Nascar 2012 - race 30

GOOD SAM 500




Written by Rick A. Talford

Nascar Enthusiast



TALLADEGA, ALABAMA - The Cup Series ran the last restrictor plate race of the year at the high speed track in Alabama. This was race number 30 of 36 races in the “Chase for the Championship” The fastest car in final practice was Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88). The Pole sitter for the race is Kasey Kahne (5), with Ryan Newman (39) starting second. In the Pre-race ceremonies, Billy Irvin provided the invocation. RaeLynn sang the National Anthem, while four T-38’s flew over the Superspeedway. The Grand Marshal was Kevin James. The In-race reporter was Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88). Race conditions had the temperatures in the 60’s, with heavy cloud cover. In other related news, Parker Kligerman (7) won the Truck Series race at the track on Friday. It was noted that Kurt Busch (51) and Regan Smith (78) are racing their last race in the cars they have been driving. Busch will be driving the Furniture Row car next season. He will drive the remainder of this seasons races for the team.



The race began with Kasey Kahne (5) on point. He stayed there for the first ten laps or so, before Clint Bowyer (15) and dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) would swap the lead. As many races at the track, the leader changes often on this track. The first caution came out on lap 18, when Casey Mears (13) tagged Cole Whitt (33) while driving through a corner. Whitt slid sideways, and into the side of Carl Edwards (99). Before all was said and done, Joey Lagono (20) was also roughed up. Denny Hamlin (11) and Jimmie Johnson (48) went to the rear of the field to stay out of trouble. Kevin Harvick (29) stayed out long enough to get a bonus point for leading a lap. At the restart, Kyle Busch (18) was leading. Around lap 40, Greg Biffle (16) was pushing Matt Kenseth (17) through turn three, and hit him in the left rear corner. Kenseth turned sideways and slid down and off the racing lane, almost wrecking. He fell back to thirty-first from the lead, due to the contact by Biffle.



During green flag pit stops around lap 60, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Trevor Bayne (21) were all caught speeding on pit road. They all had to make a drive thru on pit road as their penalty. On lap 100, The leader Kurt Busch (51) ran out of fuel and was ran into. He spun down off the track and into the wall. Kahne also ran out of fuel, but was able to get down and out of the way of the other cars. During the caution, Busch got his car re-fired and pulled away from the officials that were there to attend to him. A paramedics bag was on his roof, and that fell off as he sped away. Nascar parked the 51 for the remainder of the race, due to this actions. This was his final race in the car, and Busch stated “I wanted to get back to the garage for repairs, and now I am in trouble with Nascar again”.



The third caution came out on lap 140 for debris on the backstretch. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was ahead of the leader, so he got back on the lead lap after losing a lap for speeding on pit road. Kyle Busch was the first car a lap down, and also returned to the lead lap after receiving a speeding penalty on lap 62. The fourth caution came out with five laps remaining, on lap 183. Jamie McMurray (1) was spun out by Kevin Harvick (29), who was pushing him towards the lead. A bunch of cars stayed out on track, while the majority stopped on pit road for fuel. The race would finish under the Green-White-Checkered Rules. During the final lap, a twenty car pile up was started by Tony Stewart attempting to block Michael Waltrip (55). That took out everyone from second place on back. A really sick way to end a race. The final standing for the race, were simply by luck, getting through the largest wreck of the day. Watching a race all day, just to have a bone headed move wreck the entire field, really makes this viewer sick. Plenty of good cars, especially those in the Chase that were destroyed and lost many points towards the championship. Stewart spoke to media after he was released from the infield care center. He admitted that he was trying to block Waltrip, and caused the entire field to be wrecked.



Matt Kenseth (17) won the race, with Jeff Gordon (24) coming in second. The rest of the top ten were: Kyle Busch (18), David Ragan (34), Greg Biffle (16), Regan Smith (78), Brad Keselowski (2), Travis Kvapil (93), Ryan Newman (39) and Jeff Burton (31).



The Points standing currently are: Keselowski (leader), Johnson (-14), Hamlin (-20), Kahne (-37), Bowyer (-37), Gordon (-42), Stewart (-43), Truex Jr. (-47), Biffle(-48), Kevin Harvick (-52), Earnhardt Jr. (-58) and Kenseth (-62).



The next race will be at Charlotte, North Carolina on Saturday night at 7 EST on ABC.