NSCS: Bojangles' Southern 500 Starting Lineup

Catch the race at 6:30pm/ET on FOX, green flag is set to wave around 7:00pm/ET.

1.       Kurt Busch

2.       Jimmie Johnson

3.       Kyle Busch

4.       Kasey Kahne

5.       Martin Truex Jr.

6.       Denny Hamlin

7.       Matt Kenseth

8.       Jeff Gordon

9.       Greg Biffle

10.   Kevin Harvick

11.   Jeff Burton

12.   Juan Pablo Montoya

13.   Clint Bowyer

14.   Ricky Stenhouse

15.   Paul Meanrd

16.   Dale Earnhardt Jr.

17.   Carl Edwards

18.   Aric Almirola

19.   Casey Mears

20.   Tony Stewart

21.   Ryan Newman

22.   Mark Martin

23.   Bobby Labonte

24.   Marcos Ambrose

25.   Jamie McMurray

26.   Brad Keselowski

27.   Regan Smith

28.   Travis Kvapil

29.   David Gilliland

30.   Joey Logano

31.   David Ragan

32.   Landon Cassill

33.   David Reutimann

34.   Josh Wise

35.   Michael McDowell

36.   Scott Speed

37.   Dave Blaney

38.   Mike Bliss

39.   David Stremme

40.   Danica Patrick

41.   Timmy Hill

42.   J.J. Yeley

43.   Joe Nemechek

Kyle Busch Wins at Darlington

Credit: Zimbio.com

Kyle Busch didn’t win a single nationwide event last season piloting the No. 54 out of Kyle Busch Motorsports. This year Joe Gibbs Racing fields the No. 54, and there is a noticeable difference. Kyle Busch has won five of the eight races he has entered this season, making Joe Gibbs Racing the “powerhouse” team in the Nationwide Series.

Joe Gibbs Racing proved its strength in qualifying. All four cars started in the top four, making that the second time in Nationwide Series history that a team has qualified all four of its cars in the top four.

Kyle Busch led the field to the green flag and never looked back, he “shared” the lead with teammate Matt Kenseth a few times, but he managed to take back the lead and go on to win the event. This race was 147 laps, which is shorter than most. That meant for all the pit crews, every stop had to be perfect. Kyle Busch’s jackman slipped and caused Busch to lose five spots on pit road. Luckily for his team, it was earlier in the race and they had time to make up for that mistake.

There weren’t any major cautions during last night’s even at Darlington. But, multiple drivers did get their “Darlington Stripe.”  Elliott Sadler got loose and brought out one caution but he was able to rally back to a second place finish. Trevor Bayne got into Bryan Silas and brought out the first caution of the night. Bayne went on to finish 32^nd.

Joe Gibbs Racing started in the top four, and finished in the top five. Joey Logano was the spoiler, and finished fourth. Elliott Sadler finished second, Brian Vickers finished third and Matt Kenseth finished fifth. Kyle Larson finished sixth followed by Regan Smith, Sam Hornish Jr., Kasey Kahne and Justin Allgaier who finished tenth.

Regan Smith holds a 28 point lead over Sam Hornish Jr. while Elliott Sadler is 42 points from first. In two weeks the NASCAR Nationwide Series heads to their home track of Charlotte Motor Speedway located right in North Carolina where most of the teams are located.

