points, while the Roush No. 6 leaped to sixth in the hotly contested car owner standings.
The car owner championship is the team’s main goal, with Ragan and Darnell sharing time in the car.
Darnell, a candidate for the 2009 Nationwide Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year Award, will be making his second start in the Nationwide Series. He made his debut last year with a lead-lap 26th-place finish in the Jack Roush No. 17 at Mexico City. The 26-year-old Beach Park, Ill., driver is a two-time winner in NASCAR Camping World Series competition.
Ragan’s first Nationwide Series triumph came in his 85th start in the series.
NASCAR Nationwide Series Car Owner Standings
Rk / Owner No. Points 1 Delana Harvick 33 1241 2 Joe Gibbs 18 1219 3 Joe Gibbs 20 1168 4 Jack Roush 60 1157 5 Jack Roush 6 1139 6 Richard Childress 29 1089 7 Ralph Braun 38 1082 8 Jack Roush 16 1078 9 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 88 1041 10 Todd Braun 32 999
Harvick Has Found A Home At Richmond In Nationwide Competition
Kevin Harvick has found a home at Richmond International Raceway in NASCAR Nationwide Series competition. He has four victories on the .75-mile oval, second only to Mark Martin’s five.
Harvick came close here a year ago, leading 98 laps dominating the latter stages of the Lipton Tea 250 before being passed by Denny Hamlin with 12 laps remaining. Harvick finished second, .789 seconds behind the Virginian.
Harvick will be making his sixth start of the season in the No. 33 Rheem Tankless Water Heaters Chevrolet he co-owns with his wife DeLana. It will be his second race since winning Round 4 of the season at Bristol. Since then, his only race was at Phoenix, where he placed fifth.
Harvick scored his first victory at Richmond in the 2003 spring event. He won three consecutive races there, taking the 2005 fall round in addition to sweeping the 2006 events.
The Bakersfield, Calif., native has finished in the top five in 10 of his 16 starts at Richmond. He also has a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory at Richmond, winning the 2006 fall event.
Rheem, VFW To Entertain Troops
In addition to sponsoring Kevin Harvick’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Chevrolet, Rheem Manufacturing and the Veterans of Foreign Wars will team up to co-host a hospitality event Friday night at Richmond International Raceway to entertain 100 wounded soldiers recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
The hospitality event will feature appearances by more than a dozen NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers, including Eric McClure, Brad Keselowski, Scott Wimmer, Todd Bodine, and Cale Gale, as well as NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Ryan Newman and team owners DeLana Harvick and Richard Childress.
Lagasse Makes Move To Third
Scott Lagasse Jr. finished a solid eighth in the Aaron’s 312, enabling the driver of the No. 11 America’s Incredible Pizza Company Toyota to move up to third in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings.
Michael McDowell was second among the rookie contenders, placing 15th, but dropped a position to fourth in the standings.
Justin Allgaier ran with the leaders before getting involved in an accident and finishing 32nd. He continues to lead the standings with 83 points, four better than Brendan Gaughan, who overheated and placed 38th at Talladega.
Entering Friday’s Lipton Tea 250, Lagasse is only six points behind Allgaier, with McDowell another three points back.
NASCAR Nationwide Series Raybestos Rookie Standings
Rk / Driver Team Points 1 Justin Allgaier Penske 83 2 Brendan Gaughan RWR 79 3 Scott Lagasse Jr. CJM 77 4 Michael McDowell JTG-D 74 5 Michael Annett Germain 63 6 John West Townley RAB 57 7 Ken Butler III R3 26 8 Peyton Sellers CM 7 9 Marc Davis MDM 6 10 Erik Darnell* RFR 0
*First race not until Richmond 5/1
Busch Can’t Get Comfortable With Growing Points Lead
Kyle Busch padded his points lead a bit at Talladega, finishing three positions ahead of Carl Edwards.
Richmond could be a place where Edwards makes up some ground. Or, Edwards could lose even more ground if Busch can dominate like he did in 2007.
In that fall race, Busch scored a perfect Driver Rating of 150.0 – one of six perfect ratings Busch has in his NASCAR Nationwide Series career.
In his eight previous races at Richmond since the inception of Loop Data in 2005, Busch has a Driver Rating of 95.6, an Average Running Position of 12.5, 83 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 66.5%.
Edwards won in his first trip to Richmond in 2005 and his last trip there in 2008. In his eight career Richmond races, Edwards has a Driver Rating of 110.4, an Average Running Position of 7.8, 162 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 88.4%.
Also looking to grow a healthy points lead is the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet. The No. 33 leads the owner points by 22 over the No. 18 Toyota driven by Kyle Busch.
This weekend, Kevin Harvick will pilot the No. 33 ride – which could mean a swell in the points lead.
Harvick is phenomenal at Richmond. He has four wins there, including three consecutive victories from 2005-06. Since 2005, Harvick has a Richmond Driver Rating of 119.3, an Average Running Position of 8.8, 213 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 82.5%.
One possible wrench in the hopes of the aforementioned double duty drivers is Mike Bliss. Bill has finished in the top 10 in two of his last three Richmond races, has a Richmond Driver Rating of 95.0 and an Average Running Position of 12.5
| 
|