Nascar 2012 - race 34

TEXAS “TWO-STEP”


O’Reilly Challenge



Written by Rick A. Talford

NASCAR Enthusiast



FORT WORTH, TEXAS - The Nationwide Series ran their race at the mile and a half speedway. 200 laps would be scheduled to run at the high speed track. The Pole sitter was Kyle Busch (54), a five time winner at Texas in the series. Points leader, Elliott Sadler (2) started second. Danica Patrick (7) had a great qualifying, and started in the eighth spot. After this race, there would only be two more left to the Championship. Phoenix and Homestead will complete the 2012 Season, in the next two weeks. During the In-Race Ceremonies, Jay Atwood provided the Invocation. The 77th Army Band from Oklahoma played the National Anthem, while 15 show planes flew over head. The group was called the Falcon Team. The Grand Marshal was Ian Nelson. The In-Race Reporter was Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (6)



Kyle Busch (54) led the first 64 laps, before Kevin Harvick (33) took over the front spot. A tire failure brought out the first caution. A second caution came on lap 45, just after Austin Dillon (3) went to the pits for a tire going down. The caution was for debris on the track. After running well, on lap 57 Johanna Long (70) went to the garage after her transmission became a problem and her shifter fell off. On lap 65, Harvick would take control of the lead. On lap 84, the third caution came out for Jason Bowles (81) tagging the wall. On lap 154, Joey Gase (52) would spin out and bring out caution four of the race. During the pit stops, four cars would stay on track. Austin Dillon (3), Denny Hamlin (18),Ryan Blaney (22) and Justin Allgaier (31) tried to stay out to gain advantage on track, and save a set of tires for a late caution. On lap 175, the fifth and final caution came out for Joe Nemechek (87) hitting the wall.



Kevin Harvick led the most laps, while dominating the majority of the race. He went on to victory for the second time this season, in the series. This was his fifth win at the track. He has led the most laps seven times this season, with only the two wins. Paul Menard has drove the same 33 car, with three of those races leading the most laps. Harvick led a total of 127 laps.



The rest of the top ten were: Ryan Blaney (22), Kyle Busch (54), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (6), Denny Hamlin (18), Austin Dillon (3), Sam Hornish Jr. (12), Justin Allgaier (31), Kevin Swindell (98) and Cole Whitt (88). Danica Patrick ran a great race, and was in the top fifteen the entire race. She ran as high as fourth for a good part of it. She ended the night in fourteenth, after some late race shuffling on the final restart.



The points standing have really tightened up, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. taking the lead over Elliott Sadler. The two drivers are tied in points, with Stenhouse having the tie breaker. Austin Dillon is still in third, only 21 points behind the leaders.



The next race is at Phoenix on Saturday on ESPN at 3 EST.











“AAA TEXAS 500”





FORT WORTH, TEXAS - The Cup Series also ran their third to last race in Texas. Race 34 of 36, and “Chase” race number 8 of 10 would see the points leader Jimmie Johnson take the Pole. Greg Biffle (16) would start second. The race was scheduled for 334 laps on the 1.5 mile track. The race will start in the heat of the day, and end in the cooler evening temps. During the opening ceremonies, Dr. Roger Marsh provided the Invocation. The TCU Marching Band played the National Anthem, while a B-52 Bomber flew over the Speedway. The Grand Marshal was the cast of the TV show “Dallas”. With everyone thinking about the North-East and Superstorm Sandy damage, Martin Truex Jr. (56) has told fans that if he wins this race, he will donate all his winnings to the recovery efforts.



The first caution came out for debris on lap 100. This was never seen by the viewers. A second caution came out just nine laps later, when AJ Almandinger (51) spun through the infield. He was unable to get back to pit road, due to severe damage to the radiator and front clip. During the restart on lap 119, Bobby Labonte (47) got into the back of Trevor Bayne (21). Juan Montoya (42) tried to get around the incident, but got torn up badly on the infield grass. Labonte and Montoya both went straight to the garage. To this point, Jimmie Johnson has led 99 laps. Brad Keselowski (2) and Ryan Newman (39) have also led laps. Near lap 145, many drivers began to complain that the glare was a major issue. At the midway point of the race (lap 167), the top three in points were running the top three spots on track. On lap 186, the fourth caution for debris in turn one came out.



On lap 192. Kyle Busch (18) and Brad Keselowski both got past Johnson on the restart. The fifth caution came on lap 224, when debris in turn three was seen by Nascar. Jimmie Johnson received another bonus point for leading the most laps of the race. Up to this point of the race, he has led 164 laps. Danica Patrick ran well, as she ran in the eighteenth spot, on the lead lap with 100 laps left. On lap 254, the fastest car on track was Jeff Gordon (24). He was running in second position, and gaining quickly on the leader. Most of the field was attempting to make it to lap 280, before making their final stop for the race. If the race were to go green to the end, the cars would need to run 55 laps for both the final two runs. While running in the second position and coming fast, Gordon had a tire start to fail. He made a pit stop to get fresh tires, right before a caution flew. He fell from second to twenty-fifth. A sixth caution fell when debris was seen by an official on the backstretch, on lap 275. During the pit stops, Keselowski went from the lead to ninth place, due to sliding into his pits too far.



On lap 300, Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were the top five cars. Keselowski, Biffle, Truex Jr., Kahne and Stewart topped out the top ten. Caution number seven fell for Marcus Ambrose hitting the wall on lap 311. The eighth caution fell with fourteen laps left, when Biffle and Gordon got together. Gordon then got together with Kahne, and Kahne ended up into the wall. Another caution flew with five laps left, as Mark Martin (55) spun out. Keselowski and Johnson ran each other very hard for the final laps. Under the Green-White-Checkered Rules, Johnson was able to get past Keselowski on the final restart for the victory. Keselowski did a great job staying in front, when he only put two tires on his car at the last pit stop. Everyone else put on four.



The rest of the top ten were: Kyle Busch (18), Matt Kenseth (17), Tony Stewart (14), Clint Bowyer (15), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88), Kurt Busch (78), Kevin Harvick (29) and Greg Biffle (16). Other notables in the “Chase” were: Martin Truex Jr. was thirteenth, Jeff Gordon was in fourteenth, Denny Hamlin was in twentieth, and Kasey Kahne was in twenty-fifth. Danica Patrick finished on the lead lap, in twenty-fourth.



The points for the Championship have stayed very close to the same as last week. Johnson holds the lead over Keselowski by seven points. Clint Bowyer is still third, now by 36 points. With two races left, it is really a two man race, unless something drastic were to happen to the two points leaders.



The next race will be at Phoenix on Sunday at 2 EST on ESPN.