Kurt Busch Fastest in Dover Happy Hour; Quotes From Kyle and Harvick Feud

Busch was fastest in Friday's final practice at Dover

It was Kurt Busch, with a lap speed of 157.922 mph, showing the fastest way around Dover International Speedway during the final NSCS FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks practice session.

Busch’s fellow Penske Racing teammate, Brad Keselowski (ailing from the flu) was second fastest with a lap speed of 157.591 mph, and was followed by Greg Biffle (157.522) who was third fastest, Carl Edwards (157.370) fourth fastest, and David Ragan (157.000) was fifth fastest.

Rounding out the top-ten fastest in “Happy Hour” were Jeff Burton (156.876) who was sixth fastest, Marcos Ambrose (156.733) seventh, Clint Bowyer (156.603) eighth, Matt Kenseth (156.569) ninth and Denny Hamlin (156.135) was the tenth fastest.

The teams will return Saturday afternoon for their 12:10 PM (EST) qualifying session, and then won’t return again until Sunday for the drop of the green flag a little after 1:00 PM (EST).

Top-5 Dover Happy Hour Speeds:
#22-Busch 157.922
#2-Keselowski 157.591
#16-Biffle 157.522
#99-Edwards 157.370
#6-Ragan 157.000
slowest: #09-Cassill 151.573 & #36-Blaney 152.033
incidents: #18-Busch smacked the wall and scraped the whole side of the car.

Dover Final Practice Speeds


Driver Quotes Following First Dover Practice Session

Kurt Busch put together a great final practice at Dover

KURT BUSCH Quotes:
DO YOU REMEMBER ANYTHING THAT’S HAPPENED BETWEEN YOU AND KEVIN HARVICK THAT MAY HAVE IMPACTED SOMETHING BETWEEN HARVICK AND YOUR BROTHER? “OK, right! Let’s congratulate Regan Smith on his win last week; I don’t think he’s gotten any coverage whatsoever (laughs). He did a great job to win that race. Congratulations to Furniture Row Motorsports.

“For that issue, I’d say who hasn’t (Kevin) Harvick had an issue with. Everybody has had run-ins. I’ve had run-ins. (Greg) Biffle has had run-ins. You name it and everybody has had run-ins with other guys. I mean, who knows? The way that rivalries are started is from having heated issues out on the race track time and time again. We’ve seen that with guys like Rusty (Wallace) and DW (Darrell Waltrip). We’ve seen that with the Allisons and (Cale) Yarborough. We’ve seen it over the years. It’s nothing different; what we’re rolling through now is what we went through then.”

YOU MENTIONED LAST WEEK THAT YOU WERE GOING TO TURN YOUR RADIO OFF DURING THE RACE? DID YOU LEARN SOMETHING FROM RICHMOND? “Yeah. Each week is a chance to learn something new. As a driver, the day that you stop learning something, it’s the day that you’re not moving forward. It’s now a better understanding throughout the team on where were going for a direction and what I have to do inside the cockpit to be a team leader and to give us the best result each week out on the track. When I got into the hauler after the race, the team engineer apologized profusely because they put the wrong set-up in the front end of the car. I didn’t know that. We didn’t know that during the race. I didn’t know it, (but) they knew it during the race. It was a tough battle all race long to have the wrong set-up in the car. Things like that happen. I handled it the best way that I could with the guy and said, ‘Hey, people make mistakes’.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON Quotes:
KEVIN HARVICK AND KYLE BUSCH ARE LIKELY CONTENDERS FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP THIS YEAR. WHEN YOU SEE THE FIGHTING BACK AND FORTH, DO YOU SORT OF SMILE WHEN YOU SEE THE DISTRACTION THAT MIGHT CAUSE OTHER TEAMS? “At times, yes. I remember being here in the Chase and watching the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) and the No. 29 (Harvick) going at it. At that point in time, yes. But now, the championship implications haven’t crossed my mind because it’s so far from now; things seem to get rectified in 2 to 3 weeks. So I haven’t thought of it in that perspective. It was exciting seeing discussions about it in major newspapers and the social media world; it’s been everywhere. So you hate to see somebody potentially injured and the stuff on pit road is really the sore spot of all of it. But it was exciting. It gave us all a lot to talk about. If something like that happens in the Chase, It certainly will affect those two drivers there, but we’re too far away from it now.”

Gordon struggled throughout final practice at Dover

JEFF GORDON Quotes:
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE TIRES THAT GOODYEAR HAS THIS WEEKEND?: “Like I said, I did the tire test here. We pretty much knew this was the tire that we were going to be bringing here. This is the same tire we had here in the past. It’s a good tire. It lays a lot of rubber down — probably too much. If there was anything wrong with this tire, it just lays too much rubber down during the race. There will be some really slick spots where the rubber gets built up, especially on the exit of the corners. They’ve got a tough job. We showed up here for the tire test and they had a tire that they wanted to run here or at least try and it didn’t lay enough rubber down and it was wearing fairly aggressively. We put this tire on and it started laying the rubber down and then we went back to that other tire and that tire was perfect at that point. They really would have liked to have had that tire here, but somehow you have to get that first layer of rubber laid down on the track and then you can go to a little more aggressive tire and some different compounds and whatever other chemicals they put in there. I think that this was definitely the safest route and not a bad choice. We have a lot of history with this tire from racing on it before.”

HAVE YOU EVER CALLED ANYONE AFTER A RACE?: “In recent years I have because somebody started that and thought that was a good idea. Nobody had my phone number my first five or six years in this sport. Nobody had my phone number and I didn’t have their phone number so we didn’t call one another. Nowadays it seems like everybody has their own — of course everybody has Twitter so you can reach out to them on Twitter these days. All of the sudden, I get in a wreck with somebody and all of the sudden they’re calling me and I don’t know the number and I check my voicemail and it’s somebody that says, ‘Oh, I got your number from such and such through such and such through such and such and wanted to give you a call.’ It’s not a bad idea to reach out to them, but I just am one that I don’t expect, I don’t take the call, I don’t call them back and I don’t do that, I don’t call guys. I will tell you the only guy that I really reached out to and called was Martin Truex Jr. and that’s because I completely screwed that up. At Sonoma, I just made a bonehead, bad move watching my mirror because Juan Pablo (Montoya) was making a diving move in on me and I ran over the top of him. I felt really bad about that. I called him. But if it’s a racing incident and we’re racing hard or whatever something happens, I don’t call them.”

Junior looking to bounce back after two tough weeks

DALE EARNHARDT JR. Quotes:
DOES THE SEAMS IN A CONCRETE TRACK AFFECT YOU ON THE TRACK? “The concrete is a little bit chalky and dusty when you get on it when it is early in the weekend. Our hot tires pick the rubber back up off the concrete, more so than the asphalt. Of course you never know, asphalt being as dark as it is, it’s hard to tell. It is just not a real good race track surface in my opinion. It lasts a long long time but it gets rough. It’s just not the preferred surface for building a race track. They [seams or joints] don’t mess you up; they just become annoying and rough. The concrete gets real rough as it cures over time. It becomes very rough.”

ARE YOU MORE CONFIDENT COMING IN TO DOVER THIS SEASON? “I feel good this weekend. We’ll just see how practice goes and just try to work real hard. No reason why we shouldn’t run good this weekend. Been running good every weekend. So, I feel pretty confident that we will keep up at least our current performance; hopefully better.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS A GOOD RUN HERE IN YOUR MIND TO REBOUND FROM RICHMOND AND DARLINGTON? “It upsets you. As soon as Richmond was over, I couldn’t wait to get to the race track and do something good to rebound from what happened there. We just sort of didn’t do that. Just made another mistake and cost ourselves…we’ve cost ourselves about 20 points in the last several weeks. That is kind of frustrating but you try to put that behind you. Try not to let it affect you to where you keep making mistakes.”

Busch was peppered with questions after being quiet much of the week

KYLE BUSCH Quotes:
How has your week been heading into Dover? “We’re definitely looking forward to getting back to racing. Getting on the race track here yesterday was nice with the Truck Series. Our Traxxas Tundra was pretty good. Looking forward to tonight’s race and being able to get on the race track this weekend in all three series is going to be fun, too. Had a great opportunity here last year to sweep the weekend. We did end up winning the Nationwide and the Cup Series race. Unfortunately, we had a fuel problem with the trucks. Feel like that’s resolved and best case scenario will be to come back and try to sweep it again this year.”

