Busch Series News & Notes - Texas Edwards Tries Yet Again To Clinch First National Series Championship
Wallace Hopes To Fend Off Kenseth For Spot In Final Rankings
In The Loop: Reutimann Looks To Play Spoiler To Edwards
Same Only Different: Franchitti, Hornish Jr. Meet At Texas
Champion’s Week Media Activities Dec. 6-7 In Orlando
No Lead Too Large: Edwards Tries To Close Out Title Once Again
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Oct. 31, 2007) – Following the race at Gateway International Raceway last July, Carl Edwards (No. 60 Dish Network Ford) had an 852-point lead over second-place David Reutimann (No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota) in the NASCAR Busch Series standings.
He commented at the time that no lead was too large because no lead is ever safe.
Many eyes rolled over that remark.
Now, with three races left in the season, Edwards’ statement doesn’t seem so far-fetched.
His lead over Reutimann is still stout at 531 points, but his luck lately has been anything but.
Three weeks ago in Charlotte, he was seemingly en route to clinching the title when he was caught up in an incident on Lap 133, ending that opportunity. Last Saturday at Memphis he was forced to start from the rear of the field following a driver change upon his arrival from Atlanta and his NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series duties after substitute driver Matt McCall qualified the No. 60 Ford.
There, he was involved in two incidents that looked to knock him out of a clinch chance. He rallied, but a spin with less than 10 laps left relegated him to 25th –- the seventh finish of 25th or worse in his last 10 races.
To clinch, he needs to leave Texas with a 390-point lead over Reutimann. If he finishes 36th or better, 37th and leads at least one lap, or 39th and leads the most laps, he will become the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series champion – finally.
His luck could very well change at Texas, where he finished third last spring. In five races there, he has three top-five and four top-10 finishes. He also won the fall race last year in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series competition.
Texas Two-Step: Wallace, Kenseth In Three-Race Showdown For 10th
Series regular Mike Wallace (No. 7 GEICO Chevrolet) comes to Texas in 10th place in the point standings, 102 points ahead of 11th-place Matt Kenseth (No. 17 I Level Ford). Kenseth is scheduled to compete in the final three races of the season, making Saturday’s race the first of three showdowns between the two drivers.
Even though he’s got a substantial cushion heading into the O’Reilly Challenge, Wallace has the law of averages to overcome in order to capture a coveted spot in the final top 10.
In the 21 races the two drivers have competed in together this season, Kenseth has an average finish of 11.1 while Wallace’s average finish is 23.8. Kenseth has two wins, one of which came at Texas this past spring. He has two wins overall at Texas (2004).
Wallace has competed in at least one race in the series over the last 18 seasons, but 2007 is only his fourth full-time campaign.
In The Loop: Reutimann Hopes To Postpone Edwards’ Title Clinch Once More
Can David Reutimann accomplish the improbable and delay Carl Edwards’ quest to clinch the NASCAR Busch Series championship for a third consecutive week? Yes he can. It will be tough but here’s how he can do it:
Step One: Control what he can control. Reutimann first has to worry about his own performance. That’s exactly what he did at Memphis by winning, leading the most laps and earning a perfect Driver Rating of 150.0.
His past Texas performances suggest he’ll run well this weekend. Reutimann has competed three times at Texas in the NASCAR Busch Series, averaging a finish of 14.7 – and he has been strong of late, notching a sixth-place result this past spring. In his two Texas races since 2005, Reutimann has a Driver Rating of 85.1, an Average Running Position of 14.0 and has run 55% of the total laps in the top 15.
Step Two: Get lucky. Edwards needs to finish 36th or better to clinch the championship – a likely scenario considering his Texas past. In this season’s spring race, Edwards finished third and in this race last season, he finished seventh. In 2005, he finished fourth and third, respectively, in the two races. The one blemish on Edwards’ Texas record is a 43rd-place finish in the spring race last season. Overall at Texas, Edwards has a Driver Rating of 93.6, an Average Running Position of 14.7, 36 Fastest Laps Run and has spent 66.8% of his laps in the top 15. Reutimann needs another last-place finish from Edwards if he wants to prolong the inevitable.
Step Three: Deal with the competition. The competition will be fierce this weekend, as reigning series champion Kevin Harvick (No. 21 AutoZone Chevrolet) returns to the scene. Harvick has been solid at Texas, earning a Driver Rating of 117.7 and an Average Running Position of 5.9 (both are best of any driver competing Saturday).
Matt Kenseth, winner of this year’s Texas spring race, is also entered in Saturday’s field. He has a Texas Driver Rating of 108.1.
