Jamie McMurray held off Kyle Busch and stopped Busch one spot short of a historic win Saturday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Driving JR Motorsports’ No. 88 Chevrolet, McMurray asserted his superiority over the final 40 of 195 laps to win the Nationwide Series Great Clips 300 at the 1.54-mile racetrack. The victory, the eighth of McMurray’s Nationwide career, was his first since November 2004 at Darlington.

Busch is tied with Sam Ard for the series’ single-season wins record with 10.

Carl Edwards ran third, followed by Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth. Joey Logano, Jason Leffler, Ryan Newman, Paul Menard and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. completed the top 10. Series points leader Brad Keselowski finished 12th and saw his advantage over second-place Edwards trimmed to 332 points.

“We unloaded today and had pretty much the fastest car off the truck,” McMurray said. “It was just pretty loose, and we just did a really good job of adjusting on it.”

The good adjustments continued late into the race, McMurray said.

“At the end, Pops (crew chief Tony Eury Sr.) adjusted on it, and it was pretty fast, even on the short runs.”

McMurray led 43 of the final 47 laps, including the last 23.

“It’s the same thing every week,” McMurray said. “The car out front—the clean air’s huge.”

McMurray’s short-run speed proved decisive in a race that took a series of intriguing turns, including one sequence where only one car was scored on the lead lap.

Harvick took four tires under caution on Lap 62, while Busch and most other contenders chose to restart on old rubber when the field came to green on Lap 65. After restarting 12th, Harvick passed McMurray for the lead on Lap 70.

By Lap 112, he had the rest of the field at least one lap down, after Busch and other drivers on old tires came to the pits under green. Harvick gave up the lead to Busch when he made a green-flag stop for tires and fuel on Lap 120.

Harvick left the pits eight seconds behind Busch but cut that margin in half before Ryan Newman spun Trevor Bayne on the backstretch to cause the third caution of the race and bunch the field. McMurray was first out of the pits under caution and led the field to a restart on Lap 153.

McMurray stayed out front until contact from Stenhouse sent Reed Sorenson’s Toyota hard into the outside wall on Lap 168. Keselowski and 11th-place finisher Josh Wise stayed on the track under the caution, but they quickly surrendered the top two spots when the field restarted.

McMurray surged to the front with Busch in pursuit, but Busch was unable to make up significant ground in the closing laps and finished .286 seconds back.

“We just didn’t quite have enough there on short runs to keep up with them,” Busch said. “Once we got about 25 or 30 laps on (the tires), we could really start reeling them in and pass them. Typically, it’s always a long-run car that wins here—Harvick beat me last year with a long-run car—but that wasn’t the case tonight.”

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Boris Said survived a spin — and aberration — and edged Max Papis by a nose in a drag race to the finish to win the NAPA Auto Parts 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The win is Said’s first career victory in the Nationwide Series.

The beginning of the race saw more caution laps than green-flag laps, with three caution flags flying in the first 12 laps. Marcos Ambrose and Jacques Villeneuve had the strongest cars to start the race, with Ambrose dominating. But, the pit strategy of some of their competitors put Ambrose and Villeneuve in 14th and 15th after pitting.

Ambrose powered through the field, as did Villeneuve albeit a little less aggressively than Ambrose. As Villeneuve made his way to the front, he got into the corner a little too hot behind Said and started wheel-hopping. He made contact with Said, sending him around. Both were able to right their cars and continue on.

Ambrose took the lead from Carl Edwards on lap 36, but one lap later, he reported that he thought there was something wrong with the battery or alternator. Edwards was able to get by him for the lead, and Ambrose pitted on lap 45 for a battery change. But, damage to the car prevented the crew from making a quick change, resulting in Ambrose losing two laps on pit road under green.

About six laps later, Ambrose broke something in the suspension, ending his day. He finished 33rd.

With 10 laps to go, Edwards, who looked poised for victory with Ambrose out, was leading when he broke a track bar mount. He went behind the wall for repairs.  He finished 20th.

