Michigan and Darlington!

This weekend I decided to write one blog about the Nationwide and Truck races.

Starting off with the Carfax 250 at Michigan International Speedway. Brad Keselowski easily got the pole, as usual. Ryan Truex, younger brother of Cup driver, Martin Truex, Jr, had impressive lap times, securing him a second place starting position. Colin Braun, Jason Leffler and Ryan Newman rounded out the Top Five in qualifying.

The whole race, Keselowski had clutch issues, he insisted it wasn’t bothering him, only when he pitted. On lap 62, Caution came out for Chase Austin, not a Nationwide Series regular; car started smoking on the backstretch and stopped at the entrance to Pit Road. Lap 67, Paul Menard leads the pack on the restart, but Keselowski took the lead away. Keselowski dominated until lap 108, after Green Flag Pit Stops cycled through. On lap 111 Steve Wallace tapped the right rear of Robert Richardson’s car and hit the wall. Lap 117, Edwards led the pack to the restart, but not for long, Keselwoski took the lead and no one else led for the rest of the race.

Keseloski led 89 of the 125 laps and took the Checkered Flag. Edwards, Busch, Allgaier, Menard, Logano, Sadler, Sorenson, Braun and Harvick rounded out the Top Ten.

Point Standings:
Keselowski
Edwards
Ky. Busch
Allgaier
Harvick
Menard
S. Wallace
Bayne
Gaughan
Leffler

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Last night, the Camping World Truck Series rolled back onto the asphalt of Darlington Raceway for the Too Tough To Tame 200 (intimidating name right?). Most tracks are considered "its" but Darlington is a "she." She looks like an easy track, calm; with not a lot of banking, but the drivers beg to differ.

During both practices, Austin Dillon was the fastest truck. During qualifying, Timothy Peters had the fastest lap times and started first. Buescher, Lofton, Almirola, Hornaday, Shrader, Compton, Bodine, Dillon and Ickler were the Top Ten.

When Ken Shrader attempted to roll off Pit Road to start the race, his car stalled and his crew had to change the battery. He had to start at the back of the pack.

On lap 10, Austin Dillon got his stripe, but quickly recovered. During the race, there were nine cautions, most for debris. One was for when Ricky Carmichael spun into the wall of Turn Four, when Mario Gosselin clipped Ricky’s right rear quarter panel.

When they restarted on lap 81, Austin Dillon was leading, when everyone pitted, he only took fuel, thinking that since everyone took only tires, and he would be good because they would run out of fuel. So on lap 100, under caution, Austin came to Pit Road for tires and restarted 14th. He never went back for the lead, but he finished fifth, his tenth consecutive top ten finish this year.

On the final lap, Bodine took the Checkered Flag, making this his second consecutive win in two weeks. Timothy Peters, Ron Hornaday, Johnny Sauter, Austin Dillon, Matt Crafton, James Buescher, Stacy Compton, Aric Almirola and Ken Shrader were your Top Ten.

Point Standings:
Bodine
Almirola
Peters
Sauter
Dillon (still think he’s going to be the Rookie of the Year)
Hornaday
Crafton
Skinner
Starr
White