Is Jimmie Johnson Out of the Championship Hunt? Just Wait 'Til Martinsville

After Talladega, many NASCAR fans are saying Jimmie will not win this season. After 6 races from the Chase, Johnson is 50 points away from points leader, Carl Edwards.

Before the Talladega race, there was going to be two tracks that Johnson could make up ground after the Charlotte race. First race was going to be Talladega. He was only 35 points behind Edwards. Jimmie Johnson remained in the back of the field with his teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr., for most of the day. However, by the time it was time to "Let's go to the front"; late cautions came, and both Dale Jr. and Johnson struggled to make it up to the front on the last caution. Johnson came in 26th, while Edwards came in 11th. Johnson lost 15 points from the points leader, making it 50 now (which is now more than one race behind).

The next race for him to make ground in is Martinsville. Now, it is impossible for Jimmie to get the points lead after Martinsville, but he can gain a lot of ground on Edwards and the other Chase drivers. Jimmie Johnson has 19 starts at Martinsville, and it is perhaps his best track. Of all the races here, he failed to finish in the Top 10 twice (2002 and 2011 (both in the Spring races). He has an average finish of 5.6, and has led 1616 laps at this track, and has won 6 races here.

How about the other drivers?:

Carl Edwards: Carl Edwards at this track is not so good. Edwards has 14 starts at this track, only 4 of those where he finished in the Top 10. Best finish being 3rd in the 2008 fall race. Edwards has only led 3 laps here, all coming from the spring race earlier this season. Average finish at this track is 16.9.

Matt Kenseth: Like Edwards, Matt Kenseth hasn't really that much success at this track. Kenseth has 23 starts here, and he has finished in the Top 10 in 7 of those events. Best finish being 2nd in the 2002 spring race. He has only led 68 laps at this track, last time leading in the 2008 fall race (led 8 laps). Average finish at this track is 15.8.

Brad Keselowski: Brad Keselowski has only been here 3 times, so his stats don't tell that much. He has finished in the Top 10 only once, coming last year's fall race here. He has led 0 laps. He has an average finish at this track of 13.7.

Tony Stewart: Tony Stewart has 25 starts at this track. He has 2 wins at this track, and has 13 Top 10's here too. Stewart has led 1194, last coming last year's fall race were he led only one lap. Average finish at this  track is 13.9. HOWEVER, his last three starts here have not been so good. Best finish being 24th in the fall race last year, and he hasn't finished on the led lap at this track since the 2009 fall race here, which was also his last Top 10 at this track.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin Harvick has 20 starts here. The thing about Harvick at this track, however, is that he is one of those drivers that is mixed at this track. He will have a great race one time, and have a streak of bad races at this track. He has one win here, of course coming from the spring race here earlier this year. He has 9 Top 10 finishes here, and has led 307 laps at this track. Average finish here is 16.5.

Kyle Busch: Kyle Busch has 13 starts here, and he finished in the Top 10 in seven of them (six of which were Top 5's). Kyle Busch has yet to get a win at this track. He has led 271 laps at this track. Average finish for Busch is 15.6.

Of the drivers in the Top 7 in points, Jimmie has the best records in this list of drivers. Where Edwards has the worst average finish and Brad Keselowski has the lowest laps led. If Jimmie has a bad race here, it could be a great chance that we will have a new Champion this year.

Kyle Busch Wins Temper Filled Race

Kyle Busch picked up his 51st career Nationwide win on Friday at Richmond. However the bigger story was all the heated drivers that happened during the race.

Starting with Jason Leffler and Kevin Harvick. In Turn 3 on lap 79, Kevin Harvick got into the back of Leffler, turning him around. Both got into the wall, Harvick's car was still fair, but Leffler's rear bumper was destroyed. Leffler showed his displeasure to Harvick moments after the incident occurred. Leffler in his interview following the crash said he has one coming for Harvick.

Later in the race, on lap 146, Aric Almirola got into Brian Scott, sending him into the wall hard, ended his day. Scott was not happy with Almirola, and was about to throw his racing gloves as the 88 drove by, but decided not to.

The last heated driver moment happened on lap 211. Harvick and Leffler met each other at that time, but Trevor Bayne was behind them at the time. Harvick made contact with Bayne, Harvick got into the wall, and came stright down and took out Trevor destroying his car.