Robby Gordon assumed the lead when Edwards had his problem, but was iffy on fuel. He conserved over the last two cautions. But, when Trevor Bayne hit the wall and Jason Leffler wrecked, the race was red flagged. Gordon didn’t have enough fuel for the upcoming green-white-checkered finish. 

On the restart, Said got by Gordon for the lead. Gordon gave him a shot in the rear bumper before running out of fuel and coasting while cars blew by him. He finished 14th.

Said took the lead, but Max Papis was all over Said’s rear. Papis passed him under braking  heading into the final two turns. But, Papis swung a little wide coming off of the final turn allowing Said to pull along side of him. The two had a drag race to the finish with Said getting the edge by a nose.

Top 5: Said, Papis, Villeneuve, Brad Keselowski, and Paul Menard.

Joey Logano, JR Fitzpatrick, Parker Kligerman, Justin Allgaier, and Trevor Bayne rounded out the top 10.

Notables: Kenny Wallace (13th), Robby Gordon (14th), Mike Bliss (15th), Mike Wallace (17th), Carl Edwards (20th), Jason Leffler (21st), Colin Braun (22nd), Tayler Malsam (23rd), Ricky Stenhouse Jr (24th), Michael Annett (25th), Brendan Gaughan (27th), Joe Nemechek (28th), Ron Fellows (30th), Patrick Carpentier (32nd), Marcos Ambrose (33rd), and Steve Wallace (38th).

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Kyle Busch, who spun Brad Keselowski — his biggest competition — on lap 219, held off Jason Leffler, Elliott Sadler, and Dale Earnhardt Jr over the final laps to win the Food City 250 Nationwide Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The victory is Busch’s 10th on the season, tying the single-season record both he (in 2008) and Sam Ard currently hold.

Busch and Keselowski were battling on lap 219, when Busch took the lead in turn 2. He bobbled down the backstretch, and moved up the track get in front of Keselowski.

The two made contact, and Busch hit the wall, allowing Keselowski to get by him for the lead. Busch was able to catch him in turn 3, and spun him in turn 4. Keselowski brushed the wall damaging his left front. He was able to continue. He finished 14th.

Keselowski said:

It is what it is. I’m going to go to work — and work on beating his [butt].

Busch said:

I thought I had him cleared on the back, and I moved up in front of him, and instead of him doing an Earnhardt crossover move, he just decided that he would run into the back of me and put me in the fence. That’s Brad Keselowski. So I went into the next corner and dumped him. He does it to everybody else. Why can’t I do it to him?

Top 5: Busch, Leffler, Sadler, Earnhardt Jr, and Carl Edwards.

Trevor Bayne, Clint Bowyer, Reed Sorenson, Parker Kligerman, and Joey Logano rounded out the top 10.

Notables: Jason Keller (12th), Paul Menard (13th), Keselowski (14th), Mike Bliss (18th), Michael Annett (19th), Brendan Gaughan (21st), Ricky Stenhouse Jr (22nd), Tony Raines (26th), Steve Wallace (30th), Justin Allgaier (33rd), Ryan Newman (35th), and Kasey Kahne (38th).

On lap 83, Trevor Bayne, Justin Allgaier, and Kasey Kahne were battling three-wide. Bayne and Allgaier made contact. Allgaier then made contact with Kahne. Kahne got into the outside wall. Then, Allgaier’s car bumped Kahne again, sending Kahne’s car up the wall.

Kahne slid about 200 yards on his side, along the wall. He walked away uninjured.

Busch – Keselowski Incident:

Kahne Wreck:

Related posts:

1. Edwards Wins First N’Wide Race Of Season
2. Busch Overcomes Pit Road Problems To Win At Charlotte
3. Keselowski Comes From Third To Win Carfax 250

NASCAR announced yesterday the 2011 schedule for its three national series, highlighted by several key changes for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said:

The adjustments and realignment of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule will make for an exciting race season next year. The revised schedule provides better situated dates for the tracks, a more challenging lineup for the drivers and ultimately more intrigue for the fans.

