NASCAR: Roush-Ka-Teers Kenseth and Edwards Tame the Monster

Racin’ with Russ - Pit strategy gave Matt Kenseth the opportunity to be in the right place at the right time to claim his second win NASCAR Sprint Cup of the season, this one at the very tough Monster Mile in Dover, DE.

Until the final pit stop with around 40 to go, it appeared one of three drivers would be standing tall in victory lane, those drivers being either Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards or lap leader Jimmie Johnson. They raced each other long and hard all day, all taking turns out front.

They came in the pits as the top three, but emerged pit lane in the bottom of the top 10 as teams rolled the dice with two-tire, four-tire and in the case of Mark Martin, no tires or gas game plans!

With 35 laps remaining, Martin took the point briefly before Kenseth’s Roush-Fenway Ford (after taking two tires) swept by and into the sunset, putting a comfortable distance between himself and the rest of the pack to emerge as the day’s winner with Martin hanging on for second followed by Marcos Ambrose, Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers.

Bowyer, Edwards and Johnson remained mired in the pack without being able to use their four tires in getting back to the front. The three wound up sixth, seventh and ninth respectively.

It appears that these last minute pit strategies are winning races, especially in the choices such as last week’s surprise winner Regan Smith when he stayed out compared to Edwards choice for four tires in a fast car.

The rest of this race was Johnson out front with Edwards in close pursuit. A couple of drivers that ran well only to succumb to serious engine woes were A.J. Allmendinger and Kasey Kahne, both with very strong cars and running well among the top five for most of the day, only to drop out with bottom feeder finishes.

The latest results still have Edwards out front by 24 points over Johnson and Kyle Busch in third. Martin’s second vaulted him three spots into the Chase at 11^th.

Nationwide:

After taking his fourth pole of the year, Roush-Fenway driver Carl Edwards dominated the Nationwide race to take his third win of the season and 31^st career, putting him fourth on the all-time Nationwide win list.

A late race caution bunched up the field with Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer, and Brad Keselowski among others in a very tight pack as the second green-white-checkers got underway. With Logano and Edwards side-by-side and the rest of the pack very tight, Logano lost control of his Toyota in what first appeared to have been tapped by Edwards.

Upon closer inspection, Edwards never touched the young driver. The ensuing mayhem saw Bowyer hit Logano in a wild flip across the race track and into the opposite fence while several other cars crashed heavily into each other.

There were a lot of totaled race cars being towed off the track, but the good news was there were no injuries other than a crew member on pit lane getting hit by a spring, resulting in a bloody leg.

The race ended under caution with Edwards declared the winner, Kyle Busch a surprising second followed by Reed Sorensen, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, and David Reutimann.

The latest results finds ex-Cupper Elliott Sadler atop the standings with Sorenson and Jason Leffler not far away.

Truckin’:

 Kyle Busch led most of the laps for the latest round of Truck racing at Dover to notch his 27^th series trophy. Nineteen-year-old rookie Cole Whitt ran to a strong second with Matt Crafton, Austin Dillon and Kevin Harvick wrapping up the top five finishers.

Crafton now leads in points by just five over his teammate Johnny Sauter and seven over Whitt.

 Open Wheel News:

Indy Car driver Ed Carpenter drove the fastest lap on the first day of testing for this year’s Indy 500 with a speed in excess of 224 mph. Second day testing was halted by rain leaving the field to be set this coming weekend. Eighty cars with 40 drivers will easily fill the 33-car starting field.

From Rumorville:

Trevor Bayne will be testing this week at a non-sanctioned track in order to be cleared for this weekend’s All-Star Cup race and Nationwide race in Iowa. There’s still no word on the exact diagnosis of his recent health issues.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the results from Charlotte where the All-Star Sprint Cup and trucks will race, while the Nationwide teams will be competing in Iowa, along with racing news from around the globe.