Do you feel like you have a clear understanding of the NASCAR rules? “I do. I understand it perfectly actually. It’s the ‘boys have at it,’ that happens out on the race track and it seems like they allow us to police ourselves pretty simply out there. When matters get taken into the drivers hands or anything else onto pit road, where innocent bystanders can be injured or something , NASCAR is going to step in and they’re going to intervene and they’re going to set penalties the way that they feel need to be levied. To me, it’s not a gray area, it’s pretty simple, it’s black and white. I’m not focused in all that really or what penalties should be during what circumstances because I’m a racer and I know that going out there on the race track and trying to win is the utmost thing. If you do that, then you certainly shouldn’t be getting in any brawls or anything like that.”


Where was your team following the incident at Darlington? “To be honest with you, I don’t know if they were aware of the antics. I had already unplugged my radio, so I don’t know what was going on over the radio, but we were pitted down in pit stall three or four or something like that last week. I do know that it was an awfully long way to haul, if you ask me. As I did turn in to the garage area after what happened down on the end of pit road, I did see some guys coming from that way. They were behind the pit wall, they weren’t out on pit road. When I turned into the garage area, some of them were turning in with me and following the car. When I got back to the truck, there were about four or five at the truck. They were where they were supposed to be, I will say that.”

Busch: "Two faces of Kevin Harvick"

Do you think hitting Kevin Harvick in the quarter panel during the race meant you were ‘throwing the gloves down? “Apparently he’s watching too much hockey. That’s what you do in your own time during the week I guess. To me, I did have a left rear tire flat and I wasn’t sure that if I turned too hard to the right to stay off of him or to get away from him that the car would actually spin out the wrong way — my car would. Believe that for what it’s worth. I believe there’s some in car cameras you can see and I did have to come to pit road during that caution period to change left side tires because they were flat.”

Why do you and Kevin Harvick not get along? “As far as us getting along, I’m not sure that we ever really did. I think he (Kevin Harvick) tried and that’s why at Homestead I kind of talked about the two faces of Kevin Harvick. I still believe that’s out there. He’ll talk to you to your face like your best friends, but then behind closed doors or him at home or whatever, he has the utmost disrespectful thoughts or whatever else. That’s all — I don’t care. I’m going on with my own business.”

What makes you so good at Dover? “I love this place. It’s fun to come here. I came here when I was 18 to race in the Nationwide Series for my first time. It will scare you the first time you come here. You carry so much speed at this race track and for it to me a mile in length and for it to be concrete — concrete surfaces that we race on anyway are a little bit slick. This place here is fun. It’s definitely a roller coaster ride and you need to treat it like it’s fun and not to be scared of the place I think because you can get so much out of this place. There’s two ways of it — you can probably be really, really good here or really, really bad here. Some days you’re going to be better than others obviously with how you can get your car setup compared to the competition. For me, just getting to race here in the Trucks and the Nationwide cars and the Sprint Cup cars — to me, it gives me a little more experience on the race track. It helps me understand a little bit more about how the rubber gets laid down during the race and what all is going to happen and how the different cars might handle.”

Is there anything you want to clarify about your actions last week? “No, I don’t feel like I’m lying about anything because there’s video cameras and what is it, 85 video cameras around the race track that will pretty much simplify or backup anything that you’re saying. Not lying about anything. The only thing I will say I guess is that I’m sorry I came off of turn two on the flat trying to give Kevin (Harvick) room and maybe I slid a little too far and I got into him first. Maybe that’s what initiated everything. I apologize about that. It wasn’t my intentions to get into him and then have everything go down the way it went down. I was just trying to race the final five laps as hard as I could, as clean as I could to get the best finish we could. We shouldn’t have been back in that situation anyways, but we did have pit road — a loose wheel and problems on pit road that we had to rebound from and come back from.”

Busch says he's never got along with Harvick

Do you need to do anything different to take care of yourself? “I think it’s in my sponsors best interest and in my team owner’s best interest that we are not fighters and that we’re respectful competitors and we’re out here to do our job on the race track and race as best as we can, as hard as we can and as clean as we can. Sometimes as clean as you can, you might rub fenders with somebody or something like that. When it becomes from getting disrespected as bad as you have from one particular guy, at some point you finally say you’ve had enough and I feel like I did stick up for myself on the race track. Apparently there was more than on the race track afterwards.”

Do you not want there to be rules on the race track? “The rules part — there doesn’t need to be any clarification as far as the rules go. The on the race track stuff, I don’t know that it really means much difference when somebody spins you out from behind on the straightaway at Homestead going 170 mph into the inside wall and ended up in a ball of flames — that’s any different from spinning somebody out down the frontstretch at Darlington at 170 mph. I don’t see any difference there. I think it was just two ways maybe of going at it. It’s just the way the cards were dealt at that particular moment.”

Do you like Kevin Harvick? “I don’t know. I’ve never gotten along with the guy. I don’t know that he (Kevin Harvick) really ever got along with my brother either. I think there’s something beyond from his past growing’s up maybe and racing with Kurt (Busch) that I don’t know and I was just kind of thrown in that I was never really liked. I don’t know.”

Do you agree that NASCAR probation does not change the way you race between the flags? “I think the focus of probation is between the two of us — it’s between the situation. If I was out there on the race track — say racing for fourth or fifth-place or something like that, and I got loose and I got into Jimmie Johnson or somebody like that and I spun them out and wrecked them. That has no consequences to the probation. If I’m out there racing hard and trying to pass Kevin (Harvick) for instance or something, and I feel like he’s blocking me and I spin him out and wreck him. There’s going to be consequences to that. That’s how I see it. And, of course, to anything happening off the race track or something like that. That’s also what it relates to. But as far as on the race track goes, good, clean, hard competition — somebody making a mistake, something like that, it doesn’t mean anything.”

Does your sponsor ever get involved with how you handle NASCAR probation? “They do get involved. I’m going to say sometimes they do. And, in this case, yes they were involved a little bit. More so they’re involved in what the repercussions were going to be of what happened and transpired after the race. They knew what the situation was. They knew how it was outlined. They knew I didn’t have reverse and all that. So, they knew I was limited in my choices there on pit road. To say that they’re selling less M&M’s or to say that they’re unhappy with the situation — I would have to disagree with that and I feel like they stood behind me the most they ever stood behind me and this act, actually. I appreciate their support. They stood behind me because I kept my head, I kept my cool and I stayed in my race car and knew that that was my best place to be and the best situation for what was going to come of anything. They were behind me 100 percent which I appreciate and I thank them.”


Does the incident that occurred at Darlington bring more visibility to the sport? “I don’t know to be honest with you. That would be a good question for the media staff at NASCAR or maybe even (Mike) Helton — I don’t know. To me, I would say that there was certainly attention drawn to the sport the last couple of weeks with the 42 (Juan Pablo Montoya) and the 39 (Ryan Newman) — and then last week with us. There should also be a lot of attention drawn to the sport with Regan Smith and his win and him winning his first race in NASCAR at the Southern 500, and getting his name locked into the All-Star race coming up next week. That was definitely really cool. All of us racers will say that was the bigger story, but some others will disagree with us. To be honest with you, to me I’m more about out on the race track and being able to race and being able to have fun racing, and doing what I was raised to do and doing what I love to do and ultimately trying to get to victory lane and winning some races. Hopefully, we have a shot at three of them here this weekend.”

Harvick spent Thursday Tweeting to his fans

KEVIN HARVICK Quotes:
TALK TO US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR WEEK COMING INTO DOVER. “Yeah, I’ve had a pretty calm week actually. Played golf a few times and just relaxed. Pretty normal week.”

TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE UPCOMING ALL-STAR RACE, ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT GOING INTO CHARLOTTE NEXT WEEK? “Yeah, the All-Star week is always a lot of fun. The crew guys are a big part of All-Star weekend with all the pit stop competitions and their a big part of the race so it’s an important week for us just to kind of see what we have to head to the 600 with and really evaluate the performance of the race car on the race track a week before the race. It’s a fun week and a lot of money on the line. I guess it’s a really good paying test session but it’s a lot of fun too.”


CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE MEETING YOU HAD YESTERDAY AND TONY STEWART MADE A COMMENT THAT MAYBE THEY SHOULD OUTLINE THE RULES MORE SPECIFICALLY ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU GUYS CAN HAVE AT IT? “Well I mean the meeting was just basically NASCAR explaining how probation works and how we need to stay away from everybody basically and each other. So that was basically the jest of the meeting. I think as far as you talk about the Tony Stewart comment, I think for me it’s definitely to the point where it’s a little bit confusing with how it all works. I think when you look at the boys have it theme, it’s obviously changing as we go through the process. I think when you go back and you look at the very first major incident that you saw on the race track, I guess it would be Carl (Edwards) and (Brad) Keselowski in Atlanta and you saw the car go upside down. Carl was parked for hooking him in the right rear quarter panel and then it happened again and you see a lot of people coming out of the pits and retaliating and sometimes it’s a one-lap penalty and sometimes you are parked for the race and sometimes you look at the Keselowski and Hamlin thing at Homestead so there’s a lot of different things happening. I understand that it’s evolving but from a drivers standpoint you don’t really 100 percent understand how it works. Last week they stressed a lot to me that the penalties were for pit road violations after the race and the jeopardy that it put everybody in after the race and I understand that part. Yesterday it was all about being on probation and on the race track. So just a little bit confused about that. Nobody really had any clarification as to what we were supposed to do and not supposed to do other than we are on probation for four weeks and now it’s a penalty on the race track. I don’t really know if it was a penalty for the race track because we saw the same right-rear hook and obviously there was a lot that led up to that lap. I felt that Kyle (Busch) got into my door. I ran him down on the back straightaway. I got into him in (turn) three and we got three wide. Yesterday Kyle’s explanation was he had a flat tire and hooked me on the straightaway. It’s kind of one lie after the other and you see everything that happened after the race and for me the way that I was brought up and taught to race, when you hook somebody in the right-rear quarter panel that’s the equivalent of throwing your gloves off in hockey. That’s the point where everybody has reached the boiling point and basically the only answer I get out of Kyle is I’m a race car driver not a fighter but if you drive like that you’re gonna have to learn how to take care of yourself. It’s just a lot that went through the mind and for me it’s done and over with and we’ll move on. Just a lot of questions I think more than answers were a part of this week.”

HOW SPECIFIC DO YOU WANT IT TO BE? “Well, there just has to be consistency. I can race either way. We can flip each other over. I don’t mind wrecking. I don’t mind getting wrecked. I don’t mind eye for an eye. I don’t mind any of that but just tell me what the rules are. Explain to me what the penalty is if you are going to hook somebody in the middle of the straightaway, if you are going to spin them out, if you are going to retaliate, what is the penalty? Tell me what the penalty is. A consistent answer.”

Harvick likes to enforce, but doesn't like when he gets it. 

KYLE CALLED YOUR RACING UNCALLED FOR AND UNEXCEPTABLE, IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU THOUGHT YOU DID LAST WEEK THAT FITS THAT DEFINITION AND HOW DO YOU RACE HIM GOING FORWARD? “Well I think when you look – after I got the I hooked you after I got a flat tire comment yesterday, the incident started off of turn two. We came off of turn two, I was driving straight behind the car in front of me. We can talk about being three feet off the wall or whatever, but I was directly behind the car in front of me coming up off the corner and at the time I didn’t even know it was the No. 18. The car hit me in the door and as soon as he hit me in the door I drove it to the left, we got to the other end, I let it go and ran into the back of him and ran him up the race track, took the position back. At that moment we got three wide and there wasn’t really a lot of room and things happened and he hooked me on the straightaway. Look the wrecking doesn’t bother me but the only thing that bothers me is the right-rear quarter panel because in my mind I know what that means. I don’t mind getting wrecked back. If you think it’s a payback for Homestead that’s fine. Those parts don’t bother me, I understand how it all works but when you throw them off its time to handle it.”

Harvick likes to Bully drivers, which is kind of cool.

A LOT WAS TALKED ABOUT THAT THE PENALTIES WERE SUPPOSEDLY FOR WHAT TRANSPIRED AFTER THE RACE, BUT IS THAT REALLY FAIR ON THE DRIVERS PART BECAUSE AREN’T THE THINGS THAT LEAD UP TO WHAT TAKE PLACE AFTER THE RACE A DIRECT RESULT OF WHAT HAPPENS IN THE RACE. CAN YOU JUST TALK ABOUT HOW DIFFICULT IT IS? “For me I didn’t use my car as a ram or dry to make a point with running into somebody on the race track or knocking them out of the way after the race, I didn’t do any of that stuff after the race. I wanted to handle it so that the guys didn’t have to do more work than they already did. The bottom line is I know there are changes this week with the officials and how they are going to approach things after the race, but I mean there was a split screen on TV, there were no NASCAR officials in sight and they got what they wanted and in the end you suffer the penalty for what it’s supposed to be on pit road but has carried over to the race track now when it was stressed to me in the hauler after the race and when I received my penalty on Tuesday it was stressed to me it was for the pit road. So it just doesn’t make sense to me. But it is what it is. It’s not like I can do anything about it. I’m not complaining about it, I just want to understand it. I don’t understand it. I’m not going to lose sleep over it. I’m going to move forward and it’s done and over with. I don’t want to be the nice guy that has to understand why the penalties are ramping up like they used to be.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT DOVER A LITTLE BIT AND THE CHALLENGES IT PRESENTS TO YOU AND YOUR RACE TEAM? “I think for us, as a driver it’s a fun race track because you can be really, really aggressive as far as how you drive the track and how you charge the corners and how you do things. It’s a track where you have to be able to stay in the throttle up off the corner to keep your car from pushing, but you have to keep the forward drive underneath the car. So it’s a challenging race track to drive fast and when you’re off you’re in the way so there’s really no place you can hide here.”

WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT WANTING TO UNDERSTAND, DO YOU FEEL LIKE NASCAR NEEDS TO GO MORE BLACK AND WHITE LIKE IN OTHER SPORTS? “It can’t be for a certain circumstance and how you wake up in the morning as to how you think it needs to be treated. There has to be some guidelines on where it all is. You here the upper brass talk about wanting to do things more like the NFL or this or that, but you have to be consistent in order to do that.”

Harvick may disagree with the kid

WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH KYLE BUSCH AND YOU’RE COMPETING ACROSS ALL THREE SERIES, WHAT WOULD BE THE IDEAL SCENARIO FOR YOU? “I guess I don’t understand that question.”

AS FAR AS YOU TWO GETTING ALONG, WHAT WOULD BE THE IDEAL SCENARIO? “That probably won’t ever happen.”

THE COCA-COLA 600, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE LENGTH OF THAT RACE, HOW MUCH YOU HAVE TO ADJUST THE RACE CAR THROUGHOUT THE RACE GOING FROM AFTERNOON TO NIGHT, ANYTHING THAT REALLY RELATES TO HOW LONG THAT RACE IS AND HOW MUCH TIME YOU HAVE TO WORK ON YOUR RACE CAR, OR HOW MUCH TIME YOU MAY HAVE TO DIAL YOUR RACE CAR OUT IF YOU’RE GOOD AT THE START? “You can definitely do it either way. You can make it better or you can dial yourself way out. I’ve been a part of that race several times where you start the race really good and by the times its dark you are in big trouble. So you definitely have to have some past history as far as what the race track does and that’s one reason why the All-Star race is so important. Just for the fact that everything you do in that race is at night and the 600 is going to end at night so you kind of have to take what happens at the All-Star race and then what you do in the day time practices and mix those two together and rely on a lot of past notes and things to try to have a set up that’s adjustable. And you have to make a lot of adjustments during the race just out of past theories and past experiences. If your car is not doing something and its getting dark rapidly you are going to have to make a change on the fly without your car doing something. You are just going to have to trust it’s the right change and just make it if the time is right as far as the sun going down and when the darkness is coming.”

DESPITE THE FACT HAT YOU GUYS ARE ON PROBATION SHOULDN’T THERE BE A DISCONSATION FOR THE ALL-STAR RACE SINCE THAT’S THE ULTIMATE BOYS HAVE IT EVENT? “You know that’s a question that Mike Helton or somebody will have to answer. I don’t have the answer to that as far as what the rules are for that race. I don’t have the answer for that.”