One of those changes comes early, as the second race of the season will be held at Phoenix International Raceway on Feb. 27, a week after the season-opening Daytona 500. PIR replaces Auto Club Speedway in Week 2. Texas Motor Speedway fills in the vacated Phoenix spot on Saturday, April 9 for what will be an exciting night race in the Lone Star State.

Southern California’s Auto Club Speedway will now run its race date on March 27, providing the track and its fans an optimum point in the schedule.

The series’ 36-race schedule will feature two realigned events. A second Kansas Speedway date follows the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and will be held on Sunday, June 5. And for the first time in a decade the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series realigns to a new track with a race at Kentucky Speedway. The Kentucky race will be held under the lights on Saturday, July 9.

The 2011 “Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup” – consisting of the season’s last 10 races, during which the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship is decided – will begin at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday, Sept. 18.

Chicagoland’s previous race date was in early July, a slot that went to the realigned event at Kentucky. New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which previously had the first Chase date, will now have the second, on Sept. 25.

Sprint Cup Schedule

Changes are highlighted in yellow.

* New to Sprint Cup Schedule

# New to Chase

Also released today were the 2011 schedule for the NASCAR Nationwide Series, highlighted by a second race at Iowa and Chicagoland speedways, and the 2011 schedule for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, which will see nine races moved to different dates on the calendar.

All three national series – NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series – will begin their seasons at Daytona International Speedway’s “Speedweeks,” with a weekend culminated by the Daytona 500. The traditional “non-points” Budweiser Shootout at Daytona will provide fans a NASCAR Sprint Cup preview, on Saturday night, Feb. 12, followed by qualifying for the “Great American Race” to be held on Sunday, Feb. 13.

All three series will end their seasons with another tradition – Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Nov. 18-20.

The NASCAR Nationwide Series will consist of 34 races, all featuring the new car that is being run a total of four times this season.

Iowa Speedway, which joined the schedule in 2009, receives a second date in 2011. The series will visit the Newton, Iowa, facility for the first time on Sunday, May 22 and return on Saturday, Aug. 6.

A new date has been added at Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday, June 4. The series returns on Saturday, Sept. 17 as part of a NASCAR national series tripleheader featuring the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on Sunday, Sept. 18 and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on Friday, Sept. 16.

Last season’s successful inaugural event at the Road America road course in Wisconsin returns in 2011 on Saturday, June 25, the weekend before the Friday, July 1 race at Daytona International Speedway.

A previous stand-alone event at Kentucky Speedway now will be part of the inaugural NASCAR Sprint Cup/NASCAR Nationwide Series weekend on Friday, July 8.

The NASCAR Nationwide Series will be paired with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on three weekends, at Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday, April 23 and Saturday, July 23 and at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis on Saturday, July 30.

The 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will consist of 25 races, one of which will be announced at a future date.

Phoenix International Raceway, which traditionally hosted the penultimate race in November, will host the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on Friday, Feb. 25.

Darlington Raceway, which returned to the schedule in 2010 after an absence of six years, moves from August to Saturday, March 12.

Michigan International Speedway’s truck race, previously held in June, will accompany its late-summer NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Saturday, Aug. 20.

Two additional date shifts in the fall have stand-alone events at Kentucky Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, moving a month later on the schedule. The series races at Kentucky on Saturday, Oct. 1 followed by Las Vegas on Saturday, Oct. 15.

Nationwide Series Schedule

Changes are highlighted in yellow.

 Camping World Truck Series Schedule

Note: One additional date to be added to schedule.

Changes are highlighted in yellow.

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JR Motorsports announced that Aric Almirola has signed a multi-year deal to drive the team’s No. 88 Nationwide Series Chevy for 2011. He is slated to take over the car full time in 2011, but could appear in some Nationwide Series races later this season.

