Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Race Report (Stewart Wins?)

Travis Kvapil, on his first NASCAR Cup Series pole, leads the pack to the green flag for the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega.

-There have already been 3 leaders by lap 10, Jimmie Johnson being in the back, looks like he's lost the draft, 17 seconds behind the leader. They're thinking that a team mate needs to drop back to help him out. Kenny Schrader has lost the draft and is 11 seconds back while the pack runs 2-wide, 14 rows deep, more or less.
-Lap 23: Schrader and Johnson are drafting now, but the pack is coming up on them fast and lap 26 sees them a lap down now.
-Lap 25: David Ragan is leading the pack in front of Kvapil, Almirola, Menard and Gilliland.
-Dale Earnhardt Jr takes the lead by Lap 26, Ragan behind him now.
~
-Lap 34 Caution for Debris.
Having just been lapped, Robby Gordon is in front of Jimmie Johnson and Robby will be the Lucky Dog.
Ragan gets spun on pit road, no damage. Kenny Schrader, Kenny Wallace: speeding on pit road.
Robby Gordon, lost the lucky Dog bonus for fueling twice.
-Lap 39 Restart: 24, 1, 31, 33, 88.
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-Lap 46 Caution for Debris in the tri-oval:
Jimmie Johnson gets the Lucky Dog. Yes: THey showed the debris. Oddly, the Lowe's pit crew seemed to tbe the ones who let NASCAR know about it.
Everyone is pitting. Dang, it looks like a bunch of figure-8 races as cars pull in and pull out of their pits. Harvick stays out and leads a lap.
-Lap 49 Restart:19, 5, 18, 24, 11.
Ryan Newman has dropped a cylinder. Dave Blaney: Electrical problems, is in the back of the pack.
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-Lap 54 Caution:
Jeff Gordon, David Reutimann spinning. Gordon has body damage. His day may be done.
Reutimann's RR tire blows, and Jeff dodges to the right and hits the wall and the 21 car.
That's the 2nd RR tire to just ... blow, that we know of.
Is something wrong with the 48 car? They're working on a splitter brace on the RF in the pits.
Kurt Busch's hood is up. Engine is missing.
Edwards to the end of the longest line. Pitted while the pits were closed.
He's been on pit road a few times.
-Lap 58 Restart: 83, 28, 84, 18, 15.
Kurt Busch to the garage after the restart.
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-Lap 68 Caution:
No 83 RF tires blows up while running up there in the top 5. Nine cars in all were collected.

THE BIG ONE happens while off to commercial...
Martin Truex looks a bit daffy, holding his head walking back to the medical center.
Red Flag Out.
Those involved
Vickers, Gilliland, Truex Jr., Kahne, Skinner, McMurray, Labonte, Raines & Almirola.
18 minutes later:
-Lap 73 restart: 88 15 31 29 42
~
Despite the wreck, the pack gets back together and is back to being racey.
Stewart finally gets the front spot in the race, making him leader # 23 after 35 lead changes.
-Lap 81 Caution: Mike Wallace loses a right side tire... again.
-Lap 87 Restart: 18, 88, 42, 20, 17.
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-Lap 99 Caution: Denny Hamlin RF tire puts him in the wall. 2 debris, 4 tire cautions.
They're carting Denny away on a stretcher, but I believe as precautionary.
-Lap 105 Restart: 66, 15, 8, 18, 20.
Denny is awake and alert and headed to the hospital for further evaluation.
-Lap 133: So far, pretty uneventful in as much as any additional cautions.
29, 6, 20, 8, 18.
~
Caution with 50 to go: Jeff Gordon blowing and slowing. Engine fried.
Edwards spins exiting pit road.
When the No. 00 car led the race, ESPN noted McDowell was leading, but truth in fact: Kenny Wallace is driving that car.
Everyone trying to top off on fuel
Restart with 44 to go: 18, 6, 28, 20, 48.
Now it's going to start getting racy!
25 to go: We're getting three wide now. 88, 31, 42
The 55 car is up in the top 5.
~
Caution with 24 to go: Harvick gets sideways into the grass off of Ragan's bumper... but it doesn't look like he took damage.
Restart with 19 to go: 42, 5, 15, 07, 88
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-Lap 174: the other BIG ONE hits the field!
Carl spun Biffle and this collected the rest of the field.
Wow, a lot of Cup Chasers involved.
The 2nd red flag today.
Restart with 10 Laps to Go: 20, 78, 5, 19, 6
Stewart and Nemechek bolt out in front of the pack. Go Joe, Go.
The draft bailed on Nemechek.
Sadler locked on the back bumper of Stewart.
Subway leads McDonalds around the track!
5 to go: 20, 01, 15, 8, 31
~
Caution with 4 to go: RR tire on the No. 26.
I suspect Tony may pull this off but DEI is lurking on Stewart's bumper in the next three positions.
Restart with 3 to go:
20, 01, 15, 8, 19.

On the last lap, in the tri-oval, with Regan Smith passing Tony Stewart below the yellow line, he passed and crossed the line first, but NASCAR gives the win to Tony Stewart.

