NASCAR 2012 - race 12

MEMORIAL WEEKEND RACES CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - May 26, 2012. The Nationwide Series hit the track for a 300 mile race on the one and a half mile track. Temperatures were in the upper eighties and nineties for the weekend. The Pole Sitter was # 20 Joey Lagono, with # 3 Austin Dillon starting in second. # 7 Danica Patrick started in third place, just missing out on a pole position, while running her lap at 31.179, compared to Lagono’s 30.157. The race was won by # 22 Brad Keselowski. Patrick finished in thirteenth position on the lead lap. She would have finished in the sixth position if the Cup Series drivers would not have been in the race. The Top Ten results of the race were: Keselowski, # 18 Denny Hamlin, # 54 Kyle Busch, # 33 Kevin Harvick, # 2 Elliott Sadler, # 20 Joey Lagono, # 30 James Buescher, # 31 Justin Allgaier, # 12 Sam Hornish Jr., # 21 Joey Coulter. Next race will be at Dover on Saturday. Indianapolis 500 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - May 27, 2012. The Indy League started their race on the two and a half mile track with temperatures near eighty-six degrees. The track temperature reached nearly one hundred-thirty degrees. Inside the cockpits was not much cooler, at one hundred-twenty degrees. Drivers reported their boots were melting to the gas pedals in the race cars. Beginning the race, they gave respect to a fallen driver # 98 Dan Wheldon, who passed away at the Las Vegas Speedway last year in a terrifying wreck. Wheldon was the 500 Winner last year. Normally, Jim Neighbors always starts the event with his singing of “Back Home in Indiana”, but this year he was unable to attend the event, due to illness. He was watching from his home in Hawaii though. This Season the drivers are beginning the race in a newly designed car, as well as a new 2.2 litre Turbo Charged (DW12) engine. The driver of the famous pace car this year was Guy Fieri, the Host of Diners, Dives, and Drive-Ins TV Show. On the Pole for the race was # 2 Ryan Briscoe. The race began with the speeds over 200 mph on the straight-a-ways. On lap 14, # 39 Bryan Clausen spun out on the track. During the caution, two Lotus cars parked their race cars due to speeds that were too slow. # 64 Aleisi and # 78 De Silvastro. While on pit road, # 50 Dario Franchitti was run into by # 5 E.J. Viso. Franchitti’s car spun sideways into his pit box. He would need to change the nose of his car before returning to the race. # 17 Saavedra was caught speeding and went to the rear of the field for the restart. Green Flag pit stops began on lap 79. During # 14 Conway ran into three of his crew members while pulling into his pit. He drove into the pit very close to the wall, leaving the crew members nowhere to go. No one was injured seriously. The second caution then came out on lap 80. When Conway re-entered the race track with a broken front wing, from hitting his crew during his stop. His car spun sideways on the track, just ahead of Points Leader # 12 Will Powers, taking Powers into the wall with Conway, and ending his race. The third caution was for # 25 Ana Beatriz who spun out on the track. Caution four came out on lap 145, when # 17 Saavedra stalled his car on the pit road entrance. Another stalled car, # 67 Newgarden brought out the fifth caution on lap 163. Caution Six was for # 20 Carpenter, when he spun out on the track. # 26 Marco Andretti crashed his car on lap 187, bringing out the seventh caution of the day. He was running in the eighth position at the time of his crash. The final caution came out after the white flag was shown on lap 199, when # 15 Sato attempted to pass the race leader Franchitti in turn two. Sato lost grip on the track and spun out, hitting the wall and barely missing the leaders car. Dario Franchitti won his third Indy 500, and dedicated the race to his son Michael who passed away earlier in the year, as well as his great friend Dan Wheldon. All three of Franchitti’s wins, have been under a caution at the end of the race. The race had a record 35 different leaders. Franchitti celebrated in Victory Lane with his wife Ashley Judd. His teammate # 9 Scott Dixon finished second, and friend in the # 11 Tony Kanaan finished third. All three drivers were great friends with Wheldon, so the celebrated victory was going to happen with any one of them. The rest of the Top Ten were: # 22 Oriol Servia, # 2 Ryan Briscoe, # 27 James Hitchcliffe, # 18 Justin Wilson, # 83 Charlie Kimball, # 99 Townsen Bell, and # 3 Helio Catronevez. Chip Ganassi, Dario Frnachitti, and the Target Team were able to hoist the Borg Warner Trophy in Victory Lane as this years Indy 500 ended. COCA COLA 600 CAHRLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - May 27, 2012. The Sprint Cup Series took to the track for their longest race of the year. The Coca Cola 600 is the longest, toughest, and most enduring race for the 43 drivers that take to the track. # 10 Danica Patrick would start only her third cup series race, after running the 300 mile race the day prior in the Nationwide Series. Temperatures were expected to be close to 90 degrees for the race. The Petty Enterprises Team took the front row for the race with the Pole Sitter being # 43 Aric Almirola, and # 9 Marcus Ambrose starting second. Many of the race cars were painted with special military paint schemes for the weekends race. A B-52 War plane flew over the track during the opening ceremonies. The invocation was done by retired driver Darrell Waltrip. Lap 113 brought out the first caution of the race, for debris. The field had already made two green flag pit stops prior to the caution. During the caution # 2 Brad Keselowski was caught speeding and would restart at the back. Another debris caution came out on lap 134. On lap 168 # 93 Travis Kvapil hit the wall bringing out the third caution. On lap 178 another debris caution flew. Three more green flag pit stops would happen, with only one major incident during them. On lap 263 # 2 Keselowski and # 14 Tony Stewart got together on pit road. Stewarts car was spun around backwards into his pit stall. Before he could get it corrected he went down a lap in a half to the leader. On lap 320, a bottle from # 18 Kyle Busch’s car was the cause for yet another caution. No penalty was enforced for this action. # 11 Denny Hamlin and # 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. did not make a pit stop during the caution, taking the lead of the race. During another green flag round of pit stops on lap 353, # 48 Jimmie Johnson left his pit box, dragging his gasman and gas can out of the pit box. He was penalized with a stop and go penalty. At this point, there were only eleven cars left on the lead lap. On lap 380 of the 400, # 5 Kasey Kahne would take the lead in his 300th start. Kahne would finish the race, and head to victory lane for the third time in the 600. He has won a race in a Dodge, Ford, and now a Chevy for his owner Hendrick. The race set a new record for speed, averaging 155 mph for four hours, to complete the 600 miles. The rest of the Top Ten were: # 11 Denny Hamlin, # 18 Kyle Busch, # 16 Greg Biffle, # 2 Brad Keselowski, # 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr., # 24 Jeff Gordon, # 29 Kevin Harvick, # 99 Carl Edwards, and one lap down in tenth place was # 17 Matt Kenseth. Danica Patrick would finish this race five laps down to the leader, but her race car was very clean, and she had ran nearly 900 miles in the two days, giving her lots of experience for the weekend. Next weekends race is at Dover on Sunday.