He has already made one start in the No. 88 car, in which he finished third at O’Reilly Raceway Park in July.

Almirola said:

The chance to drive full time in the Nationwide Series with a top caliber team is something I am extremely excited about.  was at the shop [Tuesday], and Kelley [Earnhardt] gathered all the employees around to announce our deal. The energy and excitement was addicting. We raced at ORP together a month ago and had a really good run. There is no reason why we cannot compete like that every race, and there is no reason why we shouldn’t be running for a championship. I would expect nothing less.

Kelley Earnhardt said:

If there is a quintessential JR Motorsports driver, we feel it’s Aric Almirola. The way he drives, the ambition he carries, the way he represents himself on and off the track, it all fits within our company’s dynamics, our core objectives, and the values of our sponsorship partners. We look forward to putting him in our No. 88 car so he can continue his success.

Almirola has 32 Nationwide Series starts to his credit, including one win. That win, however, came in a race in which he started in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 car and Denny Hamlin took over and finished. NASCAR rules credit the finish the person who started the race with the finish, so Almirola was credited with the win.

Almirola has been having a good Camping World Truck Series season. He is currently second in points, with two wins, five top 5s, and 11 top 10s.

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Brad Keselowski started from the pole and overcame clutch issues to win the Nationwide Series Carfax 250 at Michigan International Speedway. Keselowski dominated, leading 89 of 125 laps.

Despite his problems, Keselowski was able to pull away from Carl Edwards on the final restart at lap 117. He finished 3.2 seconds ahead of Edwards to take the win. The win extended his points lead to 347 over Edwards in the N’wide standings.  

Top 5: Keselowski, Edwards, Kyle Busch, Justin Allgaier, and Paul Menard. 

Joey Logano, Elliott Salder, Reed Sorenson, Colin Braun, and Kevin Harvick finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

Notables: Trevor Bayne (11th), Ryan Truex (12th), Ricky Stenhouse Jr (13th), Tayler Malsam (14th), Michael Annett (16th), Steve Wallace (18th), Mike Bliss (19th), Mike Wallace (20th), Danica Patrick (27th), Michael McDowell (28th), and Ryan Newman (36th).

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Marcos Ambrose won his third consecutive Nationwide Series race at Watkins Glen International, dominating  the Zippo 200, leading 60 of 82 laps, including the final 30 laps.

Top 5: Ambrose, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, and Kyle Busch. 

Ron Fellows, Nelson Piquet Jr, Jacques Villeneuve, Steven Wallace, and Michael McDowell rounded out the top 10.

Notables: JR Fitzpatrick (11th), Tayler Malsam (12th), Tony Ave (15th), Paul Menard (17th), Michael Annett (19th), Kenny Wallace (21st), Boris Said (22nd), Ryan Newman (25th), Trevor Bayne (29th), Brendan Gaughan (30th), Carl Edwards (33rd), Justin Allgaier (34th), and Jason Leffler (35th).

A 10-car pileup on lap 24 caused a red flag that stopped the race for 25 minutes. It appeared that Jason Leffler made contact with Colin Braun as he was coming back onto the track after getting wide coming off of Turn 1. The contact sent Leffler hard into the outside wall and sent Braun into the inside wall.

Leffler bounced off the wall and slid back into Trevor Bayne, sending Bayne spinning. Justin Allgaier then ran right into the back of Leffler. Allgaier’s badly damaged Dodge slid sideways, blocking part of the track. As the cars close to the incident attempted to stop, other cars ran into them, lifting them onto the hoods of the cars that hit them.

When the dust settled, 10 cars were involved including Said, Brendan Gaughan, Tony Raines, Victor Gonzales Jr, Bill Johnson, among others.

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2. Busch Wins 10th Nationwide Series Race This Season
3. Edwards Wins First N’Wide Race Of Season

Richard Childress Racing is said to be considering fielding a fourth Sprint Cup Chevy next season, according to ESPN. RCR is also in the process of finalizing a deal to run Kevin Harvick Inc.’s Nationwide Series program in 2011.

