Speedway Blog

NASCAR Weekend - Friday

Friday, March 9, 2012

6:00 p.m.-  That's a wrap on Day 1 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Tomorrow's schedule includes Nationwide Series qualifying, two rounds of Cup Series practice and the Sam's Town 300. The Cup drivers start practice at 9:30 am and we'll be back to keep you up to speed.

5:45 p.m. – Today's pole was the 23^rd of Kasey Kahne's career and his third at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. His most recent pole came in September 2011 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. "Qualifying is something I look forward to," said Kahne who predicts more records will fall this year, particularly on those tracks with newer surfaces. "The engines are getting better and the guys are always working on downforce. I think it's just a combination of a lot of different things."

5:15 p.m. – Kasey Kahne won the pole for the Kobalt 400 and set a new track record of 190.456. Kahne was one of fifteen drivers to surpass the old record of 188.884 mph set by Matt Kenseth in 2011. Kyle Busch will start alongside Kahne on the front row. Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. qualified third and fourth with Clint Bowyer rounding out the top five. Scott Riggs and Robby Gordon are the two drivers who failed to make the field.

4:50 p.m. – With seven drivers to go in qualifying, Kasey Kahne has knocked Kyle Busch off the pole with a 190.456 mph lap completed in 28.353 seconds. Rounding out the current top five are Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano and Martin Truex, Jr.

4:30 p.m. – We're just past halfway in today's qualifying session and Kyle Busch has just set a new track record of 190.040 mph taking 28.415 seconds to tour the mile-and-a half. "We'll see if it holds up," said Busch. "There are a lot of fast guys to go. Right there, that was a pretty decent lap. If I tried to get more out of it I probably would have overdrived and hurt the lap."

3:40 p.m. – The Nationwide Series just wrapped up their final practice and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. led the way with a lap of 180.626 mph. Austin Dillon was second quick at 180.282 mph in the No. 3 Chevrolet. Sadler, who was fastest in the early practice, was third overall. The teams will qualify tomorrow at 10:35 am.

3:30 p.m. – Speedway Motorsports, Inc. and Global Rallycross Championship have teamed up to present select GRC events in conjunction with IndyCar and NASCAR race weekends in Charloote, Texas, New Hampshire and Las Vegas in 2012. "It's the ultimate combination of action sports and motorsports where big air meets high speed," said Speedway Motorsports president and COO Marcus Smith. "These drivers combine racing, drifting and stunt jumps into a high-impact show with a jaw-dropping WOW factor." GRC competitors wheel compact cars that pull more than 600 horsepower and feature all-wheel drive for precision handling and lightning fast acceleration. The cars race around asphalt or dirt tracks that are about one mile long and feature snap directional changes, tight turns and a crossover 70-foot gap jump.

3:13 p.m. – Juan Pablo Montoya's team had to pull out the backup car for qualifying after a crash in Turn 1 on his first lap on the track. "It sucks," Montoya said. "I went into turn one and got a little tight over the bumps. I got on the gas and it just stepped out on me. I thought, 'My God,' and I was in the fence."

3:04 p.m. – Parents to be Kevin and Delana Harvick have chosen to refer to their newborn son as Otis, and according to Kevin, Ryan Newman's wife was the one who provided the inspiration. "We don't really want to tell anybody until it's time so we just came up with a code name. It's really Krissie Newman's fault to tell you the truth. She calls me that every once in awhile so we just called it baby Otis. At least is has some kind of name. You can refer to it as something. I keep wanting to call it 'it' and DeLana gets mad at me."

2:35 p.m. – The Nationwide competitors are back on track and Elliott Sadler continues to set the pace. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. is currently second and Brian Scott is in third. Kyle Busch's Monster Energy car has some damage on the right rear quarterpanel.