HOW DO YOU RACE KYLE BUSCH GOING FORWARD AND DOES THIS ALSO IMPACT HOW YOU RACE EVERYBODY ELSE. “It definitely affects how you race for the next four weeks. We got the ultimatum yesterday of the explanation of how probation worked and how NASCAR expected us to race on the race track was put to us very clear yesterday. I think the way that the next four weeks go was basically dictated to us yesterday in the NASCAR trailer.”

CAN YOU GIVE US THE READER’S DIGEST VERSION OF HOW PROBATION WORKS? ALSO CAN YOU ADDRESS THE FACT THAT WHY THE NO. 29 TEAM CAME OUT TO DEFEND YOU THE 18 TEAM WAS NO WHERE IN SIGHT TO BACK UP THEIR DRIVER? “Obviously I’ve got a bunch of guys that are just a great bunch of guys. We all get along. We all have the same approach to how we like to see things, what we think is fair and what we think is not fair. There isn’t a guy on that team that wouldn’t lay under a bus for the next guy. That really happened last year as we went through the year. It’s something that you just don’t find very often and this is a bunch of guys that I consider friends and I think they consider themselves all friends. Them running up pit road is not a surprise to me. I think they would back me whether I was right or wrong, they are going to back me up and I will do the same for them. That’s the great part about our team. The No. 18 team not backing him up, I mean when you don’t have a backbone how do you back someone up?”

JPM isn't even immune to wrath

DOVER, CHARLOTTE, KANSAS, THE NEXT THREE RACES ARE ALL THREE RACES THAT ARE IN THE CHASE, YOU’RE NOT LOCKED IN BUT YOUR PROBABLY AS COMFORTABLE OR MORE COMFORTABLE THAN ANYONE ELSE WITH THE WINS AND YOUR STANDING IN THE POINTS, HOW DO YOU APPROACH THESE THREE RACES? “I think it’s a combination of a lot of things. I think over the past few weeks we’ve been able to try things that we wouldn’t have tried in the past. We struck out at Richmond on what we tried. I think Darlington was a huge success for us as far as the way the race track performance was and hopefully that bleeds over into Charlotte. This week is a little bit different than some of the race tracks because of the type of race track that you are racing on. These are important weeks. Dover is in the Chase, Charlotte is in the Chase, just to kind of zero in on what exactly you need when it comes time toward the end of the year. So we’re shooting for better set-ups and more wins. That’s basically where we are at right now points wise.”

NASCAR YESTERDAY SEEMED TO SAY THAT IF ONE PERSON REALLY PRESSES THE ISSUE THAT’S ITS MORE COMPLICATED THAN BEING ABLE TO LINE UP A MENU OF PENALTIES AND THAT IS ONE PERSON REALLY PUSHES IT, IT WOULD KIND OF BE DETRIMENTALTO THE SPORT TO HAVE EVERYTHING LAID OUT IN FRONT OF YOU, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS? “I have a lot of experience of this in the past so I’ll reference the past, as things ramp up and you get in trouble the first time it’s best to just not get in trouble again because you’re gonna be the poster child to either change this process to make it more clear and see the fines ramp back up or you’re going to be the guy that shows it’s not really going to change. I just don’t think for us it’s not going to be the smartest thing in the world to be that next guy. I don’t know if you are referring to, are you referring to me or the No. 42 and No. 39, I don’t know which one you are referring to but there are just a lot of different elements to the whole thing that are happening right now that are confusing to the drivers.”

Regan Smith Shocks the NASCAR World, Holds on to Win at Darlington

Sporting News Wire Services

Regan Smith gets first career win; pays off 500/1 in Vegas

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Nearly three years after a NASCAR ruling denied him his first Sprint Cup victory, Regan Smith finally got the elusive win.

After staying out on old tires, Smith held off Carl Edwards to win Saturday night's Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in a dramatic green-white-checkered-flag finish.

Get your Winner's gear!

Smith crossed the finish line .196 seconds ahead of runner-up Edwards.

"This is the Southern 500 -- we're not supposed to win this thing," an incredulous Smith radioed to his crew after the race.

Brad Keselowski, also on old tires, finished third, with pole-sitter Kasey Kahne running fourth and Ryan Newman fifth.

The victory was redemption for Smith, who was deprived of an apparent victory at Talladega in 2008 when he was penalized for passing Tony Stewart below the yellow out-of-bounds line that separates the racing surface from the apron.

After a final round of green-flag pit stops, Edwards, the Cup points leader, passed Kahne for the lead as the cars sped into Turn 1. Edwards was comfortably in front when Jeff Burton's engine blew and oiled the track with 10 laps left, causing the 10th caution of the night.

After Smith, Keselowski and Stewart stayed out, taking the top three spots under caution, Edwards climbed to second after a restart on Lap 363 of the scheduled 367-lap race. The previous caution, however, was only a prelude to a wild three-wide wreck involving Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch later that same lap. That set up the two-lap sprint as the race went to overtime, with Edwards and Smith taking the green flag side-by-side.

Kahne, Edwards and Harvick took turns out front during the second half of the race after Busch made an unscheduled pit stop.

Busch had led 78 laps when a vibration forced him to the pits on Lap 205. A caution for Jimmie Johnson's spin on the frontstretch trapped Busch a lap down. The driver of the No. 18 didn't get the lap back until he received a free pass as the highest scored lapped car for a restart on Lap 244.

Busch had worked his way up to 12th before NASCAR called the ninth caution of the race on Lap 280 for debris on the backstretch.


Darlington Results



Harvick vs Busch

This is what Harvick did to Busch last year at Homestead

Sure, Kyle Busch intentionally spun out Kevin Harvick, but was this not expected at some point? Busch has been pretty quiet about the matter, but he still owes Harvick for parking him in the season finale at Homestead last year. That may not have been the reason Busch did it, but for Harvick to act all shocked after giving Busch some taps just prior to their incident is kind of ridiculous on his behalf. As if Harvick's the only driver who can enforce? Harvick's been doing it for years, but it's a problem when someone punts him?

What's hard to understand is how their relationship eroded so quickly. They used to hang out together, wives and all, with the Harvick's getting Kyle Busch and his soon to be wife Samantha involved in Twitter. They used to tweet nice photos of each other having dinner. It was NASCAR's two bad boys teaming together, or so it seemed until Homestead.

I'm just wondering what happened between the two that caused Harvick to be so harsh on and off the track at Homestead. We should have expected that these two drivers personalities could not co-exist as friends on and off the track. Lucky for us, we get to watch this all unfold, all season long.

When the race ended and they played cat and mouse, I thought we we're going to see a good one, especially when Harvick jumped out of his car. I just wish that Kyle would have got out of his car and seen a scrap happen, but Harvick brought his gas man along, a huge hulking kind of guy, where Busch didn't have anyone from his own team there. Why would he get out, so the two bully's in the school yard could have one hold him and the other gut punch him repeatedly? That's not cowardly, that's smart.

Plus, really, who's the coward here, the guy strapped to his seat and getting punches thrown his way or the guy throwing the punches with his helmet on? Doesn't really matter, it was all cool!

Busch ramming Harvick's driver-less car on pit road into the wall, just as Harvick was trying to take a swing inside Busch's window was a classic scene.

NASCAR likely will fine Busch for that pit road incident, and they'd be justified in doing so. That could have been a dangerous situation if someone was walking by not paying attention, but who could not pay attention to what was going on with them. Even while Regan Smith was making his victory lap, all eyes were focused on pit road.

NASCAR executives are probably high-fivin' each other with no cameras around because this is what they want, two of their biggest stars feuding. The internet has blown up across the country with NASCAR being the trending topic and NASCAR will be in the news all week, not for Regan Smith winning his first race, but two stars going at it.

I feel bad for Smith that his moment was kind of upstaged, but not bad enough to wish the ordeal didn't happen.

A few lucky bettors in Las Vegas could care less about what happened with the Harvick & Busch show as Regan Smith closed on the Las Vegas Hilton's board at 500-to-1. No comment as of yet on how many bettors actually laid cash down on Smith, but there were bound to be a few for small amounts.

Just like all the other sports, people like to bet a little to win a lot. In all my years behind the counter I've seen bettors take their $5 and bet the biggest long shots in car races saying, "You never know, anything's possible," and usually I'd reply to myself, "Yes, I do know, you have no shot". Well on this day, it was that bettors day to know, congrats.

