Mid-Ohio and Michigan weekend

“Children’s Hospital 200”

LEXINGTON, OHIO- The Nationwide Series raced their very first time on the 13 turn road course of Mid-Ohio. The track is 2.258 miles in length. The Pole Setter was Michael McDowell (18), and starting second was AJ Allmendinger (22). Austin Dillon (3) was forced to start in the rear of the field, due to missing practice. He was in Michigan as a substitute driver for injured Tony Stewart (14). This is one of the most International racing events for the Nationwide Series, as there are drivers from Italy (Max Papis (33), Australia (Marcus Ambrose (9) and Owen Kelly (54), Brazil ( Nelson Piquet Jr. (30), Canada (Ron Fellows (5), Andrew Ranger (53) and Kenny Habul (75), France (Anthony Gandon (23), Sweden (Alx Danielsson (73) and the US.
In Opening Ceremonies, A group of Children said the “Pledge of Allegiance” and then Rev. Susan Kyser provided the Invocation while the Children Choir of Columbus sang the National Anthem. The Grand Marshall was a young boy from the Children’s Hospital. His name was never shown on the television. Sam Hornish Jr. (12) was the In-Race Reporter.

The caution came out on the first lap, when teammates Nelson Piquet Jr. (30) spun out Kyle Larson (32). Larson fell three laps down due to the contact with Piquet Jr., after being in third place at the time.

The second caution came out on lap nineteen, when Jeffrey Earnhardt (79) spun out. Everyone made a pit stop, except Max Papis (33) and Austin Dillon (3).

On lap 27, Regan Smith (7) was spun out by Elliott Sadler (11). Ron Fellows (5) went off track near the same time. On the restart, Justin Allgaier (31) was spun out by Marcus Ambrose (9) for the fourth caution.

On lap 38, Piquet Jr. spun again after going too fast in an attempt to pass Parker Kligerman (77) for the fifth caution. The sixth caution came out for Alex Kennedy (24) spinning out on lap 44. Travis Pastrana (60) got some damage to his car on lap 54, without a caution being thrown.

During green flag stops near lap 59, Elliott Sadler (11) was penalized for speeding on entry and exit of pit road. About the same time, Piquet Jr. spun out Trevor Bayne (6) without any caution being thrown.

On lap 63, the seventh caution came out for Justin Allgaier (31) and Kenny Habul (75) both getting off track in the sand. Reed Sorenson (40) also stalled on track.

On lap 66, there was plenty of action that did not bring out a caution. Regan Smith (7) spun out. Austin Dillon (3) drove off track, and Papis (5) received damages. Piquet Jr. ran into and spun Kligerman (77), as well he (Piquet Jr.) ran into and spun out Regan Smith (7). It was very clear all day that Piquet Jr. was overly aggressive in his driving, as he hit and spun a number of cars throughout the race.

On lap 73, Owen Kelly (54) spun Marcus Ambrose (9) out of third place. Just five laps later, Kligerman (77) spun out Ambrose (9) dropping him even further back in the running order.

On lap 88, the seventh caution flew for Kenny Habul (75) being off track and into the sand trap. NASCAR threw the caution on this incident extremely quick, as though they wanted the caution. He was barely off track, when the caution flew. They never waited to see if he would have been able to drive through the sand, as other cars did earlier in the race without cautions being thrown.

On the final lap, Piquet Jr. (30) ran out of fuel and Owen Kelly (54) ran into the sand trap. He fell to twenty-third for a finish after being in the top ten most of the day. Kyle Larson (32) was spun out by Max Papis (33) and fell from a top ten finish to sixteenth. Austin Dillon (3) spun out and fell from thirteenth to twenty-first as well. AJ Allmendinger (22) was able to beat Michael McDowell (18) back to the checkered flag. Allmendinger only ran two races in the 22 car, and he won both the road course races he ran in.

The rest of the top ten were: Sam Hornish Jr. (12), Max Papis (33), Brian Vickers (20), Elliott Sadler (11), Marcus Ambrose (9)(Led most laps), Justin Allgaier (31), Trevor Bayne (6) and Jeremy Clements (51).

The next race is at Bristol on Friday Night on ESPN at 7 PM EST.

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“Pure Michigan 400”

BROOKLYN, MICHIGAN- The Cup Series returned to Michigan for a 200 lap race. A new record was set in qualifying, as Joey Lagono (22) ran 203.949 mph. He edged out Kurt Busch (78) for the pole. Announced this week, was the statement that Juan Pablo Montoya (42) will not be returning to Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing next year. No further information was given, but speculation is that Juan will return to Indy Racing. Jimmie Johnson (48) qualified really well in third, and then crashed his primary car in final practice. He was forced to start at the rear of the field. In Opening Ceremonies, Father Goeff Rose provided the Invocation. The National Anthem was played by a Instrumental Band, as five T-34 Mentor flew over head. The Grand Marshall’s were Amy Smart and Carter Oosterhouse. Greg Biffle (16) was the In-Race Reporter.
Some notes for the race are as follows: Speeds into turn one have been seen as fast as 219-222 mph. Greg Biffle will be attempting to win his third consecutive race at the track, joining Bill Elliott and David Pearson who each won three in a row.

Caution came out on the first lap, when Clint Bowyer (15) spun out. The second caution came out on lap 9, when David Reutimann (83) spun out and hit the wall.

On lap 14, the third caution flew for Austin Dillon (14) and JJ Yeley (36) both spinning out simultaneously. Dillon was also tagged for speeding, trying to beat the pace car while leaving pit road.

The race went green for a good bit, and everyone made green flag stops. After all the stops were made, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) was the new race leader. Lagono (22) had led most all the laps up to this point. On lap 56, Jimmie Johnson (48) was off track, out of a top ten spot with an engine failure.

On lap 72, the fourth caution flew for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (17) who had a tire failure, then hit the wall. He was running tenth when this happened. On the restart, Kurt Busch (78) was able to take the lead, and Earnhardt Jr. fell from second to eighth.

On lap 105, Mark Martin (55) was in the pits when a caution for debris came out. Instead of him getting to start up front like Kyle Busch did the weekend prior, Martin was forced to the rear of the field. NASCAR is not reacting the same from week to week on how cautions affect the cars on pit road.

On lap 137, the sixth caution flag flew for Earnhardt Jr. having a tire failure that sent him into the outside wall. He was running seventh at the time, and would need to go behind the wall for repairs.

Another caution came out on lap 150 for Bobby Labonte (47) having a tire failure. On the restart laps, during lap 155, the eighth caution flew for Kyle Busch (18) crashing in turn two. He claimed he simply lost it on the radio. Four cars stayed on track, while the rest made pit stops. Keselowski (2), Martin (55), Almirola (43) and Gilliland (34).
On lap 165, David Gilliland (34) had his day end, as his engine gave up.

The ninth caution was on lap 173, for Kyle Busch spinning out again. With twenty laps to go, Mark Martin had the lead and a very fast car. He would have his attempts for a victory fall short, as on lap 196 he ran out of fuel. Joey Lagono (22) would be able to go from pole to victory in his Penske car, ahead of Kevin Harvick (29) who also had a very good race. This made Harvick’s 200th top ten of his career.

The rest of the top ten were: Kurt Busch (78), Paul Menard (27), Clint Bowyer (15), Marcus Ambrose (9), Kasey Kahne (5), Jeff Burton (31), Greg Biffle (16) and Carl Edwards (99).

The next race will be at Bristol on Saturday Night on ESPN at 7 PM EST.