Dodge Motorsports Notes & Quotes

KURT BUSCH (No. Miller Lite “Vortex” Dodge Charger) Finished 9th
“It was a battle tonight with our Miller Lite Dodge. We gave up track position when we didn’t qualify well and had to battle right from the drop of the green flag. Our Miller Lite Vortex was good, not great. We just struggled with being tight in the center of the corners all weekend. This new tire just gave us fits and we did our best at trying to solve the puzzle. There were several long green-flag runs and if your car wasn’t rolling through the corners like you needed it to, you just couldn’t keep the momentum that you needed to run fast. Big picture for us is that you always want to win the race and get those valuable 10 bonus points, but after the troubles that we had at Michigan last weekend, it’s nice to come here and stretch our points over 13th and get a solid top-10 out of the deal. We’ll take the points and head to Atlanta in a few weeks.”

STEVE ADDINGTON (Crew Chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Vortex Dodge Charger) “We survived. We just struggled this weekend. (NASCAR) threw a new tire at us and we struggled all weekend trying to find the right combination for Kurt (Busch). He drove his guts out tonight. To start in the middle of the pack and drive all the way up to a ninth-place finish was awesome. The big picture is that we survived Bristol and brought home a top-10. That will help us out in the points. We needed a strong, safe finish tonight and we accomplished what we needed to do.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge Charger) Finished 19th
"We were pretty consistent, but it was consistent running 15th and in that range. We faded a little bit at the end and finished 19th. We just need a little bit of speed and we’d be in contention to run up front and win these races. We’re consistently off that little bit. If we can get that, we can do the rest. Right in the middle of the runs, we were at our best.”

TRAVIS GEISLER (Crew Chief, No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger) Finished 25th
“It’s hard to figure out what is going on with the tire issue. It was in the sidewall that we were getting the cut. It doesn’t look like anything was rubbing. It’s an unfortunate deal. I don’t think we were going to have a great run tonight, but we certainly would have ended up a little better than we were if we could have kept the right front on it. We’ll go home, do some homework and figure out what we need to do better. We were best on short runs tonight. Late in the run, it seemed whatever was going on with the right front started to give up and the car got tighter and tighter.”

Bristol Bullring Shows its Horns to Stewart
Office Depot/Old Spice Driver Finishes 27^th in Irwin Tools Night Race

August 21, Bristol, TN--- he .533-mile oval that is Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway is often called a bullring because of its tight confines and high speeds, and it showed its horns to Tony Stewart in Saturday’s Irwin Tools Night Race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event. 

The driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) finished a disappointing 27^th after a strong start had him running second to Jimmie Johnson for the race’s first 125 laps. 

Stewart’s night began to unravel in typical Bristol fashion when he slowed down to avoid a spinning David Ragan on lap 126. The two-time Sprint Cup champion wooed his red and black Chevy down in plenty of time, but the same could not be said of Tony Raines, who clipped the right-rear corner of Stewart’s ride as the field bunched up. 

The damage was cosmetic, but it still took two trips to pit road for the Office Depot/Old Spice team to repair the right-rear quarterpanel and rear decklid well enough to continue. The quick work by the pit crew allowed Stewart to stay on the lead lap, albeit in 25^th-place. 

With a racecar that was loose on entry and exit into the track’s high-banked corners, Stewart was holding on with all he could to his lead-lap status.  

On lap 212, the rear end of the No. 14 car stepped out on Stewart and it slapped the turn two wall – first with the right-rear quarterpanel and then with the right-front fender. That car was hurt, but well enough to soldier on. 

Still, telltale smoke began billowing from beneath the right-side wheel wells whenever Stewart sailed into the track’s corners, as the crinkled fenders rubbed the tires. On lap 224 came the inevitable from Stewart: “We got a tire coming apart.” 

With the race still running under green and the rest of the field lapping the half-mile oval in 16 seconds, Stewart went three laps down as his crew changed right-side tires. 

It proved to be a deficit he could not overcome, for the pace of the leaders was torrid. When the checkered flag dropped, Stewart was six laps down in 27^th, breaking a five-race string of top-10 finishes. Stewart’s last result outside the top-10 came July 3 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway where he was caught up in a multi-car accident and placed 25^th. 

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 WIX Filters Chevrolet Impala for SHR, had a much better evening. He finished sixth to score his sixth top-10 of 2010 and his 10^th at Bristol.  