NNS: VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 Lineup

Tune into ESPN2 at 7:30pm/ET to watch tonight's race from Darlington Raceway

1.       Kyle Busch(#54)

2.       Elliott Sadler(#11)

3.       Matt Kenseth(#18)

4.       Brian Vickers(#20)

5.       Justin Allgaier(#31)

6.       Kasey Kahne(#5)

7.       Kyle Larson(#32)

8.       Austin Dillon(#3)

9.       Sam Hornish Jr.(#12)

10.   Trevor Bayne(#6)

11.   Regan Smith(#7)

12.   Parker Kligerman(#77)

13.   Alex Bowman(#99)

14.   Joey Logano(#22)

15.   Ty Dillon(#33)

16.   Reed Sorenson(#43)

17.   Travis Pastrana(#60)

18.   Chris Buescher(#16)

19.   Mike Bliss(#19)

20.   Landon Cassill(#4)

21.   Nelson Piquet Jr.(#30)

22.   Josh Wise(#40)

23.   J.J. Yeley(#42)

24.   Blake Koch(#00)

25.   Mike Wallace(#01)

26.   Brian Scott(#2)

27.   Jeremy Clements(#51)

28.   Joe Nemechek(#87)

29.   Tanner Berryhill(#17)

30.   Dexter Stacey(#92)

31.   Jeff Green(#10)

32.   Chase Miller(#46)

33.   Kyle Fowler(#79)

34.   Hal Martin(#44)

35.   Harrison Rhodes(#23)

36.   Bryan Silas(#24)

37.   Eric McClure(#14)

38.   Danny Efland(#74)

39.   Tony Raines(#70)

40.   Kevin Lepage(#52)

DNQ

Jason Bowles(#47)

Derrike Cope(#73)

Matt Kenseth Holds Off Kahne to Win at Kansas

Credit: Zimbio.com / Getty Images

Matt Kenseth led 163 of the 267 laps in today’s STP 400 at Kansas. Kenseth started on the pole and never looked back. He had to hold off Kasey Kahne who was charging towards the front at the end. The margin of victory was .150 seconds. He shared the lead with Martin Truex Jr., Jimmie Johnson and rookie, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kenseth now has won both races on the new surface at Kasnas.

The Toyotas and Fords dominated in qualifying. The highest qualifying Chevy was Ryan Newman who started ninth. The HMS cars seemed more confident in their race setups, and it seems that they were right. Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson finished second and third, while Jeff Gordon came home 13^th. Gordon had to start 43^rd after crashing in qualifying. And Dale Jr. finished 16^th.

Martin Truex Jr. had another strong run this afternoon; he came home in the fourth position. Last weekend he finished second for his sixth time in his career. Truex has been looking for a win ever since Dover in 2007. The other two MWR cars finished in the top ten, Bowyer came home fifth and Martin came home eighth.

Kyle Busch qualified fifth for the race this afternoon, but crashed 102 laps into the event after getting loose and coming back down the track and colliding with Joey Logano. Both drivers are ok. Kyle Busch has yet to finish in the top five at Kansas. His best is 7^th which came back in 2006 while Busch was driving for HMS.

 Brad Keselowski also had some work to do since he started in 33^rd this afternoon. Keselowski got some damage at the beginning of the race and his team fixed it during the first caution. Brad later went a lap down, but a good call by crew chief Paul Wolfe made Keselowski take the wave around later on in the race. Brad ended up finishing sixth.

Aric Almirola and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. both qualified inside the top ten and showed they could compete today. Almirola was driving the iconic No. 43 with the STP red and blue paint scheme today. Almirola finished eighth today, giving him his second top ten finish of the season. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. qualified third for the race this afternoon and managed to lead 26 laps. RFR did a test session here at Kansas before the event which looked like it was paying off until the sun came out this afternoon. Stenhouse was the highest finishing RFR driver in eleventh. Teammate Carl Edwards finished 17^th while Greg Biffle came home 19^th.

Jimmie Johnson currently has a 37 point lead over teammate Kasey Kahne. Brad Keselowski is behind 38 points and Greg Biffle is 47 points out of the top spot. Next weekend the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series’ head to Richmond for some racing under the lights, Denny Hamlin said it’s a 50/50 chance that he will race Saturday night.