The Nationwide Series goes to Chicagoland next week.

Brad Keselowski Wins With Injury

On Wednesday, Brad Keselowski had a horrible crash while testing at Road Atlanta. He pretty much broke his ankle from the crash.

Skipping the Nationwide race, Keselowski decided to move on and compete in the Good Sam RV Insurance 500 at Pocono. It was going to be a race where they had to battle the weather.

On lap 125 the red flag came out because of rain. With Joey Logano with the lead, and more cells coming, everyone thought he would've picked up his second career Cup win. But the rain went away and they dried up the track good enough to continue the race. Logano, who had a Top 5 car all day, however, will fall back and ending up finishing 26th.

On the last restart, Brad Keselowski was able to past Kyle Busch for the lead and he kept the lead for the rest of the race. It was Brad's 3rd career Cup win (2nd of 2011) and is one step closer making the wild card sport for the 2011 Chase (that is if he can stay in the Top 20 in Driver Points).

Another story in this race was the Jimmie Johnson vs. Kurt Busch 'fight' on the last lap. Johnson and Kurt Busch got together and both got into a heated argument after the race was over. It wasn't a Harvick/Kyle Busch type fight, it was more of a Ron Hornaday Jr./Johnny Sauter type fight.

The Cup guys head to Watkins Glen next week.

Newman's Magic "Fuel" Mile (Plus a Bonus Video)

Ryan Newman, who looked like was going to be short on fuel, came out with the win for the 2011 LENOX Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. His teammate, and car owner, Tony Stewart, was coming quick, but it was not enough to get pass Newman.

It was Newman's first win since the 2010 Subway Fresh Fit 600(k). This was also the first 1-2 finish for Stewart-Haas Racing.

Points leader at the beginning of the race, Kyle Busch, had a tire go down and he slammed into the wall just past 50 laps into the race. He was able to get back out, but he ended up finishing 36th and lost the points lead after the race concluded.

The Cup guys have no race next week. They will be at the Brickyard in two weeks.





By the way, here's a bonus video to the end of a embarrassing and dreadful 2011 NASCAR on TNT season:

Kyle Busch Wins At Loudon

Kyle Busch won his 49th career Nationwide win at Loudon, tying him with Mark Martin. Busch also picked up his 100th combined NASCAR race win.

The race also had some heated moments, especially with Steve Wallace. Early in the race, Jason Leffler got into Steve at the end of Turn 4, moments later, Wallace intentionally wrecked Leffler in the backstretch. Late in the race, Steve Wallace got into Joey Logano, but caused no major damage to the 20 GameStop / "Captain America: The Game" Toyota. On the next restart, Joey's teammate, Brian Scott, spun out Steve causing a multi-car crash.

Kyle Busch Wins First Kentucky Race

Kyle Busch won a somewhat quiet Quaker State 400. It was the first race at Kentucky for the Cup Series, and the traffic was the story of the race. Some fans that were on their way to the track were unable to make it due to heavy traffic

The Cup guys go to New Hampshire next, and even better next week, the last race with TNT for the 2011 season.

Harvick vs. Busch: Will It Continue?

With the probations coming to a close (both ending on Wednesday), Kevin Harvick made it clear at Pocono Raceway that his feud is not over with Kyle Busch. During the 5-Hour Energy 500, Harvick forced Busch down the track early when the two drivers were fighting for position.

After the race, Kevin Harvick said, "He knows he's got one coming, I just wanted him to think about it". Kyle Busch says that he is done and has forgiven the incident, he wants to move on.

Kevin Harvick, as of now, is not scheduled to run the Nationwide race at Michigan, while Kyle Busch, most likely, will. Even though NASCAR will warn these drivers behavior for the race (probably for safety reasons), will the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips on Sunday be one to watch this weekend? We'll have to wait and see.

Source: ESPN

Kyle Busch's Troubles Continue

Kyle Busch might be in trouble after what happened in Camping World Truck race at Kansas. On the last lap of the O'Reilly Auto Parts 250, Joey Coulter raced Kyle Busch hard for 5th place. Joey ended up getting 5th coming to the checkered flag. Well, during the cool down lap, a displeased Kyle Busch bumped Joey Coulter to show his displeasure of the move Coulter made. But that didn't end there. According to multiple witnesses, Joey Coulter's car owner, Richard Childress, and Kyle Busch got into a heated argument, and perhaps a physical confrontation, over this incident.