Kyle Busch won the Irwin Tools Night Race to score his 19^th career Sprint Cup victory, his third of the season and his fourth at Bristol. Busch pulled the Bristol hat trick, winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Wednesday night, the NASCAR Nationwide Series race Friday night and the Sprint Cup race Saturday night. It was the first time any driver has swept NASCAR’s top-three touring divisions in a single race weekend. 

David Reutimann finished .677 of a second behind Busch in the runner-up spot, while Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top-five. Newman, Juan Pablo Montoya, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth comprised the remainder of the top-10. 

There were seven caution periods for 39 laps, with eight drivers failing to finish the 500-lap race. 

With round 24 of 36 complete, Stewart dropped two spots to sixth in the Sprint Cup championship standings. He now has 3,107 points and is 414 markers behind series leader Kevin Harvick and 287 points ahead of 13^th-place Jamie McMurray, the first driver on the outside looking in at the 12-driver Chase for the Championship, which will be decided in the next two races. Newman fell one position to 15^th in the standings. He has 2,802 points and is 118 points back of 12^th-place Bowyer, who holds the final spot in the Chase.   

The Sprint Cup Series takes a rare weekend off before returning to action at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Sept. 5 Emory Healthcare 500. The race starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by ESPN beginning with its pre-race show at 7 p.m.

Newman Nets Top-10 Finish in Tennessee
WIX Filters Driver Finishes Sixth in Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol

August 21, Bristol, TN--- Ryan Newman and his No. 39 WIX Filters Chevrolet team enjoyed a solid outing at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway by earning a sixth-place finish in Saturday’s Irwin Tools Night Race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event. It was Newman’s seventh top-10 finish of the 2010 season and his 10^th top-10 in 18 career Sprint Cup starts at the .533-mile bullring. 

Despite Bristol’s reputation of being a crapshoot and a treacherous racetrack where anything can happen, Newman and his team looked forward to racing on the concrete oval nestled in the East Tennessee mountains. After all, Bristol played to the team’s strong suit – its short track program. And once again, Newman and his No. 39 Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) team left Bristol with a top-10 effort.  

In 10 races at tracks under 1-mile on the Sprint Cup circuit, Newman and the No. 39 team have finished outside of the top-10 just once.  

Unfortunately for Newman, the top-10 effort didn’t aid his efforts to make his second consecutive Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship as two of his competitors for the 12^th and final spot – Jamie McMurray and Clint Bowyer – finished just ahead of the No. 39 WIX Filters Chevrolet in third and fourth spots, respectively. Newman fell one position to 15^th in the standings. He has 2,802 points and is 118 markers back of 12^th-place Bowyer, who currently holds the final spot in the Chase, which will be decided in the next two races. 

“Unfortunately, sixth didn’t end up being as good of a points night for us as we hoped because Bowyer and McMurray finished in front of us. If we could’ve kept Bowyer out of that situation, we would’ve gained on him and Mark (Martin),” Newman said after the race. “But that’s neither here nor there. It was a good team effort for everyone on this WIX Filters Chevrolet. We can’t expect to make everything up in one race. Another top-10 effort on a short track is good for our team. We’ll just go on into Atlanta and keep fighting, which is what this team does. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.” 

Newman started sixth in Saturday night’s 500-lap race, which is the position he held for most of the night. He climbed to as high as fourth during the early stages and never fell out of the top-10. 

Throughout the race, Newman fought the same handling issue, as his car would start out too tight, making it difficult to get through the center of the turns, but it would get looser and looser as the run progressed. Crew chief Tony Gibson and the No. 39 crew tried a variety of track bar, air pressure and wedge adjustments during their pit stops, but they couldn’t hit on the right combination to aid the handling of Newman’s car on the long runs. In the end, Newman couldn’t battle with the leaders and finished the race where he started – in sixth-place.  

Newman’s SHR teammate, Tony Stewart, endured a tough outing at Bristol. Two tangles – one involving a competitor running into the back of his No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet Impala and the other being a scrape with the turn two wall – conspired to leave him 27^th when the checkered flag dropped. 

Stewart dropped two spots to sixth in the Sprint Cup championship standings. He now has 3,107 points and is 414 markers behind series leader Kevin Harvick and 287 points ahead of 13^th-place McMurray, the first driver on the outside looking in at the 12-driver Chase after round 24 of 36.  

Kyle Busch won the Irwin Tools Night Race to score his 19^th career Sprint Cup victory, his third of the season and his fourth at Bristol. Busch pulled the Bristol hat trick, winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Wednesday night, the NASCAR Nationwide Series race Friday night and the Sprint Cup race Saturday night. It was the first time any driver has swept NASCAR’s top-three touring divisions in a single race weekend. 

