NASCAR Daily News Headlines * April 27, 2008

Busch Wins Talladega

As usual at Talladega it was a wild finish. Eleven cars piled up on the final lap and it was difficult sifting through who finished where. Juan Montoya, who had pushed Kyle Busch from the rear of the field to the front finished a strong second. The race featured 52 lead changes among 20 different drivers. Denny Hamlin had a strong car and could pull himself and anyone else that he wanted to go with him, back to the front of the field at will. Hamlin finished third on the day, only because he ran out of time near the end of the race. David Ragan ran up front all day and finished in the fourth position followed by Travis Kvapil, Casey Mears, Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to round out the top ten.

Regan Smith finished 19th and was the Raybestos Rookie of the Race. Tony Stewart led the most laps (61) but several accidents left the former Sprint Cup Champion in the 38th spot. There were eight cautions for a total of 23 laps. A total of 21 cars were involved in accidents or spun out on the track. The Sprint Cup Series moves to Richmond International Raceway next Saturday night.. May 3rd, 2008, for the Crown Royal 400. The race is scheduled to start at 7:00 PM / Eastern Time on Fox.
To read the full article...     (Insider Racing News)
For full final race results...     (Insider Racing News)
For top-40 Nextel Cup drivers points...     (Insider Racing News)

David Stremme Will Fill In For Franchitti

Franchitti broke his left ankle and suffered minor contusions during a violent crash on Lap 11 of Saturday's Aaron's 312 Nationwide Series race. Franchitti blew a tire, hit the outside wall and slid down the track in Turn 3 into the path of Larry Gunselman, whose No. 91 Ford slammed into the driver's side of Franchitti's Dodge. Conscious and alert, Franchitti was taken to an ambulance on a stretcher and transported to a local hospital for further evaluation, and X-rays confirmed the broken ankle.

Soon after the race, Steven Lane, Franchitti's crew chief in the Sprint Cup Series, asked Stremme if he would be available to sub for Franchitti in Sunday's Cup race. Stremme recently signed with Penske Racing as a test driver and received approval from Rusty Wallace Inc., his Nationwide team, and from owner Roger Penske, before agreeing to fill a relief role for Ganassi.

"It was something that Roger approved," Stremme said. "Since I was already with that team, it was easy to help them out. It's pretty cool that Chip would call Roger and ask him for me to drive again. I hate to see Dario get hurt, but we'll go out tomorrow and do the best we can."(sportingnews.com)

Franchitti Out Of Aaron's 499 With Fractured Ankle

Franchitti will be reevaluated early next week. Arrangements are underway to find a substitute driver to pilot the No. 40 TUMS Dodge for Franchitti in tomorrow's NSCS race at Talladega.

On lap 11, Franchitti's No. 40 Fastenal Dodge blew a right-rear tire which caused the on-track incident. Franchitti was treated at the Talladega Superspeedway infield care center and then driven to Physicians Medical Center Carraway in Birmingham, Ala., where he was further evaluated, treated and released.

Goodyear Tests At Indy

“We found improvements in both the left- and right-side tires -- from a grip and performance standpoint -- that the new car seemed to like,” said Rick Campbell, team leader for NASCAR racing for Goodyear. “We learned a lot about what the new car acts like on that track. Now, we’ll go back with the drivers’ feedback and the data we collected and analyze everything over the next week before making our determination on the final set-up.”

During the test, Busch and Earnhardt Jr. were responsible for testing Goodyear’s tire set-ups, while Vickers drove a car with Goodyear’s load cell instrumentation, which is responsible for capturing the characteristics of the new car on this track.

“Kurt Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were responsible for testing the tires that we brought, and they did a fantastic job giving us the feedback we needed,” added Campbell. “We knew that we were making good progress because both drivers wound up having similar comments about the same design changes that we were testing. Both drivers seemed to be very comfortable with the level of grip and the improvements that we made, as well as how well those changes will perform as the race tire for Indianapolis. Both left pretty happy with what we put on their cars and the direction we were going.”

Those sentiments were echoed by Earnhardt Jr. -- “It went good,” added the driver of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. “We found some interesting gains on wear, grip and comfort. I was glad to be a part of it.”

Hornaday Wins At Kansas Speedway

Hornaday surrendered the lead three times during yellow-flag pit stops and impressively drove the Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet back to the front in a few laps on each occasion. He was fourth following his final pit stop on Lap 108, regaining the lead in five laps and holding it for the final 55 around the 1.5-mile circuit (watch video).

KHI teammate Jack Sprague bounced back from a mid-race mistake that put his Chevrolet at the back of the field to finish second, one truck length (.149 seconds) behind following a restart with two laps remaining. Hornaday pulled away to a two-truck length advantage and was in control heading onto the backstraight. Sprague made a strong run going into Turn 3, but wasn't able to get alongside Hornaday and followed him to the checkered flag.

Sprague, also driving a new truck built by KHI, pitted out of sequence on Lap 74 and steadily gained positions. He passed rookie Colin Braun on the outside in Turns 1 and 2 on Lap 155 to take third and moved up to second one lap later when second-running Todd Bodine spun in Turn 3 and hit the outside wall.

Braun, in his Roush Fenway Ford, finished third, but angered veterans Sprague and Matt Crafton. Braun rammed Crafton's Chevrolet in the bumper and turned him into the Turn 4 wall, ruining a strong race. Crafton confronted Braun on pit row after the race, and Braun took responsibility for the mistake. Sprague was attempting to pass Braun on the inside on the frontstretch when the rookie moved to his left.

"He came down on me and I could have let him crash," Sprague said. "I went around him on the outside. I told him, 'That was a gift, but don't mess with me again.' He has to stop running into people. If he wants to win, he has to have respect."