Go Back   GoFastNews.com - All Racing News All the Time! > Performance Racing Forum > NASCAR > Nationwide Series

Nationwide Series Nationwide is on your side!

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1 (permalink)  
Old 06-29-2008, 01:20 AM
admin's Avatar
GFN Administrator
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 14,256
Stewart races to another Nationwide win in 20 car


LOUDON, N.H. -- Aside from Tony Stewart becoming the 22nd different winner in 22 Nationwide Series races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the outcome of Saturday's Camping World RV Sales 200 was more of the same for NASCAR's Triple-A division.

Stewart's victory was the eighth of the season for the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, which has carried four different drivers to Victory Lane this year -- Stewart on five occasions and Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and rookie phenom Joey Logano once each.

Camping World RV Sales 200 Results

Pos. Driver Make
1. Tony Stewart Toyota
2. Denny Hamlin Toyota
3. Kyle Busch Toyota
4. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet
5. Carl Edwards Ford
6. David Ragan Ford
7. David Reutimann Toyota
8. Mike Bliss Chevrolet
9. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet
10. Brad Keselowski Chevrolet

Hamlin and Busch, in fact, chased Stewart for the final 64 laps, after Stewart took the lead for good on Lap 136. Hamlin, driving Braun Racing's No. 32 Toyota, was within a half-second of the leader when Greg Biffle crashed on Lap 200, the final circuit. The race ended under caution with Stewart, Hamlin and Busch in the top-three spots, followed by Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards.

"It's pretty spectacular," Edwards said about the No. 20 car. "Those guys are doing a great job. There are ups and downs in this sport and, right now, they're on the up side and we've just got to look at what they're doing and emulate them and try to get them by the end of the season."

Stewart credited crew chief Dave Rogers, a native of the neighboring state of Vermont, with the consistently excellent performance of the No. 20 Camry.

"There've been four drivers [to] win in this car, so it's not the drivers -- that's for sure," Stewart said. "We're the fortunate ones to be able to drive this thing."

A two-tire call on Stewart's final pit stop on Lap 129 got the No. 20 Toyota out in third place for a restart on Lap 133. Three laps later, Stewart took the lead from Edwards, who had taken fuel only on the pit stop, with a smooth pass entering Turn 1.

"That last stop is what won the race for us," Stewart said. "To get track position and be able to stay up front and not have to overdrive the car or abuse the tires was the key to the win."

It was Rogers, who started with the Gibbs team as an engineer on Stewart's No. 20 Cup car, who made the two-tire call.

"I look up and they're all coming," Rogers said of the last pit stop for the leaders. "It was a parking lot and I knew if we got back in traffic, we would never make it to the front. This is a track-position race."

On Lap 138, Hamlin passed Edwards for second, and Busch followed into third position three laps after that, but neither could overtake the leader.

"We didn't know it would come down to a track-position race," said Busch, who took four tires on his final pit stop, restarted eighth and had to work his way through traffic. "We got out-strategized there at the end."

Notes: Todd Braun's No. 32 and No. 38 Toyotas were painted black, with no sponsor decals on either car (watch video). The cars were a symbol of mourning for the team owner's mother, Linda Braun, who died Wednesday (read more). ... The race marked the first 1-2-3 Nationwide Series finish for Toyota. ... Stewart led 75 laps and Busch 63, as the Gibbs cars dominated. ... Series points leader Clint Bowyer finished ninth. ... Pole-sitter Landon Cassill had to start from the rear of the field because of an engine change. He gained 28 positions before a tap from Bobby Hamilton Jr. sent his No. 5 Chevy into the wall and out of the race on Lap 47. He finished 34th.
__________________
--------------------
Admin (Sean)
GoFastNews.com
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 11:12 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.2.0 RC5
Copyright ©2007 - 2008 GoFastNews.com LLC