Smith may argue with the issue that Stewart forced Smith below the line.
We'll see how it pans out before the afternoon (evening?) is over.


The Winner is Tony Stewart, the cars crossed the line in the following order:
01, 20, 15, 6, 31, 07, 43, 66, 7 & 48.
This is the unofficial order.

To be continued in a later post!
Thanks for coming by and be sure to check for updates on the drama of the end-race scenario.
Does NASCAR stay with who won, or do they use the same rule of application when a driver can see the checkered flag, anything goes rule?

Sharpie 500 at Bristol - Carl Edwards Wins and Spins

Carl Edwards and David Reutimann leads the field to the green. Carl got a great start, and Jeff Gordon got in under Reutimann and Reutimann was isntantly relegated to third. So much for the bonus points for the No 44 Toyota. Earnhardt Jr. seemed a bit loosey goosey at the start.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was black flagged for passing before the start/finish line. Wow, devastating start to the race. He was caught on a scenario that is legal on restarts, but not the initial start of any race.

Lap 25 see's Jimmie Johnson into the wall after tangling with Sterling Marlin. He pits to fix the damage under green.

Kyle Busch took the lead on lap 54.

Lap 97: No. 1 car looses a tire and takes the No 84 car with him into the wall.

Lap 195: The No. 77 comes up across the nose of the 09. The 09 slows in front of the 20 car. The 20 car spins the 09 car and the 09 collected the 31 car. Hmm, one of my new rules says that the car number mentioned the most, is the cause of the incident. That would be the No 09 car of Sterling Marlin.

Lap 206 restart sees Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman lead the pack to the green.

Lap 216: Big wreck> 07, 7, 77, 5, 9, 21, 41, 44 cars pile up into or scraped up a bit into a wrecking yard.

The No 9 Budweiser car looks like toast, who was 12th in points.
The No 07, 13th in points, just got rubbed up a bit while the other cars in the pile ended up reshaping their cars on a serious note.

It looks like the No. 5 car comes up into the LF corner of the No. 55, getting spun into the wall, and the 5 car collected the rest of the victims. Mears said his spotter called "clear, clear, clear" and his spotter was mistaken.

In the replay from Clint Bowyer, the car radio of Clint says "Michael Waltrip is the worse driver in NASCAR. I can't believe NAPA signed back up with him." LOL.

Everyone involved is OK.

Lap 221: Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards leads the pack to the restart.
18, 99, 24, 11, 20, 12, 29, 16, 44 & 15 are the top 10.

Lap 281: The No 22 car slaps the inside wall.

Lap 293 restart: Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards leads the pack to the green. ... Didn't I already say this?

Lap 320: Kyle Busch leads the pack still. The man is unstoppable! 18, 99, 24, 11, 29, 12, 20, 07, 8 & 26

Lap 344 debris caution for parts coming off the No. 44 car. The back bumper / TV panel came off all by itself after being abused throughout the race.

Lap 349 restart sees the 18 and 99 lead the pack to the green.

Lap 350 front 10 of the blender called the Sharpie 500:
18, 99, 24, 11, 29, 12, 07, 20, 8, 6

lap 355 Edwards starts looking under Kyle for the lead, but Kyle holds him off.

Lap 357 Edwards looks outside to pass him. No go.

Despite being caught up in a few incidents, and the front end toe-in being more or less toe-out,ed, the 07 car of Bowyer is in 7th.

Dale Jarrett said that in some race in his past, he had gotten in wreck and his front end was toed out and it handled pretty good the rest of the day.

Lap 365 Caution

Lap 370: Oh for cyin' out loud, you'll never guess what 2 guys led the pack to the green! But now, Jr. is the first car a lap down and if circumstances are right, he can get his lap back at the next yellow.

Lap 400 top 10: 18, 99, 24, 11, 29, 12, 8, 20, 07 and 6

lap 451 caution.

Restart with 41 laps to go: 18, 99, 11, 24, 29, 12, 07, 20, 17 and 6.

A few laps later, another debris caution for a piece off of the No 2 car of Kurt Busch.

With 30 to go, Edwards takes the lead. First time since lap 55 someone other than Kyle leads, and he drops to 3rd as Hamlin passes him too.

20 to go, Kyle gets past Hamlin.
10 to go: 99, 18, 11, 29, 24
5 to go: 99, 18

The order of the top 10 cars across the finish line!
99 - 18 - 11 - 29 - 24 - 12 - 07 - 20 - 17 - 6

Remember when Carl Edwards passed Busch?

Edwards gave Busch a budge to get by him, a typical Bristol pass. Busch nudged him right back immediately afterward, but it did not move Edwards and Edwards went on to win.

After passing the start finish line, Kyle (The Child) Busch rammed the side of the No 99 car. Edwards then turned the 18 car around on the front stretch, to the immense pleasure of the cheering crowd.

Ahh, Bristol. Gotta love it.

Afterward, Edwards DID NOT apologize for it. He said Kyle's always raced him like that before, and decided to move him. You go Carl!!

Thanks to NASCAR for auto stock image snip.