Buescher Commands Championship Lead with Nine Races Remaining
After watching his point lead dwindle for three consecutive weeks in August, Roush Fenway Racing’s Chris Buescher needed to turn up the heat at Darlington.
And he succeeded.
Buescher placed fifth for his 11th top-five this season, while his closest championship contender – Ty Dillon – finished 15th. He now leads second-place Dillon by 29 points and third-place Chase Elliott by 35 points.
On Friday, the 22-year-old Texan returns to the site of his worst finish of the 2015 season – Richmond International Raceway where he finished 20th in April – for the Virginia529 College Savings 250. In four career starts at Richmond, Buescher has two top-ten finishes with a best result of seventh last spring.
Meet Virginia: Sadler, McClure Right at Home at RIR
Local fans will likely cheer for two drivers entered in the Virginia529 College Savings 250 who have their home state recorded as Virginia – Elliott Sadler and Eric McClure.
Sadler, currently fifth in the XFINITY Series standings, hails just down the road from Richmond International Raceway in Emporia, Virginia. He is searching for his first win this season, but has four top-five and 12 top-ten finishes in 24 starts. Sadler has never won a national series race in his home state. In 24 XFINITY Series starts at Richmond, he claims two top-five and ten top-ten finishes.
McClure calls Chilhowie, Virginia home. He has competed in all 24 XFINITY Series races this season with a highest finish of 17th at Daytona. Continue reading →
Making his last start at Darlington Sunday in the Bojangles’ Southern 500, Jeff Gordon will attempt to add to his active record of seven wins at the track ‘Too Tough To Tame.’ Continue reading →
Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota, and Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Freight Toyota, lead the field at the start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 16, 2015 Photo – Sean Gardner/Getty Images
Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota, and Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Freight Toyota, lead the field during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 16, 2015 Photo – Chris Trotman/Getty Images
Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 16, 2015 Photo – Sean Gardner/Getty Images
Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 16, 2015 Photo – Sean Gardner/Getty Images
Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 16, 2015 Photo – Nick Latham/Getty Images
From Matt Kenseth’s point of view, the competition package NASCAR used at Michigan International Speedway could well have had a big, bright bow on it.
The Coors Light Polesitter for Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, Kenseth quickly exhibited his mastery of the high-drag aerodynamic package, leading 146 of 200 laps in winning for the third time this season, the third time at Michigan and the 34th time in his career.
The 2003 premier series champion had to survive a restart with 13 laps left, after Jimmie Johnson spun off turn four to cause the eighth and last caution of the race. With a push from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, Kenseth cleared Kevin Harvick after the lap 187 restart and went on to win by 1.722 seconds. Continue reading →
Kyle Busch, driver of the #51 Dollar General Toyota, pits during the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Careers for Veterans 200 at Michigan International Speedway on August 15, 2015 Photo – Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images
Kyle Busch, driver of the #51 Dollar General Toyota, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Careers for Veterans 200 at Michigan International Speedway on August 15, 2015 Photo – Sean Gardner/Getty Images
Kyle Busch, driver of the #51 Dollar General Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Careers for Veterans 200 at Michigan International Speedway on August 15, 2015 Photo – Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images
Not even a pit road speeding penalty could keep Kyle Busch from his appointed rounds on Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
With drafting help from Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate Erik Jones entering turn one, Busch regained the lead from Ryan Blaney on lap 97 of 100 in the Careers for Veterans 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race and held on to win by 0.157 seconds.
Blaney held the second spot, and Jones finished third, followed by Johnny Sauter and Austin Dillon. Two-time defending series champion Matt Crafton battled a buckling windshield, a penalty for pitting too soon to correct it and a late spin after contact from John Wes Townley’s Chevrolet to finish sixth.
Crafton gained three points on series leader Tyler Reddick, who ran ninth, and now trails by eight. Jones is third in the standings, nine points back.
The victory was Busch’s first at Michigan after four runner-up finishes in the series, and it was his second in two starts since returning from an injury that sidelined the driver of the No. 51 Toyota from all racing activity from February 21 through mid-May.
“First win for me, first win for KBM here,” said Busch, who won for the 44th time in the Truck Series. “I loved racing with those guys up there—Jones, Blaney and Dillon. It was pretty hectic on how all that was going to shape up and play out…
“Just cool to finally get that monkey off my back here in the Truck Series and notch another race track where I’ve won in all three divisions here at Michigan.”
Under caution on lap 27, Busch earned a speeding penalty while entering pit road and restarted at the back of the field on lap 31. By lap 51, Busch had worked his way back to fifth in the running order, and after an exchange of green-flag pit stops, he regained the lead on lap 69.
“We were trying something new with our tach settings, and it didn’t really work,” Busch said of the speeding infraction.
Drivers gauge pit road speeds with their tachometers and a series of lights on the dashboard. In essence, Busch was seeing two sets of lights at the same time, calibrated to different settings, and that led directly to the speeding penalty.
Once Busch passed Blaney with fewer than four laps left, Blaney—without a teammate to help—was resigned to a second-place finish.
“When we got the lead (after a lap 95 restart), I knew it was going to be hard to keep him behind us, because he can lay back to the 4 (Jones) and just get a big run and get by you,” Blaney said. “There’s nothing, as the leader, that you can do about it.
“You’re wide open. You can break the draft all you want, but when he’s got a partner, it’s just like speedway racing—he can go by you.”
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Careers for Veterans 200
Presented by Cooper Standard and
Brad Keselowski’s Checkered Flag Foundation
Michigan International Speedway
1. (10) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 100, $43447.
2. (12) Ryan Blaney(i), Ford, 100, $36614.
3. (7) Erik Jones #, Toyota, 100, $26735.
4. (9) Johnny Sauter, Toyota, 100, $20254.
5. (3) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 100, $15653.
6. (1) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 100, $19792.
7. (2) Daniel Hemric #, Chevrolet, 100, $16325.
8. (5) Timothy Peters, Toyota, 100, $16241.
9. (11) Tyler Reddick, Ford, 100, $16185.
10. (6) Cameron Hayley #, Toyota, 100, $17107.
11. (16) Alex Bowman(i), Chevrolet, 100, $13852.
12. (17) John H. Nemechek #, Chevrolet, 100, $15934.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 128.94 mph.
Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 33 Mins, 04 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.157 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 26 laps.
Lead Changes: 15 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: 0; D. Hemric # 1-4; A. Dillon(i) 5-6; K. Busch(i) 7-26; A. Dillon(i) 27; E. Jones # 28-34; R. Blaney(i) 35; E. Jones # 36-44; J. Sauter 45-68; K. Busch(i) 69-76; R. Blaney(i) 77-81; K. Busch(i) 82-89; A. Dillon(i) 90; K. Busch(i) 91-94; R. Blaney(i) 95-96; K. Busch(i) 97-100.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): K. Busch(i) 5 times for 44 laps; J. Sauter 1 time for 24 laps; E. Jones # 2 times for 16 laps; R. Blaney(i) 3 times for 8 laps; A. Dillon(i) 3 times for 4 laps; D. Hemric # 1 time for 4 laps.
Top-Ten in Points: T. Reddick – 514; M. Crafton – 506; E. Jones # – 505; J. Sauter – 461; C. Hayley # – 425; D. Hemric # – 420; T. Peters – 416; J. Townley – 414; S. Gallagher # – 394; B. Kennedy – 381.