NBS, Etc. “
Veteran” Advice: Bryan Clauson (No. 41 Memorex Dodge) turned 18 years old this past June. He started his fourth career NASCAR Busch Series race for the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates team at Memphis last Saturday where he finished a season-best 18th in the event. His “experience” also put him in an interesting spot; to serve as a mentor to his new teammate – 34-year-old Dario Franchitti (No. 42 Target Dodge). The reigning Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar champion, Franchitti made his NASCAR Busch Series debut at Memphis where he started an impressive third and finished 32nd in the caution-filled event. Both will race together again at Texas.
Franchitti, Hornish Together Again: Dario Franchitti will be joined at Texas by his former IndyCar rival Sam Hornish Jr. (No. 12 Kodak Dodge), giving the O’Reilly Challenge a field consisting of the last two Indianpolis 500 champions. Hornish, though, has the leg up on Franchitti as far as his body of work at Texas. Both will be making their stock-car debuts at the track, but Hornish won the IndyCar event at the track last June; Franchitti finished fourth.
Labonte, Richardson Look To Home Track: Bobby Labonte (No. 77 Dollar General Chevrolet), the 1991 NASCAR Busch Series champion and Corpus Christi, Texas native, returns to his home track seeking his first series win there. Labonte has 195 starts in his series career to go along with his championship. At the other end of the spectrum is rookie driver Robert Richardson (No. 28 U.S. Border Patrol Chevrolet), who is from McKinney, Texas. He hopes to make his track debut at TMS Saturday; he’ll have to qualify on time to do so. Richardson, 25, has started 14 races for Jay Robinson Racing and is one of eight drivers competing for Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors. His best career finish is 19th last April at Talladega Superspeedway. Richardson attempted to make the spring race at Texas driving for his family-owned team but did not qualify.
Painting The Town: Shawn Parker, crew chief for the No. 37 Kickbutt Amped Energy Ballz Ford of Casey Atwood and Mark Rette, car chief for the No. 41 Dodge team, are making plans for a paintball competition between their two teams. Parker and Rette previously worked together in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series garage and had talked about such a challenge. The event is scheduled for Thurs., Nov. 1 from 7-11:00 p.m. at the Gatsplat Indoor Paintball Field in Lewisville, Texas (
www.gatsplat.com). Up to 15 Brewco members and 20-plus Ganassi members will participate. Drivers for each organization are also expected to attend to cheer on their crews.
Ambrose Seeks Consistency: With his first career series pole and his best finish to date (fourth) last week at Memphis, Marcos Ambrose (No. 59 Kingsford Ford) got a needed boost. The result was the Australian’s first top-five finish of the year and his first top-10 since placing seventh in Montreal. His only other oval top-10 finish was sixth at Dover International Speedway in June. The finish was also welcomed heading into another intermediate track where he’s struggled, especially recently. He posted DNFs at both Kansas Speedway and Lowe’s Motor Speedway and has an overall average finish of 26.8. He was 31st at Texas last spring.
Of Note – Texas: Jason Leffler (No. 38 Great Clips Toyota) won his first NASCAR Busch Series pole at Texas in 2000. … Two former winners are entered at Texas – Kevin Harvick (2001, ’05, ’06) and Matt Kenseth (2004, ’07). Kenseth owns the most top fives (five), top 10s (10) and most starts (12) in series competition at the track. … Harvick’s next win will be the 32nd of his series career and will vault him into second place on the all-time list. He’s currently tied with Jack Ingram with 31 victories. The two-time and reigning series champion averages a win every six starts – it has been seven starts since his last victory (Watkins Glen). He did not compete at Memphis.
The Director’s Take: Texas “Texas Motor Speedway is the last of the 1.5-mile tri-ovals for the NASCAR Busch Series this season. The frontstretch is 920 feet longer than the backstretch and has a double dogleg configuration.
“Drivers will be looking to hit their marks entering the corners in order to get the car to ‘set’ and ‘rotate’ to get a good exit.
“Texas provides multiple grooves for passing. And this track is all about aero and having the car’s body at the right angle of attack with little drag for speed, yet enough downforce to turn.
“Drivers will give each other more room on the track, which should help reduce the number of cautions that we saw last week at Memphis.”
2007 NASCAR BUSCH SERIESRAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR STANDINGS Driver Points
1. David Ragan 2322. Marcos Ambrose 2013. Kyle Krisiloff 178
4. Brad Keselowski 170
5. Juan Pablo Montoya 165
6. Brad Coleman 163
7. Robert Richardson Jr. 107
8. Justin Diercks 51
2007 NASCAR Busch Series Champions Week The 2007 NASCAR Busch Series Champion’s Week media activities with the series champion, top 10 drivers in the final standings and the Raybestos Rookie of the Year will be held Dec. 6-7 in Orlando, Fla.
The NASCAR Busch Series Awards Banquet will take place at the Portofino Bay Hotel on Friday, Dec. 7.