So far we've had a 100-to-1 shot with Trevor Bayne winning at Daytona and now this. What's next? If a single car team with a limited bduget can win at the toughest track on the circuit, than anything is possible like the man said.

 

Links to More Kyle and Harvick Stuff

Busch and Harvick Clash After The Showtime Southern 500 - SBNation.com 

Harvick Punches Busch at Darlington - Yahoo.com

Newman vs Montoya? OMG! That's So Yesterday - Charlotte Observer 

Harvick & Busch May Note Be Docked For Points - Virginia Pilot 
   

Driver Quotes Following Darlington's Lone Practice Session

Kurt Busch has had a rough last few weeks; using back-up car Saturday.

KURT BUSCH ON HIS EVENTFUL PRACTICE TODAY? “We ended up blowing a right-front tire that sent us straight into the fence on the last lap of practice. It’s funny how things work out sometimes with the way that this week has gone. It’s been a productive week. There’s been a lot of movement behind the scenes with re-structuring, moving some things around and getting a general idea what some of the actual issues are instead of just talking about them; we’re acting to it. Just a tough day. We had a great plan in place to go out there early in practice and post a lap that put us third overall. If qualifying got rained out we’d be third on the grid. With a back-up car, we have to go to the back and dig our way out of that hole from there. No holes were (not) use to getting out of and digging.”

KURT BUSCH RESPONDING TO THE QUESTION REGARDING HIS RADIO OUTBURST LAST WEEK AT RICHMOND: DID IT TAKE SATURDAY NIGHT FOR PEOPLE AT PENSKE TO FINALLY LISTEN? WOULD IT BE INACCURATE TO SAY THAT YOU’VE BEEN CARRYING THE CAR THIS SEASON? “There’s times when things are absorbed and times when I think that things are just bounced off the wall and I have to continue to shovel it back in there. We know we can be a better team. Communication is what does that. That’s what I preach when I get a chance to go talk to different college teams or high school events to pump people up. It’s all about communication. To say that I’ve been carrying the car, I’m doing the best that I possibly can. I want to win. I don’t want to finish 15th or 22nd like I did last week and say that we did our best. No, we didn’t because we would have got a top-five or had a chance at winning. For me, Brad (Keselowski) hasn’t beaten me all that much at Penske. I didn’t get beat all that much by (David) Stremme. I didn’t get beat much by Sam (Hornish Jr.). The last time that I felt equivalent was when (Ryan) Newman was there and that was in 2007.”

Stewart likes his car this week

TONY STEWART TALKING ABOUT HIS CAR IN PRACTICE: “Well, we only ran 15 laps, but I think we’re all right. We didn’t get out right away. We didn’t really run more than about four or five laps at a time so I’m not sure we really know 100 percent yet; but at least it looks decent on the sheet right now. So far I’m pretty happy with it. It seems pretty balanced. We’re just trying to figure out a couple of little things to try to anticipate what we think it’s going to do on the long runs. We didn’t really get a chance to do a long run so far today. But I think we’re okay.”

TONY STEWART TALKING ABOUT MOTHERS DAY: “I feel like I have the sweetest Mom in the world to be honest. A lot of people look at me and say what happened because they know it wasn’t her. She has been very supportive of everything that we’ve done with the racing and she has worked for us at our office. She runs our foundation. I feel pretty lucky that I get to keep her close that way.”

KYLE BUSCH ON HOW HE LIKES HIS CAR FOLLOWING PRACTICE: “Car is not bad. The Doublemint Camry seems to be pretty good thus far. We just brushed the wall a little bit there behind somebody in traffic kind of and didn’t hurt it too bad. So, they’ll fix it up and get it ready to go. A lot of tire wear and a lot of rubber being put down. Kind of good, but it will be interesting for Saturday night.”

KYLE BUSCH WITH A MOTHERS DAY STORY: “I won here a couple years ago on Mother’s Day weekend with the 18 car, which was really good and it was cool to give her a win on Mother’s Day weekend. I’ve also won — I think it was Mother’s Day weekend at Kentucky when I ran Kentucky ARCA back in 2003 when I was just coming up. There has been a few good weekends that I’ve had on Mother’s Day — those are the most memorable ones. When I was a kid I just remember going with my Dad and picking out some cheesy gifts and stuff like that and giving her stuff like that, which was pretty much useless. She still said she liked it.”

Edwards became a Father this week

CARL EDWARDS ON HOW ITS GOING AFTER BECOMING A FATHER: “It’s going great. It was amazing. Kate is an amazing woman. We had a healthy young boy. His name is Michael Edwards and he’s doing great, so it’s just a great week. It was unreal. We had a lot of fun. Annie is really excited about her little brother. I don’t think she quite understands what is going on, but we’re all doing really well, so it’s good.”

CARL EDWARDS ON THE GRIP POSSIBLY GOING AWAY ON THE NEW SURFACE OF DARLINGTON: “I was pretty excited and anxious to see what it looked like. I was telling the guys that rode with me down to the race that this track was so different before they paved it, and I’m hoping it gets back to that. It seems like it has aged quite well, I think, over the last year. It took a lot of rubber about three-quarters of the way through the Nationwide practice and that changed the grip level a little bit. It seems like the tires are falling off a little bit, so I think it’s good. I think the track is going really well, and I think that’s good for the racing.”

CARL EDWARDS ON HOW BIG AN ISSUE IT WAS WITH RAIN WASHING OUT MOST OF PRACTICE: “We’re gonna look good or not here based on whether or not it stops raining because Bob and the guys forecasted right when it was gonna rain. We got some race trim in, we got qualifying practice in, and if it continues to rain, then we might have messed up because we should have spent more time in race trim, but if we do get qualifying in, then I think we did the right thing. It’s really difficult to decide what to do because it’s not just about whether it rains, it’s how quick does it dry off, are we gonna get more race practice. It’s a tough call. I’m hoping that we get qualifying in, just so we can make use of all that practice we had.”

KEVIN HARVICK'S FAVORITE MOTHERS DAY STORY: “Well I think my mom has a lot of responsibility about me just being here to be honest with you because I was kind of at a cross roads in my racing career and in my life, whether I should go and try to finish college or take a chance on my racing career and she was the one who said you need to go take your chance on your racing career and see how it works out because if it doesn’t school will still be here when you get back. I guess it all worked out okay.”

Final Darlington Driver Ratings Following Practice & Qualifying

Micah Roberts Top 10 Driver Ratings
Showtime Southern 500
Darlington Raceway
Saturday, May 7, 2011 - 4:46 pm (PDT)

Rating   Driver  Odds           Practice 1  Qualified   Bristol*   Texas*

1. Denny Hamlin 7/1             4th            3rd         33rd       15th
2010 winner, track best 6.6 average finish; momentum from runner-up finish last week.
2. Kyle Busch 6/1               17th           14th          1st        16th
2008 winner with 18.2 average finish in six starts; using winning chassis from Bristol.
3. Carl Edwards 8/1            2nd             4th          2nd        3rd
Runner-up in 2008 with 15.6 average finish in seven starts; using winning Las Vegas car.
4. Jeff Gordon 8/1              12th             5th         14th       23rd
Seven-time winner, the last in 2007; current streak of seven straight top-five finishes.
5. Matt Kenseth 20/1           7th            20th         4th        1st
Only one top-five finish, third in 2006, in 17 starts; using fourth-place Fontana chassis.
6. Jimmie Johnson 6/1        22nd           19th         3rd        8th
Two-time winner, swept 2004 season, average finish of 9.3; Using brand new car.
7. Greg Biffle 20/1              23rd           22nd         8th        4th
2005-06 winner with 14.8 average finish; using Vegas car that led 11 laps in February.
8. Kasey Kahne 30/1           5th             1st           9th        21st
Five straight finishes of 20th or worse; best 10 consecutive lap average times in limited practice.
9. Mark Martin 25/1         27th            28th         12th       36th
Two-time winner, the last in 2009 with 12.1 average finish; debuts new car this week.
10. Ryan Newman 30/1       1st            2nd          10th       14th
Six top-five finishes with 12.2 average finish in 12 starts; using 2010 ninth-place Darlington car.

