NASCAR Weekend Report 5/25

NASCAR Weekend Report 5/25

Author:  Matt Gerwitz

U. S. Sports Media, Inc

CONCORD, N.C. - Lowe's Motor Speedway was the setting again this week for NASCAR's top two series, The Nationwide and the Sprint Cup, while the Camping World Truck series took the weekend off. The rain-filled Memorial Day weekend interrupted the racing schedule, cutting Saturday's race short and delaying the Coca-Cola 600 until Monday. Qualifying for both races was completed on schedule.

Thursday night featured the Sprint drivers with Ryan Newman leading the way, turning a lap of 188.475 mph. The lap won him his eighth career pole at Lowe's, his fifth for the Coca-Cola 600. Kyle Bush started in the number two spot followed by Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson, and Kasey Kahne filling out the first three rows. Asked about the possibility of winning NASCAR's longest race, Newman said, ""Yeah, right now, I'm going to call it even between me, the 18 and 24, and throw Tony Stewart in there on Sunday, too."

Qualifying for Saturday's Carquest Auto Parts 300 finished with Carl Edwards on the pole, Kyle Bush starting second, and Greg Biffle third. Busch was later forced to start at the back after an engine change but managed to charge his way back to the front. He took the lead from Carl Edwards on lap 41, holding it until Brian Vickers took it from him on lap 140. At lap 146 Vickers made a scheduled green flag stop, surrendering to the lead back to Busch who came in to the pits on lap 149. Meanwhile Mike Bliss stayed on the track making him the only car on the lead lap when caution came out on lap 153. On the restart Bliss was the leader but started behind eleven lapped cars, including Busch. Brendan Gaughan was the lucky dog and restarted second, taking the lead from Bliss, but Bliss battled back and passed Gaughan at lap 167. Three laps later the rain came, giving Bliss his first victory since 2004. Gaughan was the runner-up with Busch finishing third, Vickers fourth, and Logano fifth.

Sunday's race never got underway as rain pounded the speedway, leaving parts of the infield covered with standing water. The race began at noon on Monday under cloudy skies that brought a red flag for rain just over seventy laps in. After nearly an hour-long delay the cars returned to the track for another 100 laps. Kyle Busch was again the dominant car but Brian Vickers, Kasey Kahne, and Jaun Pablo Montoya all put the pressure on at various points during the race.

At 3:00 PM eastern NASCAR put out the yellow flag, brought all the cars in, shut off the engines and observed a moment of silence in honor of Memorial Day. Shortly after resuming the race, lap 177 brought out the second red flag for rain. A third and final rain delay came at lap 221 which cost Kyle Busch his second race of the weekend. As the rain began to fall all the leaders hit the pits in anticipation of going green again. David Reutimann, Ryan Newman and Robby Gordon chose to stay out, with Reutimann inheriting the lead. The delay turned into several hours and the race was finally called at about 6:25 PM. David Reutimann was declared the winner, giving Michael Waltrip Racing its first Sprint Cup victory. Ryan Newman finished second, followed by Robby Gordon in third, Carl Edwards fourth, and Brian Vickers third. The six through ten positions went to Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Juan Pablo Montoya, Joey Logano, and Matt Kenseth.

Source, http://www.RacingWeeklyNews.com, U. S. Sports Media, Inc