2:20 p.m. – Matt Kenseth's No. 17 Ford is sporting Zest-y colors this weekend. On the eve of his 40^th birthday, Kenseth stopped by the media center to introduce new sponsor Zest. "I've already heard how people want me to clean up the competition and I've been hearing all kinds of fun stuff." And what about the birthday plans? "I'm gonna spend it at the race track trying to get our Zest Ford Fusion dialed in to hopefully have a good day on Sunday. Then I'm taking the team out for dinner tomorrow night." High Ridge Brands president and CEO Jim Daniels added, "Hopefully he'll be singing the Zestfully clean jingle in the winner's circle on Sunday." Not that we've got to see.

1:44 p.m. - Despite growing up in Las Vegas, Kyle Busch admits he's not much of a gambler. "I think the best I'm come out of Vegas was probably a thousand bucks ahead," Busch said. "The worse I've come out of Vegas was eight hundred bucks behind. I'm a small gambler. I'm not on Denny Hamlin's scale. I think he gets free hotel rooms every time he comes out here – that's how well he does." Hamlin, by the way, tweeted a picture of his hotel room's backyard on Thursday…a lavish spot indeed, complete with putting green.

1:05 p.m. – Kyle Busch and Jeff Burton are back on track after repairs. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has jumped to the top of the speed chart with a lap at 187.643 mph. Clint Bowyer is second fastest followed by Carl Edwards, defending champion Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson. Busch's first lap back out was a tick over 184 mph and is currently 23rd fastest.

12:39 p.m. - The Stratosphere Casino Hotel & Tower has signed a multi-year deal with LVMS to continue sponsorship of pole day. The announcement was made today by Las Vegas Motor Speedway president Chris Powell and Stratosphere General Manager, Paul Hobson at the speedway. The partnership extends an agreement between the two companies that began in 2011.

12:27 p.m. – The green flag is back out and so far, Brad Keselowski has the fastest lap of 186.329 mph. Five time champion Jimmie Johnson is second fastest at 185.656 mph. Jeff Burton's car has damage to the front end. Burton says he ran over brake rotor pieces (possibly from Montoya's car).

12:20 p.m. – We're under a red flag condition as smoke pours out of the No. 93 Burger King Toyota driven by Travis Kvapil. Meanwhile, hometown hero Kyle Bush ran over some debris on the track and is busy helping his team beat out some minor damage to the left front of his M&M's car.

12:05 p.m. – We're just five minutes into the first Sprint Cup Series practice and we've had our first incident of the day. Juan Pablo Montoya hit the wall before completing his first lap and the team has gone to the hauler for the backup No. 42 Clorox Chevrolet.

12:00 p.m. – The first practice session is in the books and Elliott Sadler led the Nationwide Series drivers with a fast lap of 179.545 mph. He was the only driver to break the 179 mph barrier. Mark Martin, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Cole Whitt and Brian Scott rounded out the top five. The teams will regroup for their final practice at 2:00 pm.

11:30 a.m. - Practice is underway for the Nationwide Series. Trevor Bayne was the first Nationwide Series driver on the track in the No. 60 Roush-Fenway Ford and so far, Mark Martin is fastest in the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota at 178.453 mph.

Elliott Sadler is second fastest at 178.383 mph in the OneMain Financial Chevrolet. Rounding out the top five are Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Cole Whitt and Brian Scott.

10:41 a.m. - LVMS is giving fans two great reasons to purchase tickets for the 2013 NASCAR weekend early.

Those who purchase tickets this weekend receive a free Kobalt Tools T-Hammer tool kit and one 2013 Neon Garage pass good for Friday or Saturday for each seat. Next season's race weekend is tentatively scheduled for March 8-10 but the dates are subject to change.

10:25 a.m - Good morning from Las Vegas Motor Speedway! We've got clear blue skies and the forecast is for temperatures in the low 70s, so if you're in the neighborhood, come on out and join us for a full day of racing.

Today's schedule includes two rounds of Nationwide Series practice, one round of Sprint Cup Series practice and qualifying for Sunday's Kobalt 400. The Nationwide drivers are just minutes away from their first practice session and the Sprint Cup cars will fire them up at high noon. Stay tuned for all the action as it happens.

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