Note: Rain washed away Friday’s final practice and most of the first session. Most of the top times in the lone practice session run were from drivers trying to get a good lap or two in qualifying trim before the rain came. The best 10 consecutive lap averages were from Kahne, Hamlin, Paul Menard and Martin. However, they also were the only four drivers who mattered that got that many laps around the track in a row before rain came.

* Results from the March 20, 2011 race at Bristol and April 9, 2011 race at Texas, two tracks that aren’t similar to Darlington but have shown correlations with set-ups and results in recent years.

Odds courtesy of the Las Vegas Hilton Super Book.

Micah Roberts, a former race and sports Director, has been setting NASCAR lines in Las Vegas since 1995. For more Roberts insights and post-practice analysis on the race, go to VegasInsider.com.

Newman Fastest in Rain Shortened Darlington Practice, the Only Session For the Day

Friday's first practice: Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, cut short by rain. Final practice was also washed out. The top five, slowest and any notes:
#39-Newman 176.816
#99-Edwards 176.296
#22-Busch 175.654
#11-Hamlin 175.516
#4-Kahne 175.509
slowest: #92-Keselowski 167.779 & #71-Lally 166.919. No speed: #7-Gordon
incident: #18-Busch got the first Darlington stripe of the session early. Just a little sheetmetal damage that the team will repair. #50-TJ Bell also scraped the wall and will have to have the car repaired. #22-Busch cut down a tire going into turn 1 and hit the wall. He will have to go to a backup car.
See speeds, laps run, average speed, best ave 10 laps on the Darlington Practice Speeds Page. (Jayski.com)

Driver Chassis Selections for Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington

Note: Not all teams post their chassis selections in their PR releases

Does Edwards winning Vegas car make him a contender?

1. Carl Edwards: 13.5 average finish, including two top fives, in the four races with the COT; Four top-10s and an average finish of 15.6 in seven overall starts; Led 33 laps in 2007; Finished 32nd and 15th in last two starts; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 732) that he won with at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March.

2. Jimmie Johnson: Second among all drivers in average finish at 9.3; Coming off worst finish, in 36th, after a crash took him out contention; Finish was second outside the top 15 in 12 starts; 13.5 average finish in the four races with the COT; Won both races in 2004; Fourth-best driver rating in the past six races; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 659) in the Showtime Southern 500.

3. Kyle Busch: Won the 2008 race after leading 169 laps; 19.8 average finish in the four races with the COT; Finished seventh last season for third top 10 in six starts; Sixth-best driver rating in the past six races; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 277) that he led 153 laps with en route to the win at Bristol Motor Speedway in March.

4. Dale Earnhardt Jr: 16.3 average finish in three starts with Hendrick Motorsports; 14.2 average finish in the four races with the COT; Best finish in 16 starts is a pair of fourth-place finishes with the last coming in 2008; Eighth-best driver rating in the past six races; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 657) in the Showtime Southern 500.

5. Kevin Harvick: Coming off best finish, and first top 10, in four starts with the COT in sixth; 19.1 average finish and 16 laps led in 14 starts; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 304) that he finished sixth with at Bristol Motor Speedway in March.

6. Kurt Busch: 12.4 average finish in five starts with Penske Racing; Coming off best finish, and first top 10, with the team in third; Scored four top-10s in previous nine starts with Roush Racing; One lap led in the four races with the COT.

7. Clint Bowyer: 23.2 average finish in five starts; Best finish, and only top 10, came in the 2007 race from the pole in ninth; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 315) in the Showtime Southern 500.

8. Ryan Newman: 6.5 average finish in two starts with Stewart-Haas Racing; 12.2 average finish in 12 overall starts; Ninth-place finish last year was fifth top 10 in the last six races; 297 laps led; Fifth-best driver rating in the past six races; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 506) that he last finishes eighth with at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2010.

9. Matt Kenseth: Third-best average finish (9.0) in the four races with the COT; has finished 13th or better in the past five races; Won the pole and finished 10th in 2009; 17.7 average finish, seven top-10s and 154 laps in 17 starts; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 707) that he finished fourth with at Auto Club Speedway.

10. Tony Stewart: 13.0 average finish in two starts with Stewart-Haas Racing; Best finish came in 2008 in third; Posted eight top-10s in previous 16 starts with Joe Gibbs Racing; 13.2 average finish in the four races with the COT; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 640) in the Showtime Southern 500.

11. AJ Allmendinger: 29.2 average finish in four starts; Best finish came in 2009 in 17th; Has yet to lead a lap; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 729) that he last finished 14th with at Martinsville Speedway.

12. Juan Pablo Montoya: Coming off first top 10 in four starts in fifth; Finish lowered his average finish to 17.8; Has yet to lead a lap; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 1105) that he last finished 13th with at Texas Motor Speedway.

13. Mark Martin: Won the 2009 event in first track start with Hendrick Motorsports; Finished 16th in 2010; Seventh-best average finish (11.8) in the four races with the COT; 10th-best driver rating in the past six races; 26 top-10s in 44 starts; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 656) in the Showtime Southern 500.

14. Greg Biffle: Winner of this event in 2005 and 2006; Eighth-place finish in 2009 was fourth top 10 in 10 starts; Second in laps led in the four races with the COT with 212; Second-best driver rating in the past six races; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 706) that he led 11 laps and finished 28th with at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

15. Paul Menard: 28.0 average finish in four starts; Best finish came in 2009 in 15th; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 328) that he finished 12th with at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

16. Jeff Gordon: Leads all drivers in wins (7) and laps led (1,720); Leads all drivers with a 3.2 average finish in the four races with the COT; Last win came in 2007; Best driver rating in the past six races.

Hamlin won at Darlington last season

17. Denny Hamlin: Led 104 laps en route to the win last season; Second-best average finish (5.8) in the four races with the COT; First in laps led (298) with the COT; 6.6 average finish leads all drivers; Third-best driver rating in the past six races.

18. Kasey Kahne: Three-time pole winner; Has finished 20th or worse in his last five starts; Two top-five finishes in eight starts; Ninth-best driver rating in the past six races; Will make first track start with Team Red Bull.

19. David Ragan: 21.0 average finish in four starts; Best finish, and only top 10, came in 2008 in fifth; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 711) that he last finished 16th with at Bristol Motor Speedway.

20. Jeff Burton: 11.9 average finish in seven starts with Richard Childress Racing; Scored 16th top 10 in 28 overall starts last year in eighth; Fifth-best average finish (10.0) in the four races with the COT; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 355) in the Showtime Southern 500.

- compiled by Jeff Wackerlin, MotorRacingNetwork.com

Darlington Preview: Every Betting Strategy Should Start With Jeff Gordon

By Micah Roberts
VegasInsider.com

The 'Lady in Black' can be a pretty mean spirited, nasty lady to drivers. 

Last week we saw drivers bumping and banging, taking their anger out on each other. This week at Darlington, we’ll see a little bit of the same at higher speeds, except many will be just plain upset with themselves. At Darlington Raceway, another element is added to the race where they're not only battling other drivers, but battling the track like no other on the circuit.

The 1.366 mile track egg shaped oval has been getting the best of NASCAR drivers since 1950. It’s a high banked track with each of the four turns being vastly different which has caused many drivers to earn their Darlington stripes over the years, a term used when drivers slam into the wall scraping up the right side of their car because of miscalculating the difficult turns.

“The Lady in Black” is an equal opportunity enforcer and even the most experienced of drivers are not immune to her wrath.

Over the years, only small group can say they have mastered the nuances of the track. Jeff Gordon is a seven-time winner on the track while it remains one of two tracks on the tour that Tony Stewart has never won on.

David Pearson is part of the history that sets it apart

As tough as the track that's too tough to tame is, it still remains as one of the drivers favorite tracks. Most drivers cite the history as being one of the reasons, but all agree that they love the challenge more than anything. Nothing against Las Vegas, Charlotte, Kansas or Michigan, but the level of difficulty and uniqueness of Darlington stands out among all NASCAR tracks. 2004 was the last season in which Darlington had two races a year which makes the one race a year even more special on a schedule littered with similar layouts.

Passing is a difficult chore for these drivers because of how narrow it is making all the other elements, such as pit stops, more important than ever to gain position. Even though the 43 cars on the track are technically racing each other, most will say that they're racing the track itself. Saving tires during a run isn't at the premium as it used to be before the repaving, but it's still an important factor to be quicker on the longer runs.

