NASCAR Wire Service: Talladega notebook

NASCAR Wire Service: Talladega notebook

Notebook: Kurt Busch plays bumper cars at Talladega

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR  Service
(April 17, 2011)

TALLADEGA, Ala.—Kurt Busch had a difficult time avoiding chaos in Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. Three cars—those of Brian Vickers, Brad Keselowski and Dave Blaney—went for a spin after contact from Busch’s front bumper during three separate incidents.
“Restrictor-plate racing and this two-car draft is really tough, and I was in the middle of a bunch of incidents,” Busch said. “I feel bad for wrecking a bunch of cars, especially my teammate, Brad.”
Keselowski, however, absolved his Penske Racing teammate of responsibility.
“We made some great moves but got towards the back in the shuffle and when we did, we caught a big group that just stopped for some reason,” Keselowski said. “I heard that David Ragan blew up—I’m not exactly sure. We ran up on the group, and I just wasn’t able to stop quick enough with Kurt on my tail, and it just spun me right out.
“Just one of them deals here at Talladega. It’s just racing. I just got on the wrong end of it.”

Bayne takes a hard hit
Trevor Bayne, Kasey Kahne and Marcos Ambrose were collected in the incident that took out Keselowski.
As the lead pack of cars headed into Turn 3 on Lap 90, fire erupted beneath Ragan’s No. 6 Ford. As the field began to slow, contact from Busch’s No. 22 Dodge sent Keselowski’s No. 2 Dodge hard into the outside wall. Bayne and the others got caught in the wreck.
“That was one of the harder hits I’ve taken, just because it was so much of a frontal impact across the track, off the apron, all the way to the wall,” Bayne said. “I don’t know who got us. I saw the 6 blowing up in front of us, so I keyed up the mic. I’m like, ‘It’s getting crazy in front of me, Greg’—I was on Greg Biffle’s radio at the time. As soon as I said that they blew up, Greg got off of me because I yelled, ‘Blowing up, blowing up.’
“He got off of me and at the same time the 2 car got hooked somehow. I don’t know that they triggered each other; I just saw the 2 get hooked at the same time the 6 was on fire. He (Keselowski) goes across the track, I saw him hit the outside wall, but then I don’t know who caught us in the right rear and sent us. But I thought we were safe. I was like, ‘Man, that was close,’ and about the time I said that I was headed toward the outside wall. So not a fun ride.”

Contenders collected
A wreck on Lap 140 wiped out two of the top championship contenders, Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch. Contact between Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Joey Logano and Busch triggered the incident. Pushed by Logano, Busch spun to the inside and wiped out Kenseth in the process.
The cars of AJ Allmendinger and Denny Hamlin also sustained damage but were able to continue.
“I was just going straight on the bottom following Kurt (Busch) and got hit in the right-rear and put me straight in the wall,” Kenseth said. “I don’t really know what happened to cause that. Obviously, something happened beside me that got somebody into my right rear. I didn’t even know it was coming, just driving straight hoping to miss the rest of the bullets and get to the end and just got in a wreck.”
Busch finished 35th and Kenseth 36th. Busch fell four spots in the standings to sixth, and Kenseth dropped five spots to eighth.

Biffle wants to end career at Roush Fenway—but not yet
Greg Biffle announced Sunday a new contract and sponsorship deal with Roush Fenway Racing, but he wants everyone to know right now that this won’t be his last one.
And he wants everyone to know that he plans to end his career at RFR.
“I’m planning on that,” Biffle said Sunday morning during the formal announcement of sponsor 3M’s three-year renewal. “I would certainly feel like I’d be able to, and hopefully, this guy over here (3M vice president of sales and marketing Bob MacDonald) will come back in a few years and bring the 3M brand back for a few more years.
“We’ll see, but definitely, the plan is to, I believe, finish my career at Roush Fenway.”
Biffle gave owner Jack Roush his first championship in one of NASCAR’s top three national series when he won the truck series title in 2000. With the 2002 Nationwide championship to his credit, Biffle is the only driver to have achieved that double and, as such, the only driver with a chance to win a championship in each of NASCAR’s top three series.
“We hope we’ve got several more contracts with Greg,” RFR president Steve Newmark said, “particularly after he finishes the triple crown at some point.”

Waltrip thrilled to race at Le Mans
If you’d rather race at Talladega than Le Mans, you just might be a redneck.
No, that’s not a line from a new Jeff Foxworthy comedy routine.
It’s a tongue-in-cheek quip from Michael Waltrip, who, despite his roots in stock car racing, is thrilled to have the opportunity to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 11-12.
Waltrip will share driving duties in a Ferrari fielded by the Italian team AF Corse with Michael Waltrip Racing partner Rob Kauffman and Rui Aguas. In preparation for competition in the GTE Pro class, Waltrip will fly to France in the coming week (an off-week for Sprint Cup racing) and test at Circuit Paul Ricard.
“I’m just honored to get to go there and participate in that great event,” Waltrip said Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. “I’ve been looking at the track on YouTube and studying it the best I can, so I’m looking forward to going and preparing, but mainly it’s the fact that I get to race over there—I can’t wait.
“I wouldn’t trade my chance to race here at Talladega for a chance at Le Mans, which kind of tells you I might be a bit of a redneck, but getting to go there and see that is going to be really cool.”