Results

1.       Matt Kenseth

2.       Kasey Kahne

3.       Jimmie Johnson

4.       Martin Truex Jr.

5.       Clint Bowyer

6.       Brad Keselowski

7.       Jamie McMurray

8.       Airc Almirola

9.       Mark Martin

10.   Paul Menard

11.   Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

12.   Kevin Harvick

13.   Jeff Gordon

14.   Ryan Newman

15.   Kurt Busch

16.   Dale Earnhardt Jr.

17.   Carl Edwards

18.   Jeff Burton

19.   Greg Biffle

20.   Marcos Ambrose

21.   Tony Stewart

22.   Regan Smith

23.   David Gilliland

24.   Bobby Labonte

25.   Danica Patrick

26.   Josh Wise

27.   Juan Pablo Montoya

28.   David Reutimann

29.   Landon Cassill

30.   David Ragan

31.   Brian Vickers

32.   David Stremme

33.   Timmy Hill

34.   Casey Mears

35.   J. J. Yeley

36.   Travis Kvapil

37.   Sam Hornish Jr.

38.   Kyle Busch

39.   Joey Logano

40.   Elliott Sadler

41.   Mike Bliss

42.   Michael McDowell

43.   Dave Blaney

NSCS: STP 400 Lineup

1.      Matt Kenseth-#20

2.      Carl Edwards-#99

3.      Ricky Stenhouse Jr.-#17

4.      Sam Hornish Jr.-#12

5.      Kyle Busch-#18

6.      Aric Almirola-#43

7.      Martin Truex Jr.-#56

8.      Mark Martin-#55

9.      Ryan Newman-#39

10.  Clint Bowyer-#15

11.  Greg Biffle-#16

12.  Paul Menard-#27

13.  Kurt Busch-#78

14.  Jamie McMurray-#1

15.  Marcos Ambrose-#9

16.  Brian Vickers-#11

17.  Kevin Harvick-#29

18.  Tony Stewart-#14

19.  Juan Pablo Montoya-#42

20.  Jeff Burton-#31

21.  Jimmie Johnson-#48

22.  Joey Logano-#22

23.  Dale Earnhardt Jr.-#88

24.  Elliot Sadler-#81

25.  Danica Patrick-#10

26.  David Ragan-#34

27.  Kasey Kahne-#5

28.  David Gilliland-#38

29.  Michael McDowell-#98

30.  Casey Mears-#13

31.  David Reutimann-#83

32.  Travis Kvapil-#93

33.  Brad Keselowski-#2

34.  Bobby Labonte-#47

35.  Mike Bliss-#19

36.  Josh Wise-#35

37.  Timmy Hill-#32

38.  David Stremme-#30

39.  Landon Cassill-#33

40.  J.J Yeley-#36

41.  Regan Smith-#51

42.  Dave Blaney-#7

43.  Jeff Gordon-#24

Kyle Larson Wins His First Truck Race at Rockingham

Credit: Zimbio.com / Getty Images

If you all remember, back at Phoenix last season, Kyle Larson led 43 laps and was in position to win his first race in his third start. But a late yellow flag came out causing the event to go into overtime. On the restart Brian Scott was able to pass Larson to take home the win.

Larson must have had the same thoughts going through his mind as he did at Phoenix last season. The caution flag came out before Larson could come to take the white flag. Joey Logano was second and had the best tires on the track. All Larson had to do was hold off Joey Logano on the final restart and win. And that is exactly what he did.

Today was Larson’s fifth career start in the truck series. Larson qualified third for the second race at Rockingham. He managed to lead 187 of the 205 laps to take the win. Larson had an amazing truck, at one point in the race he had almost a ten second lead over second place.

Only two other drivers saw the lead this afternoon. James Buescher was out front for 17 laps while Johnny Sauter saw the lead for one lap. Sauter was looking to make series history by winning the first three events of the season.

Joey Logano came home second, followed by Brendan Gaughan and Johnny Sauter. Both Gaughan and Sauter looked like they were going after Larson for the lead towards the end. Instead, both drivers battled for second at the time until Joey came charging to the front. Chase Elliott, who made his second start in the series, finished fifth.

There were at total of seven cautions this afternoon, and the last one stood out in particular. Not because it was a now a Green-White-Checkered, but because veteran Ron Hornaday Jr. showed his displeasure to Darrell Wallace Jr. by turning him into the outside wall. This made Wallace Jr. unable to finish the race. Hornaday was sent to the tail end of the longest line and was called to the NASCAR hauler at the end of the race.

Next weekend the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads out to Kansas with the Cup cars to race around the 1.5 mile, newly paved speedway. Johnny Sauter holds at 16 point lead over Jeb Burton who led the field to the green flag today. Matt Crafton trails his teammate by 20 points, while Ron Hornaday is behind by 30 points.

