Speed51.com’s staff interviews the major players in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East 2012 season opener, the Widow Wax 125 Presented by Seal Wrap Repair Tape
JAMIE MCMURRY, NO. 1 MCDONALD’S CHEVROLET – FINISHED 7TH:
“We gambled on track position at the competition caution and stayed out. Our guys kept us up front all day long. It’s great to put the McDonald’s Chevy up in the top-10. I’m happy with today’s results.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET – FINISHED 8TH:
“What a great run for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates today. To have both cars finish in the top-10 says a lot about how hard these guys are working to pull this program together. That caution at the end was a huge help to us and we were able to drive the Target Chevrolet to the front.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET, FINISHED 9TH
A LOT OF TEAMS WERE REALLY CHASING THE RACE TRACK TODAY. HOW WAS YOUR AFTERNOON? “We had a tough qualifying effort, a tough practice, but had a competitive car. I think we had a top-five car. I don’t think we had anything for the win, but we got stuck on the inside lane there. The No. 16 had some trouble getting going and we lost a few spots. Otherwise I think we would have been right there around fifth or sixth. Not a bad day. We had a great day on pit road. We improved a ton over the weekend and had a competitive race car today and we will go on with this ninth-place finish.”
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BRISTOL, Tenn. — NASCAR racing has a new Ice Man.
As he completed the final lap of his victory in Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, Brad Keseloswki needled Paul Wolfe, his crew chief.
“Paul, are you nervous?” Keselowski radioed to Wolfe, his voice exuding of confidence. As he crossed the finish line six car-lengths in front of runner-up Matt Kenseth, Keselowski allowed himself an excited whoop.
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BRISTOL, Tenn.—- Elliott Sadler wasn’t sure about the decisive call in Saturday’s Ford EcoBoost 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway — until crew chief Luke Lambert gave him a history lesson.
Race Photos – http://checkupracing.com/2012/03/18/photos-saturday-nationwide-series-at-bristol-motor-speedway/
Lambert’s astute call to keep Sadler on the racetrack under the final caution gave Elliott Sadler the boost he needed to win his second Nationwide Series race of the season, two weeks after he broke a 14-year drought in the series at Phoenix.
The Nationwide points leader drove away from Kasey Kahne and Brad Keselowski after a restart on Lap 273 of 300 and beat Kahne to the finish line by 1.159 seconds. The victory was Sadler’s second at Bristol, the seventh of his career, and it came at the .533-mile track that gave him the first of his three Sprint Cup victories in 2001.
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RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 3RD.
ANOTHER GOOD QUALIFYING EFFORT; TALK ABOUT HOW PRACTICE HAS GONE AND ALSO ABOUT THE LAPS YOU PUT DOWN TODAY FOR QUALIFYING
“I was a little concerned when Brad (Keselowski) ran that .36; if the track had picked up that much or if he had just laid down one heck of a lap. I was glad to see our Quicken Loans Chevrolet pick-up to go from fifth to third; and we were close, I think within a hundredth there or so. It’s just a good run for us; a good starting spot. We’ll have a good pit selection. It’s all the things that you could ask for. We’ll just flip her over into race trim tomorrow and see how good we can make it on the long runs.”
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More Bristol and NASCAR Photos – http://checkupracing.com/category/media/photos/
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET – 2ND IN STANDINGS
“Well Bristol is probably the place that we have circled on the calendar as the place that we ran the worst at last year. As a company at the last race, it was bad. For us we have been putting a lot of thought and talked about Bristol a lot. I’m looking forward to getting on the race track and running through some different theories and things that we think we needed to do different. Bristol is always a fun place, you never know what can happen there and it seems like it is just a place where anything can happen at any time. It’s a fun race track and obviously short-track racing is something we all grow up doing and I like going to Bristol so it should be fun.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/DIET MOUNTAIN DEW CHEVROLET – 4TH IN STANDINGS
“I always look forward to going to Bristol and racing there. Daddy (Dale Earnhardt Sr.) won a lot of races there, and I enjoyed watching races there as a kid. They changed the configuration and the way the car goes around the corners is a little bit different. Getting the car to turn in the middle and get out of the corner is a little bit different and a little more challenging.”
MOORESVILLE, N.C., – The first time. It’s a fairly simple concept with long-lasting implications. Throughout the course of one’s life, an individual encounters a series of firsts, whether it’s something as simple as a first word or first step to more complex milestones such as first love or the purchase of a first home.
This weekend at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Kurt Busch will celebrate a very special first as Sunday’s Food City 500 marks the 10th anniversary of his first career win in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition. On March 24, 2002, Busch led 89 laps en route to the win and crossed the threshold into the hallowed ground that is victory lane at Bristol. What no one knew on that cool March day in 2002 is that the win was a precursor for what could only be described as a breakout season for the Las Vegas native.
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Jesus is the Answer
