Busch Dominates Food City 500

Kyle Busch easily survived a green-white-checker finish, set up when teammate Joey Logano lost a motor, to win the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Busch held off teammate Denny Hamlin on the restart, and drove away from him for the victory.

Hamlin held off a hard-charging Jimmie Johnson and finished second.

Top 5: Busch, Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Kasey Kahne.

Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, Jeff Burton, Juan Montoya, and Marcos Ambrose rounded out the top 10.

Notables: Kurt Busch (11th), David Reutimann (12th), Clint Bowyer (13th), Dale Earnhardt Jr (14th), Carl Edwards (15th), Tony Stewart (17th), Bobby Labonte (22nd), Brian Vickers (29th), Kevin Harvick (30th), Matt Kenseth (33th), and Greg Biffle (39th).

Harvick Wins Scotts Turf Builder 300

Kevin Harvick finally won in his own stuff, driving his Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevy to victory in the Scotts Turf Builder 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Harvick has won three times in the Camping World Truck series in KHI machines, but until today, he had yet to win in NASCAR’s more prestigious Nationwide series.

Kyle Busch had the domainant car of the day, but on his final pit stop, his team let a tire roll away, and he was penalized, taking him out of contention.

Top 5: Harvick, Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Matt Kenseth, and Justin Allgiaer.

Kyle Busch, Steve Wallace, Scott Speed, Joey Logano, and Jason Leffler rounded out the top 10.

Notables: Brad Keselowski (12th), Kenny Wallace (14th), David Ragan (19th), and Scott Wimmer (22nd).

Martin Wins Second Consecutive Pole

Mark Martin edged out Ryan Newman by .004 seconds for the pole for Sunday’s Food City 500 from Bristol Motor Speedway; his second pole of the season, and his second consecutive pole.

Top 5: Martin, Newman, Jimme Johnson, Greg Biffle, and Kasey Kahne.

David Reutimann, Reed Sorenson, Dave Blaney, Jamie McMurray, and Jeff Gordon will roll off sixth through 10th, respectively.

Notables: Tony Stewart (15th), Kyle Busch (19th), Denny Hamlin (24th), Kevin Harvick (30th), Clint Bowyer (31st), Kurt Busch (32nd), Matt Kenseth (33rd), Dale Earnhardt Jr (34th), Carl Edwards (38th), and Jeff Burton (40th).

Did Not Qualify: Scott Riggs and Jeremy Mayfield.

Biffle To Miss Bristol Nationwide Race Due To Injury

Greg Biffle will miss Saturday’s Scott’s Turf Builder 300 from Bristol Motor Speedway due to a rib injury. Matt Kenseth will take his place, piloting Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 16 CitiFinancial Ford.

Biffle injured his ribs in a fall he took after fishing with friends on Tuesday. He attempt to jump from a dock to a boat, and lost his footing.

He said that he had felt progressively better in the days following the fall.

Earlier this week, he sat in his Martinsville car, as his Bristol car was already headed to the track. He said that sitting in the racing seat felt comfortable:

Its hard foam and it’s molded so it doesn’t create any pressure points.

Biffle indicated that he could have driven the car in the Nationwide race, but decided to skip it rather than risking further injury if he sustained a crash during the race.

JR Motorsports Announces Driver Lineup For No. 5 Chevy

On Monday, JR Motorsports announced the plans for its No. 5 Nationwide Series entry for the remainder of the 20009 season.

The No. 5 Chevy will be split among team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr, all-time series wins leader Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, and Scott Wimmer.

Jr will drive at Texas Motor Speedway in April, Talladega Superspeedway in April, Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May, Daytona International Speedway in July and Atlanta Motor Speedway in Sept. in Chevys that will be sponsored by Fastenal, Godaddy.com, and Unilever.

Martin will drive the Chevy at Richmond International Raceway in May with Lipton as a sponsor. Tony Stewart will drive at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Oct. with Delphi as a sponsor. Stewart already has one victory in the series this season, winning the Camping World 300 at Daytona in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevy.

Newman will drive the No. 5 Fastenal Chevy in four races: Dover International Speedway in May, Chicagoland Speedway in July, Michigan International Speedway in Aug., and Kansas Speedway in Oct.

Wimmer will also pilot the No. 5 Fastenal Chevy for six races: Darlington Raceway in May, The Milwaukee Mile in June, O’Reilly Raceway Park in July, Iowa Speedway in Aug., Bristol Motor Speedway in Aug., and Richmond International Raceway in Sept.

Wimmer said in a JR Motorsports press release:

I am really excited to be associated with JR Motorsports and a great sponsor like Fastenal. I will be running at tracks that have been good for me in the past and look forward to my first event with JR Motorsports at Darlington in May. Hopefully, we can get the Fastenal car in the Winners Circle.

The announcement leaves two races without a named driver — the road-course events at Watkins Glen and Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, both in Aug. Drivers for those races will be announced at a later date. Last season, Ron Fellows drove the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevy to victory in the NAPA Auto Parts 200 presented by Dodge at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, so he may be considered for that race.

Earnhardt Jr. drove at Watkins Glen last year, presumably to get more experience at road courses, so he may take one of those races.

Also, anytime you mention road courses, you have to mention Boris Said’s name. He could also be considered.

Earnhardt Jr said:

This No. 5 team carries a strong tradition and a lot of expectations, and we are fortunate to attract such quality talent to help carry on that tradition. We had a similar set-up with this team last year, and we were able to go to Victory Lane twice. Obviously with this driver line-up, there’s no reason we can’t exceed last year’s win total.