Results

1.       Kyle Larson

2.       Joey Logano

3.       Brendan Gaughan

4.       Johnny Sauter

5.       Chase Elliott

6.       Matt Crafton

7.       Jeb Burton

8.       Ryan Blaney

9.       Erik Jones

10.   Miguel Palduo

11.   John Wes Townley

12.   Ty Dillon

13.   Joey Coulter

14.   James Buescher

15.   Ron Hornaday Jr.

16.   Max Gresham

17.   Dakoda Armstrong

18.   Tim George Jr.

19.   German Quiroga

20.   David Starr

21.   Brennan Newberry

22.   Ryan Sieg

23.   Bryan Silas

24.   Tyler Young

25.   Clay Rogers

26.   Timothy Peters

27.   Darrell Wallace Jr.

28.   Johnny Chapman

29.   Caleb Holman

30.   Tyler Reddick

31.   Jennifer Jo Cobb

32.   Todd Bodine

33.   Norm Benning

34.   Chris Jones

35.   Jeff Agnew

36.   Mike Harmon

Kyle Busch Sweeps Texas

Credit: Zimbio.com / Getty Images

Kyle Busch won last night at Texas Motor Speedway to sweep the weekend. Kyle won on Friday night in the nationwide series and led most of the night in the sprint cup series.

Last night, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. dominated the event last night. Truex was looking for his first win since 2007, when he won his first race at Dover. Last night, Truex finished second for the sixth time in his career.

Kyle Busch had the first pit-stall since he won the pole for the race last night, so that was a big advantage. It was a big enough advantage for Kyle Busch on the final pit-stop. Kyle ended up beating Truex off of pit road and pulled away on the final restart.

Truex’s car failed post-race inspection due to the car being “too low in the front.” The car is going to be sent to the research-and-development center in Concord, N.C.

A big story to the race last night was Joey Logano. Both Logano and teammate Keselowski had to change the rear end housings in their cars before the event last night. Logano was late to pit road, so he had to start in the back. Both Logano and Keselowski rallied back to finish in the top ten.

NASCAR will most likely hand penalties out to some of those teams. But consistency hasn’t been NASCAR’s strong suit in the past season or two, especially last weekend at Martinsville. Brad Keselowski’s car was barely touching the pit box line and NASCAR gave him a penalty. And last night, Tony Stewart made a really strange pit stop that resulted in no penalty. But Jamie McMurray pitted “outside the box” and was given a penalty, but later was given his lap back by NASCAR.

Texas wasn't kind to the Hendrick Motorsports teams of Dale Jr. and Jeff Gordon. Dale had a battery problem which caused him to go two laps down. And Gordon, who was charging towards the front near the end of the race, had a hub problem and failed to finish.

Next weekend the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Kansas along with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Jimmie Johnson currently has a nine point lead over Brad Keselowski. Kyle Busch is in third, trailing by 18 points and Greg Biffle sits in fourth, 30 points out of the lead.

Results

1.       Kyle Busch

2.       Martin Truex Jr.

3.       Carl Edwards

4.       Greg Biffle

5.       Joey Logano

6.       Jimmie Johnson

7.       Aric Almirola

8.       Brian Vickers

9.       Brad Keselowski

10.   Ryan Newman

11.   Kasey Kahne

12.   Matt Kenseth

13.   Kevin Harvick

14.   Mark Martin

15.   Clint Bowyer

16.   Jamie McMurray

17.   Paul Menard

18.   Trevor Bayne

19.   Marcos Ambrose

20.   Juan Pablo Montoya

21.   Tony Stewart

22.   Travis Kvapil

23.   Jeff Burton

24.   David Reutimann

25.   Dave Blaney

26.   David Ragan

27.   David Stremme

28.   Danica Patrick

29.   Dale Earnhardt Jr.

30.   Josh Wise

31.   Casey Mears

32.   David Gilliland

33.   Austin Dillon

34.   Landon Cassill

35.   Joe Nemechek

36.   Timmy Hill

37.   Kurt Busch

38.   Jeff Gordon

39.   J.J. Yeley

40.   Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

41.   Mike Bliss

42.   Bobby Labonte

43.   Michael McDowell