Under the deal, RCR would field two teams in the Camping World Truck Series, where Childress’ grandson Austin Dillon currently runs. RCR would also provide engines for KHI’s Nationwide cars, and RCR Cup drivers Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer, and Kevin Harvick would run KHI’s N’Wide cars.

Meanwhile, there is increasing speculation that Paul Menard, whose contract with Richard Petty Motorsports expires at the end of this season, would drive the fourth RCR car in the Cup series. But, team owner Richard Childress would not comment on that.

RPM currently has no drivers under contract, but Marcos Ambrose, who is leaving JTG Daugherty Racing’s No. 47, is said to be a likely candidate to drive the No. 9 car being vacated by Kasey Kahne. He is also said to be in consideration for the No. 19, as Elliott Sadler announced that he is leaving the team at season’s end.

AJ Allmendinger is also said to be listening to offers from other teams, but RPM is confident that they will have Allmendinger back in the No. 43 car next season.

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2. Almirola To Richard Petty Motorsports In 2011?
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Kyle Busch won his ninth Nationwide Series race of the season, his sixth in his last seven starts, by dominating the US Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway. Busch led four times for 209 laps. It was his 39th career N’Wide victory.

Inside of 50 to go, the leaders came down pit road under caution for the final time. Kevin Harvick took two tires, while Kyle Busch took four. Harvick restarted with the lead while Busch restarted sixth.

In one lap, Busch passed four cars. With 24 laps to go, he passed Harvick for the lead, and he drove away for the victory. 

Top 5: Busch, Kevin Harvick, Jason Leffler, Brad Keselowski, and Trevor Bayne.  

Steve Wallace, Michael Annett, Justin Allgaier, Matt DiBenedetto, Carl Edwards rounded out the top 10.

Notables: Michael McDowell (13th), Ricky Stenhouse Jr (14th), Paul Menard (16th), Mike Bliss (17th), Steve Arpin (18th), Joe Nemechek (19th), Kenny Wallace (21st), Tayler Malsam (27th), Mike Wallace (28th), Brendan Gaughan (31st), Colin Braun (32nd), Reed Sorenson (36th).

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Kyle Busch held off Carl Edwards in the closing laps of the Kroger 200 at O’Reilly Raceway Park to win his eighth NASCAR Nationwide Series race of the season.

In the closing laps, Busch and Edwards raced side-by-side, in a familiar sight to those who watched Edwards wreck Brad Keselowski last week. But this week, Edwards and Busch raced cleanly. But the thought did cross Busch’s mind.

Busch said:

You’re so vulnerable running the top side like you do here that people can dive-bomb you on the bottom and slide up into you. I knew it was there, but if I could just keep enough momentum and just keep my car rolling, then I felt like any time he’d lay a bumper to me, he’d get sideways, too. … [Edwards] could’ve used me up more than he did, but it could’ve cost us both time instead of him just being able to get by. You’ve got to have a really, really methodical way of going at it here. There just wasn’t enough time for him to do it in two laps.

Edwards, however, had no intention of wrecking Busch. He said:

I wasn’t going to move Kyle out of the way. I inadvertently got into him just a little off of [Turn] 4 one time. Fortunately, it didn’t cause damage to either of our cars. But, no, I couldn’t move him out of the way. We’ve raced really well together.

Top 5: Busch, Edwards, Aric Almirola, Trevor Bayne, and Reed Sorenson.

Brendan Gaughan, Justin Allgaier, Brad Keselowski, Paul Menard, and Steve Wallace finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

Notables: Ricky Stenhouse Jr (11th), Colin Braun (12th), Mike Bliss (13th), Michael Annett (18th), Michael McDowell (20th), Mike Wallace (22nd), Ron Hornaday (28th), Jason Leffler (30th), Jason Keller (32nd), and Dennis Setzer (43rd).

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