ESPN2 ESPN2 continues its season-long coverage of the NASCAR Busch Series with live racing from Texas Motor Speedway. The telecast of the 300-mile race begins at 3:00 p.m. ET with NASCAR Countdown.
The 1.5-mile track could be the scene of Carl Edwards’ clinching of the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series championship, even though two races remain in the 35-event season Saturday’s race.
Dr. Jerry Punch will anchor ESPN2’s coverage with analysis by 1989 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series champion Rusty Wallace and two-time NASCAR champion crew chief Andy Petree. Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Mike Massaro and Shannon Spake will report from the pits.
Allen Bestwick will host NASCAR Countdown. Dale Jarrett, the 1999 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup champion and one of the founding drivers of the NASCAR Busch Series, will join Bestwick in the ESPN Pit Studio along with Brad Daugherty, a former winning team owner in the NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
2007 At-A-Glance: NASCAR Busch Series Leaders After 32 Of 35 Races:
Season Traditional Statistics: Driver points – Edwards (4,364)
Victories – Harvick (5)
Races led – Edwards (20)
Laps led – Ky. Busch (958)
Top-five finishes – Edwards (14)
Top-10 finishes – Edwards (19)
Owner points – Richard Childress Racing (No. 29) - (4,606)
Money Won – Edwards ($1,113,485)
Miles led – Ky. Busch (1,286.08)
Busch Poles – Hamlin (5)
Closest to 10th – M. Wallace 10th (3,083 pts); 11th – Kenseth, -102
Consecutive Weeks in Top 10 – Edwards, Harvick (32)
Season Loop Data Statistics: Driver Rating – Edwards (106.0)
Average Running Position – Edwards (10.1)
Fastest Laps Run – Edwards (526 fastest laps)
Quality Passes – Edwards (952)
Laps In Top 15 – Edwards (4,822 of a possible 5,953)
Final Push: Can Toyota Rally For Third-Place Breakthrough?
Chevrolet, having already crowned the 2007 Bill France Performance Cup champion and Ford, this season’s probable runner-up, may be favorites in the final three races of the season as the leaders in manufacturer wins at Texas (Chevrolet – 6), Phoenix International Raceway (Ford – 6) and Homestead-Miami Speedway (Chevy – 6), respectively.
But Toyota’s second-half surge and its 10-point deficit to third-place Dodge gives the manufacturers’ race some late-season drama. This is the closest Toyota has been to Dodge since a 10-point advantage by Dodge following the race at California Speedway in early September.
Toyota won its second series race last Saturday at Memphis as David Reutimann registered his first career NASCAR Busch Series victory. Jason Leffler won Toyota’s inaugural series race in July at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis.
Dodge has one win in that 11-race span – Kasey Kahne’s victory at Bristol last August.
Manufacturers' Championship 2007 Point Standings Chevrolet 240
Ford 186
Dodge 144
Toyota 134
Up Next: Arizona.Travel 200 At Phoenix International Raceway
A final race out west for the NASCAR Busch Series in 2007 waits next week at Phoenix International Raceway. The Arizona.Travel 200 will be televised live on ESPN2 beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET.
Matt Kenseth won last year’s race from the Busch Pole; the second consecutive season a Roush Fenway Racing driver had done so. Carl Edwards won the 2005 fall event from the pole, the first driver in the first eight series races at the 1-mile track to accomplish the feat.
Greg Biffle, another Roush Fenway team member, is the only driver with multiple wins at Phoenix (2001, spring ’05). A driver now with Roush Fenway, Jamie McMurray, won in 2004.
Jason Leffler owns two poles at Phoenix (2000, spring ’06), the most of any driver.
Jeff Burton and Scott Wimmer, the Richard Childress Racing duo that has forged a stout lead in the owner points, have each won a race at Phoenix – Burton in 2000 and Wimmer in ’02.
FAST FACTS The Race: O’Reilly Challenge
The Place: Texas Motor Speedway
The Date: Nov. 3, 2007
The Time: 3:30 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPN2, 3 p.m. (ET)
Track Layout: 1.5-mile oval
Race Purse: $1,244,106
2006 Winner: Kevin Harvick
2006 Pole: Mark Martin
2007 Point StandingsPos. Driver Points1 Edwards 4,364
2 Reutimann 3,833
3 Leffler 3,606
4 Harvick 3,523
5 Ragan 3,464
6 Hamilton Jr. 3,313
7 Leicht 3,203
8 Ambrose 3,152
9 Biffle 3,136
10 Wallace 3,083
Pre-Race Schedule:
Friday–Practice, 9-10:00 a.m.; Rookie Practice, 10:10-10:40 a.m.; Final Practice, 10:55-11:55 a.m.; Qualifying, 5:35 p.m. (impound).