What tire compund will be used at Darlington?

Another element the drivers have to worry regarding the tires is only being able to have four sets of tires during Friday's two practice sessions. A few of the teams did a Goodyear test at Darlington in March, but as of now, the tire compound isn't known making it more difficult than ever for the teams to be fully prepared. Between having a tire limit and less time to prepare, it also makes it tougher to handicap like we do for most races based on practices.

Last week was a complete mess at Richmond just trying to keep up to date on what teams were doing -- running race or qualfying trim -- during the two practice sessions. On a normal race weekend, we would get to see the first practice with mostly qualifying trim and then there would be qualifying. Then we would get to see the final practices a day later and strategies for race day the teams were working on.

Friday's sessions this week will likely be similar to what we saw at Richmond which puts more emphasis on past history and chasis information as the top source to refer to when making betting decisions. I found last week that my best source of post-practice information was going by the top times of drivers running 10 consecutive laps rather than the overall practice times themselves.

Can we use what happened at Texas to help handicap?

If looking for similar tracks to help handicap the race, good luck. Just by looking at what cars teams have brought, and the other races those same cars have run on over the years, it looks like new Bristol is the closest in most crew chiefs estimation in regards to set-up. The length and banking of the track may suggest that we look at a few places like Las Vegas, Atlanta and Texas, but I haven't been completely sold on that theory like many do, but maybe I should jump into it a little more.

Las Vegas Hilton Super Book manager Ed Salmons, who sets their weekly auto racing odds, thinks there may be more relation to the 1.5-mile tracks now because of the repaving and higher speeds. And he made a great case. Salmons idenitified last seasons Texas spring race and Darlington with Denny Hamlin winning both as examples. In both of those races, the Busch brothers and Kevin Harvick also ran equally well.

If we take it step further and go back to Darlington 2009 where Mark Martin won, we see that he won at Phoenix, finished sixth at Texas and then later won at Michigan, Chicago and Loudon. It's hard to ignore the correlation that also saw Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart all finish in the top-five of both Texas and Darlington races.

While I initially scoffed somewhat at the notion of rating the Roush drivers too high, Salmons firmly believes that the Roush drivers will all do well this week because of Texas despite only Greg Biffle really having a good past performance at Darlington. When looking at Texas results, the top six is littered with each Roush driver, including Matt Kenseth winning.

I think I have been convinced somewhat by all this and will have to reconsider all of Salmons valid points in my betting equations for the week.

To recap, here's the formula for the week:
Past Track History + Chassis Selection + 10 Lap Average Practice Speeds + Texas 2011 Results + Sprinkling of Bristol, Las Vegas & Atlanta 2011 results/Current State of Team

Every driver should listen when Gordon talks Darlington.

Because this track is so tough on everyone, there aren't many drivers that we can say, "He's the one" like we can at other tracks. Jeff Gordon may be the exception.

Gordon has seemed to avoid the wrath of the Lady and it's become one of his most consistent tracks dating back to his glory years. We’ve seen Gordon go through different spurts at tracks in the post-Ray Evernham era with no real consistency except for Martinsville and Darlington. He’s currently on a streak of seven straight years finishing inside the top-five at Darlington that includes a win in 2007. No driver even comes close to that type of excellence.

Denny Hamlin won last year and it looks like his runner-up finish last week at Richmond may have been his team's wake up call for 2011. Hamlin is one of the few drivers who has never experienced a poor finish at Darlington. In five starts, his worst finish was 13th in 2009.

Kyle Busch looks like a new driver this season. Perhaps the combination of getting married and being older has made him mature to where he’s at now which is third in the standings, 30 points behind Carl Edwards. Busch is the perfect example of a good driver having high and lows when battling the Lady in Black. He won the 2008 race, but also finished 37th in 2007 and 34th in 2009 to mushroom his average finish to 18.2 in six career starts. With the way he’s running right now, and if the Lady shows a little mercy, he could be in store for another win. Busch also has the benefit of bringing a winning car this week, the one used at Bristol earlier this season.

Jimmie Johnson has proven that he can drive on any kind of track and showed it early on by sweeping the season there in 2004, the last year Darlington had two races a season. Since then he’s had three top-five finishes, but finished 36th last season. Johnson will be using a brand new chassis this week.

Two drivers who stood out the last two seasons were Penske Dodge teammates Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch. Busch finished third last year, but may best be remembered for his runner-up finish in 2003. The last 10 lap battle between he and eventual winner Ricky Craven has been called the greatest finish ever seen at Darlington in it’s 61 years of NASCAR racing as they bumped, banged and passed each other back and forth all the way to the finish line. Busch is currently in a battle with his team over not getting enough horsepower and let the entire NASCAR world hear his thoughts on radio during the Richmond race. Not sure that will inspire the team, but at least they know how he feels about the cars he's been getting.

Current RCR drivers have a tough time at Darlington

For some odd reason, this track hasn’t been very kind to the Childress group of drivers. Richard Childress has eight wins as an owner at Darlington which ties him for third most all-time, but they all came from Dale Earnhardt. The current crop hasn't come close to matching what they have done on all other tracks. It's almost like they're getting worse as the RCR team has improved everywhere else.

Jeff Burton won twice while driving for Jack Roush, but hasn’t had a top-five finish there since 2000. He is the most consistent of the group in recent history with several finishes in the eighth to 11th-place range.

Kevin Harvick had a couple top-three finishes early in his career, but has been victimized by the track more than most. In 14 career starts, Harvick has five finishes of 32nd or worse, but is bringing his sixth-place Bristol chassis with hopes of changing his luck there. Clint Bowyer has followed Harvick's trend in each of his last two starts there with poor finishes.

Greg Biffle leads the Roush charge with two Darlington wins with his best most recent performance coming in 2009 when he finished eighth. Carl Edwards has two top-five finishes, including runner-up in his magical 2008 season, a year where he swept Texas along with almost every other track like it. Edwards will be using his winning Las Vegas chassis this week giving more steam into Salmons theory.

Matt Kenseth has only one top-five finish at Darlington, but comes in with that Texas win. He'll be using his fourth-place Fontana car this week. David Ragan finished sixth at Texas and finished fifth at Darlington back in 2008. Ragan will be piloting his 16th-place car from Bristol.

Top-5 Finish prediction:
1) #24 Jeff Gordon (8/1)
2) #18 Kyle Busch (6/1)
3) #17 Matt Kenseth (20/1)
4) #48 Jimmie Johnson (6/1)
5) #99 Carl Edwards (8/1)

Driver Notes & Quotes for the Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington

Earnhardt Jr has three top-5 finishes in 16 starts; 15.3 average finish

DALE EARNHARDT ON RACING AT DARLINGTON: “Darlington is a slick track. It is a difficult track to drive around. It is real smooth, and you have to find that edge. There is a lot of load change like driving into Turn 1 and then the load comes out of the car through the center and then the load increases on the exit of Turn 2. The car just really changes a lot as you are going around the corner, and it can just snap on you.”

A.J. ALLMENDINGER ON DARLINGTON AFTER THE REPAVE: “I really liked it when it was not paved and you were sliding around. That was a lot of fun to me. I am better at race tracks that get slicker and you slide around a little bit more. I enjoy that a little more. Since it has been repaved it is just so fast it is unbelievable. One and two are just insane how quick it feels, especially in a qualifying run. It is crazy fast for how narrow the track is. The whole race track is fast. Honestly over the last couple of years it hasn’t lost a ton of grip. It lost a little from the first time they repaved it but I felt like it would get a lot slicker than it has gotten so there is still a ton of grip there.”

ALLMENDINGER ON BIN LADEN BEING TAKEN OUT: “I think I was actually lying in bed and all of a sudden it popped up on TV and you get people texting you that he is dead. It is a big deal for the country and obviously a lot of his actions that he had done hurt our country, whether it is economy or heartache or just stuff we have had to go through as a country. It is really because of him, honestly. It is a big deal and hopefully that is the first step of getting things back on track to where it used to be. I remember when it all happened I was testing a go kart in Sacramento, California. It was like you hear about it and don’t really understand how big a deal it was until the next couple of days and you realize that it was a big deal and there was a lot of damage to our country. It is a good step in the right direction hopefully.”