Remember, Kyle Busch is still on probation for the "Kyle Busch/Kevin Harvick Fight" at the end of the 2011 Showtime Southern 500, and he had two weeks left on his probation. What will NASCAR's call be? Probation extended? Suspension? ANOTHER slap on the wrist? We'll find out soon.

UPDATE #1: NASCAR is investigating the incident. That's all they're saying (Source: Twitter)
UPDATE #2: Joe Gibbs meet with Mike Helton and company in the NASCAR Hauler Sunday morning, he didn't comment when he left, but he said he will comment about it later. Don't know if Richard Childress meet with the guys in the hauler yet. (Source: Twitter)
UPDATE #3: Kyle Busch's actions did not violate his probation. Richard Childress will have restrictions on what he can and can not do on the race track.

(Updates will be given once I read some, most coming from Twitter)

Kyle Busch: Is He Getting A Special Treatment?

(NOTE: THIS ARTICLE IS 100% OPINION.)

On Tuesday, Kyle Busch did one of the few dumbest things someone can do while driving: speeding. He was caught driving 128 MPH in a 45 MPH zone, almost 3x over the legal speed limit. He was cited for reckless driving.

He was driving, or to him testing, a 2012 Lexus LFA sports car, the same car and color Denny Hamlin posted on Twitter the day before (unsure if was the one Kyle ended up speeding with). Kyle claimed, or more of a excuse in my opinion: "This is just a toy". Kyle also had a woman in the car at the time, turned out to be his wife, Samantha. Sergent Chris Stone said that Kyle was cooperative and he was not arrogant or anything. Later, Kyle then followed with a statement saying he was just test-driving the sports car and he got carried away. He is scheduled to appear in court and it is possible he can lose his driver's license up to 60 days. And, according to NASCAR, you're NASCAR license isn't based off of your driver's license you use for the streets. So, Kyle can still drive in NASCAR events with a suspended license. And, by the looks of it, NASCAR will not suspend Kyle Busch for his actions he did on Tuesday. In fact, some residents in the area he speed through are not happy on the call they're making.

If I had to make the call, I'll suspend Kyle for up to two NASCAR weekends, with his probation extended for the end of the year. Kyle is VERY lucky he didn't get hurt or even killed anyone, including himself.

And Kyle, keep the high speeds on the track, not in the streets where innocent people are.

Busch Wins in a Caution-Filled Truck Race

Kyle Busch wins, yet again, another race this year. Busch came back for the win after spinning on Lap 51.

The race was caution-filled race, by Truck race length standards, with ten total cautions. Which tied the record for most cautions in a Truck race at Charlotte. Even NCWTS best drivers, Todd Bodine and Ron Hornaday Jr. for example, had issues early in the race. Todd Bodine, driver of the the #30 Germain.com Truck, brought out the first caution of the night, he got loose and got into the inside wall. Ron Hornady Jr., driver of the #33 Utz Snacks truck, brought out the next caution by spinning out, not hitting anything. Other incidents included Brendan Gaughan, who slowed down after slapping the wall. Jamie Dick tried to avoid Gaughan, and got into T.J. Bell. Bell took a wild ride, catching little air in the infield, causing severe damage to the front of the truck. Jamie Dick will later cause two other cautions from cut tires.

Point leader, Matt Crafton, also ran into some trouble in the race, after a slow Brendan Gaughan collected Max Papis in the backstretch. Matt Crafton was in the mix, getting a lot of damage from the incident, pretty much ending his day.

Kyle Busch took the lead over Clint Bowyer with 7 laps to go, Clint tried his best to get the lead back, but slapping the wall and a slow truck with two to go in turns 3 and 4 ruined his chances. Bowyer ended up finishing 2nd. Cole Whitt, Jame Buescher, and Ron Hornaday Jr. round u the Top 5. Former F1 Champion, Kimi Raikkonen, made his first NASCAR race today. He stayed out of trouble most of the race, hit the wall a few times, came in 15th

NCWTS rookie, Cole Whitt, is now your points leader, one point over Johnny Sauter. The next NASCAR Camping World Trucks race is at Kansas on June 4, same race where Ron Hornaday Jr. and Johnny Sauter had those half-spins.