Nascar 2012 - race 22

WALKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL






Submitted by Rick A. Talford

Nascar Enthusiast



WALKINS GLEN, NEW YORK - On the Southern edge of Seneca Lake in New York, the Nationwide Series ran their road course race this weekend. A 82 lap event on the 2.45 mile twisted track. The Pole Sitter was # 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Starting second was # 60 Carl Edwards in his first start of the year in this series. In the race are seven cup drivers (Hornish Jr., Harvick, Edwards, Kahne, Lagono, Menard, Keselowski, and Kyle Busch) and three road course ringers (Fellows, Paloubo, and Gonzalez Jr.).



The race started having troubles on the first lap, in corner one. # 20 Ryan Truex locked his brakes up, sliding through the grassy infield. As he re-entered the track sideways, he was hit from behind by # 7 Danica Patrick. She had nowhere she could go, crushing the front end of her race car. This ended her race, as the radiator and engine block were destroyed. On lap 6 the first caution flew for # 19 Alex Popow. A tire went down, and he hit the wall. # 33 Paul Menard began having battery troubles on lap 27. They would need to change the battery three times to complete the race. On the same lap, # 88 Cole Whitt was penalized for running over equipment on pit road. Throughout the race, many cars spun out, and never brought out the caution because they were able to get going again. The second caution flew for # 87 Alex Kennedy on lap 39. He had spun out and then hit the wall. During his spin, # 3 Austin Dillon drove through the inter-loop without stopping. This became a penalty, as you must stop if you take this short-cut.



On lap 56, # 60 Carl Edwards spun out # 18 Joey Lagono just one corner after tagging # 54 Kyle Busch, to move him out of his way. Edwards started showing he was going to be aggressive to get to the lead. Lap 58 was another caution for # 97 Joe Nemechek. His car stalled on track. The fourth caution came out on lap 69, when # 88 Cole Whitt tore up the front of his car in the grass. He was battling with another car for fifteenth position when he ran off track. The fifth and final caution came out for # 3 Dillon when his tire blew, after contact with # 43 Michael Annett. Dillon would fall one lap down for a second straight race, after being the only driver to complete every lap of the season, just two weeks prior.



Edwards was able to hold off a hard charging # 22 Brad Keselowski by pushing him into the wall on the last lap for the victory. The rest of the top ten were: # 12 Sam Hornish Jr., # 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr., # 5 Ron Fellows, # 54 Kyle Busch, # 38 Kasey Kahne, # 33 Paul Menard, # 31 Justin Allgaier and # 11 Brian Scott.



The next race is Sat. in Montreal, Canada at 2 PM ET















FINGER LAKES 355



WALKINS GLEN, NY - The Cup Series would race 90 laps for race number 22 of the season. The Temperature was a nice seventy-five degrees, with a 30% chance of rain. The Pole Sitter was # 42 Jaun Pablo Montoya for the second week in a row, with # 18 Kyle Busch starting second. Marlee Scott sang the National Anthem, as a C-130 flew over-head. Kirt Manwaring was the Grand Marshal.



Like the Nationwide race, trouble started on lap one for # 55 Brian Vickers. His engine failed, sending him to the garage. On lap 9, # 34 David Ragan got into the back of # 32 Boris Said. This spun Said out, without bringing out a caution. On lap 18, # 49 Jason Leffler went off track, without a caution. Lap 24, # 5 Kasey Kahne was noticing that he had smoke entering his helmet from the AC Unit, so he had to shut it off for the race. The first caution flew for # 1 Jamie McMurray, when he hit the guardrail hard on the drivers side. During the caution, # 51 Kurt Busch had his right rear tire fall off his race car on track, before he got to pit road. # 14 Tony Stewart would have some issues too, when his gasman left the can connected to the car as he left his pit box. Stewart would get a penalty, and go to the back of the field.



On lap 32, Pole Sitter Montoya had his own troubles, as the lower control arm broke. This would send him to the garage. # 20 Joey Lagono also was in the garage with a broken rear shock. On lap 47 Kahne’s troubles continued, as he was tagged with a speeding penalty on pit road. The second caution came out on lap 59, when # 11 Denny Hamlin had an engine failure and fire on track. Another caution came out on lap 64 for # 49 Leffler. His engine failed on track also.



A brief rain sprinkle came over the track on lap 65, but they kept the cars on track. After the re-start, # 14 Tony Stewart spun out, and backed into the wall at the pit entrance. During the restart on lap 73, # 18 Kyle Busch made it three wide in turn one. # 2 Brad Keselowski and # 9 Marcus Ambrose had no choice but to back off, or get crashed by the move. This style of aggressive driving has become regular with Busch as of late. On lap 83, # 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. spun out of tenth place, and fell back to twenty-ninth. He also fell from the points lead to fourth in the standings. Teammate # 48 Jimmie Johnson took over the points lead after this race.



# 9 Marcus Ambrose and # 2 Brad Keselowski made it a great finish, as they both got past # 18 Kyle Busch after he spun out on the final lap. The two drivers went back and forth on the last lap, with Ambrose being the leader at the checkered flag. Both drivers came out of their cars, smiling and laughing about the great fun they had beating and banging on one another in that final lap. “That’s what racing is all about” came out of both of their mouths during interviews. Busch left the track without speaking to anyone, as usual when he doesn’t win. There was a report of oil being on the track for the last two laps from the # 47 Bobby Labonte car, as his engine gave up in the end. # 24 Jeff Gordon also spun out on the final laps, and fell from the top ten to twenty-second place.



The rest of the top ten were: # 48 Jimmie Johnson, # 15 Clint Bowyer, # 22 Sam Hornish Jr., # 16 Greg Biffle, # 18 Kyle Busch, # 17 Matt Kenseth, # 78 Regan Smith and # 56 Martin Truex Jr.



The next race is Sunday at Michigan International Speedway at noon on ESPN.