Newman's chassis tested tires at Darlington in March

RYAN NEWMAN ON DARLINGTON “I look forward to Darlington. It’s one of my favorite race tracks. The tire test was a good tire test. Just for us, when we went down there, was to validate what they had and make sure because of the situation with the asphalt that the track hasn’t changed that necessitated a tire change and it didn’t. So it was an opportunity to do down there and validate things for Goodyear and work on our race car at the same time.”

NEWMAN CHASSIS CHOICE: This weekend, the No. 39 team will use chassis 39-506 for the first time this season. The No. 39 chassis has been a solid performer for Newman & Company as it has earned three top-10 finishes in just four starts since the team joined forces in 2009. The No. 39 team ran this chassis at both races at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway in 2009, scoring two top-15 finishes. In the June race, Newman started fifth and finished fifth. Newman started seventh and finished 14th in the car at Pocono in August.

During the 2010 season, the car saw action at both Darlington (S.C.) Raceway and Atlanta Motor Speedway. In its first outing at Darlington, Newman started sixth and finished ninth. Newman followed that up with another top-10 finish in chassis 39-506 at Atlanta. Newman started on the outside pole and led nine laps en route to an eighth-place finish. During the off-season, the chassis was updated for the 2011 season. While the car hasn’t seen race action yet, Newman and the No. 39 team tested the car at Darlington as part of a Goodyear tire test in March.

TONY STEWART ON DARLINGTON: “[The prestige of getting a win at Darlington] “A lot of it has to do with the history of the track. If you can say you won a race at Darlington – that’s a feather in your cap. That’s something to be proud of, knowing that you’re in a group of drivers with names like Pearson and Petty – the pioneers of our sport who you hear stories about the races they ran there and the races they won there.

“Darlington is such a tough track to get a handle on and to be good at all day. You don’t see a lot of guys who have a lot of success there. You see only a handful of guys who religiously run well there. That just shows you how difficult Darlington is to get a handle on. If you can have a good day and win there, it’s a track that’s like winning at Bristol. It’s the same type of feeling – knowing that you conquered something that’s very hard to obtain.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI ON DARLINGTON: “Darlington is one of my favorite tracks. I wish we had more like it on the schedule. It’s just a tough, old racetrack that is nothing like anywhere else we go. I never had the opportunity to race there when the asphalt was worn out and I would have loved that. Hopefully I’ll have a long career and I’ll be able to see it get back to that ‘slipping and sliding’ racing that used to be so cool to watch on TV. Back in the day, the Southern 500 was one of our biggest races. It would mean a lot to me to have that trophy.”

KESELOWSKI CHASSIS CHOICE: The No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger team will use chassis PRS-751 during Saturday’s Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. This is a brand-new chassis to the No. 2 fleet.

Montoya finished 5th in 2010; using 3rd-place Vegas car

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA ON DARLINGTON: “I think Darlington’s a cool place. It’s always very tricky, but it’s fun. I think it is the hardest race track to get onto the pit lane. Leaving is not so bad, but I think it’s the hardest place to get into the pit lane. Darlington is a track where people learn to give and take because if you try to go side-by-side into turn one then the guy on the outside is usually going to hit the fence. We’re looking for a clean race and a good finish for the Target team going into this weekend.”

MONTOYA CHASSIS CHOICE: Chassis #1105 - Brian Pattie will bring chassis #1105 to Darlington this weekend. It was previously raced at Texas this year where it started 14th and finished 13th. This chassis was also raced at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March of this year where it started 23rd and finished 3rd

MARK MARTIN ON DARLINGTON: “Darlington is known as one of the tougher tracks on the circuit. All the drivers like it because it’s a track that really puts the race into the driver’s hands. It’s intense for sure. I’m a driver that likes to slide my car all around the race track, but that’s impossible at Darlington. If you slide at all, you’re going to end up in the wall for sure. I really have to work on my driving style for this race and Lance (McGrew, crew chief) and the guys will really have to work on a setup that gives me the best of both worlds. It’s tough. It’s only a two-day weekend but it’s a grueling one. It’s the kind of challenge that I look forward to.”

Gordon congratulates Martin after 2009 Darlington win

JEFF GORDON ON RACING AT DARLINGTON: “That track can just reach out and bite you so easy and you have to race the track. It’s a one-groove race track typically so it’s not one of those tracks — it’s just one of those tracks where you can be riding around by yourself and just make the slightest little bobble and you’re in the wall. We’ve seen it just eat up race cars and competitors over the years.

"It’s just one of those tracks that you have to stay on your toes at all times because it can be a very tough track. It’s not as tough these days as it used to be when the pavement was extremely worn out. You were really on the edge. As the pavement wears each and every year, it starts to get back more and more to the too tough to tame. It’s definitely one of those tracks that challenges your nerves. You have to be really committed. It’s a fast race track, but you have to be really committed to the line that it takes to go fast around there, which is right up next to the wall. You have to be committed to the gas, especially qualifying. To me, you just have to be able to go for it there and then just to get the balance right you have to keep that car on the edge through the corners and then compromise because one and two is totally different than three and four for what it takes to get the car through the corners.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY ON DARLINGTON: “Darlington has been a good track for me, and a place that I really like to race. We won the pole there last year, ran up front all night and led a lot of laps. I hope that we can back up that effort and improve one spot from our second-place finish in this event last year. Darlington is unlike many of the other tracks that we will race all year. We run so close to the wall there in the corners to carry speed, you just try not to hit too hard when you get that “Darlington Stripe”, that seems to be inevitable.

McMURRAY CHASSIS CHOICE: Chassis #1016 - Crew Chief Kevin “Bono” Manion has elected to bring chassis #1016 to Darlington this weekend. This chassis was previously raced this year at Fontana where McMurray started 12th and finished 23rd. This chassis was also raced in last year’s Texas fall race (started 25th, finished 16th), the 2010 fall race at Fontana (started first, finished 17th), and the 2010 fall race at Atlanta (started 12th, finished 15th).

REGAN SMITH ON DARLINGTON: “It might be one of the toughest tracks, but Darlington is one of my favorites, dating back to when I raced in the former Busch Series. The past two races have been somewhat encouraging for us with 15th and 17th-place finishes in Talladega and Richmond. It’s not where we want to be, but considering what we endured the previous six races our Furniture Row Chevrolet is heading in the right direction. We need to stay patient and get as many points as possible. We have a lot of ground to make up, but I am confident that we’ll get it done.”

Logano finished ninth as a Darlington rookie in 2009

JOEY LOGANO ON DARLINGTON: “Darlington is a really hard race track, and probably the most unique track we go to. I don’t think there’s a driver out there that hasn’t hit the wall there before and I don’t think you ever actually tame it. There’s just races that are better than others – that’s what it comes down to. The first time I raced there I led laps and had a really fast car. We ran up front most of the day and finished in the top 10. Last year we really struggled, so I don’t know what to really think about this track. I do know if you are a little off on balance and set up, it feels like you are way off. There’s not much room for error. It’s also one of those tracks I don’t have as many laps around because we only have one race a year and I haven’t run all the Nationwide races there. Hopefully the third time will be a charm.”

LOGANO CHASSIS CHOICE: The No. 20 Home Depot Team is taking chassis #284 to Darlington Raceway this weekend. Logano drove this chassis last year at Auto Club Speedway to an 11th-place finish and at Phoenix International Raceway in November to third. The back-up chassis is #275 that Logano most recently drove in the Martinsville race following a practice crash that damaged his primary car. He went on to finish the race in the 13th position.

DAVE BLANEY ON RACING AT DARLINGTON: “I’m excited to go to Darlington. Our team has a lot of momentum right now, and Darlington has always been one of my favorite tracks because of its history and uniqueness. Everybody has to change driving style to be successful there. You race to not make mistakes on the racetrack instead of racing other people. There will be guys hitting the wall all weekend. You just have to take care of your car all weekend and not get excited to early.”

OTHER DRIVER NOTES & QUOTES:

JEFF GORDON - 7 WINS & 7 STRAIGHT TOP-5'S

JIMMIE JOHNSON - LOTS OF UNCERTAINTIES

KYLE BUSCH - USING WINNING BRISTOL CAR

RCR DRIVERS - NO WINS WITHOUT DALE EARNHARDT

ROUSH RACING - EDWARDS & KENSETH HAVE GREAT CARS