David Reutimann finished .677 of a second behind Busch in the runner-up spot, while McMurray, Bowyer and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top-five. Newman, Juan Pablo Montoya, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth comprised the remainder of the top-10. 

There were seven caution periods for 39 laps, with eight drivers failing to finish. 

The Sprint Cup Series takes a rare weekend off before returning to action at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Sept. 5 Emory Healthcare 500. The race starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by ESPN beginning with its pre-race show at 7 p.m.

Busch Makes History with Bristol Hat Trick
Doublemint Driver Becomes First to Win Three NASCAR Races in a Single Weekend

August 21, Bristol, TN--- Kyle Busch scored the elusive hat trick at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway by winning Saturday’s Irwin Tools Night Race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event. The 25-year-old swept the slate of NASCAR races at the .533-mile oval, winning the Camping World Truck Series race Wednesday night and the Nationwide Series race Friday night before wheeling his No. 18 Doublemint Toyota to victory in Saturday night’s Sprint Cup race.

“It means a lot,” said Busch after notching his 19^th career Sprint Cup victory, his third of the season and his fourth at Bristol. “I’m out of breath. I’ve been screaming the whole time. Normally, you take your time to get your breath back, but I used it all up. Man, I can’t say enough about this team, Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Busch Motorsports earlier this week. This Doublemint Camry was awesome today. What a great racecar. It’s the second time we ran it this year, and the second race for Doublemint, and we won for them. Again, I can’t thank these guys enough. Flawless pit stops. These guys were awesome.”

Busch led four times for a race-high 282 laps in Saturday night’s race, and coupled with his victories in the Nationwide and Truck Series events, the Las Vegas native led 514 of a possible 956 circuits throughout the weekend.

“It’s pretty cool because when you come so close and then don’t get it, it’s pretty frustrating,” said Busch, who now has 78 victories across NASCAR’s top-three divisions (Sprint Cup – 19, Nationwide – 40, Camping World Truck – 19). “I mean, last year we won the Truck race and were leading the Nationwide race and we got crashed out, and then we ended up winning the Cup race. So this is probably a year delayed. I’m just real appreciative of what was able to happen tonight. It was pretty special, and I feel a lot about how this team has worked so much through the past few weeks to try to get ourselves back on track. Coming to Bristol you could say, yeah, well, we’re supposed to run well here. But still, it’s cool to be able to put it all together in a complete weekend, with the Truck, with the Nationwide car and with the Cup car.

Busch started 19^th in the 500-lap race and it didn’t take him long to carve his way up through the field.

He was leading by lap 172 and was challenged during the midpoint of the race by Jimmie Johnson, David Reutimann and Jamie McMurray. Johnson crashed on lap 263 and then Reutimann and McMurray had nothing for Busch at the end. The Doublemint driver led the final 71 laps and beat Reutimann to the line by .677 of a second, while McMurray came home third.

“The pit stops tonight were flawless,” Busch said. “Jimmie beat us out one time just because of pit selection. Unfortunately, he had his troubles, but we were able to just get out there and kind of set sail. We had a really fast racecar. Coming through the field was fun. Passing in front of those guys and working traffic the way you had to work traffic and just kind of picking and choosing your way – do you go high, do you go low? You had to have a car that would really work anywhere.

“I was unsure going in about how good our car was going to be, but Dave (Rogers, crew chief) made some really good adjustments this morning and thought about it over the night to get us a good car for today. This Doublemint Camry was awesome, and it goes back to good teamwork.”

Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates – Joey Logano, driver of the No. 20 Toyota Camry, and Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Toyota Camry – finished 18^th and 34^th, respectively.

Clint Bowyer finished fourth and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top-five. Ryan Newman, Juan Pablo Montoya, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were seven caution periods for 39 laps, with eight drivers failing to finish.

With 24 of 36 races in the books, Busch continues to lead the Joe Gibbs Racing trio in the championship point standings. His win bumped him up five spots to third place, where he has 3,170 points and is 351 markers behind series leader Kevin Harvick. Hamlin dropped two spots to fifth and has 3,108 points, 413 points arrears Harvick. Logano remained 21^st in the standings and has 2,636 points, 284 points back of 12^th-place Bowyer, who currently holds the final spot for the 12-driver Chase for the Championship, which will be decided in the next two races.

The Sprint Cup Series takes a rare weekend off before returning to action at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Sept. 5 Emory Healthcare 500. The race starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by ESPN beginning with its pre-race show at 7 p.m.