Busch goes back-to-back

Another Coca-Cola 600, another dominant performance for the winning car. Kurt Busch backed up last week’s All-Star win with a dominating performance Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway to win NASCAR’s longest race. Busch became only the seventh driver to win the All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600 in back-to-back weeks, joining the ranks of Dale Earnhardt and Darrel Waltrip. Busch led for a race-high 256 laps with the next highest number of laps led by a driver being Jimmie Johnson with 36 laps led.

“This has been a dream come true to be able to wrap up this special weekend,” Busch said. “This was a fantastic job by my guys to keep us up front all day. This was a race for the ages. To have a car as good as it was in the daytime, I was afraid of what it would do at night. It’s unbelievable that we swept both races.”

“It’s a prestigious race, it’s a tough race, and most important, it’s a team race.”

For a while, it looked like Kyle Busch might score another comeback win. Busch came from almost three laps down in Saturday’s Nationwide Series to get his fifth win in six tries at Charlotte. Sunday night, it looked like he might do it again. While leading, Busch got tangled up with Brad Keselowski on lap 168 after a two-tire stop and seriously damaged his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota. Busch meticulously made his way through the field though and worked his way up to a third-place finish to move within 29 points of series leader Kevin Harvick.

“We had a really good race car, I thought we were one of the best to be able to keep up with the two and the one,” Busch said. “We made a lot of changes to it (the car), we kept making swings at it to try and make it better, and we got a third place finish out of it.”

Jeff Burton was among the late race challengers, but on a late restart, it looked as if Kyle Busch got into Burton’s left rear tire in a three-wide situation. Burton proceeded to cut the tire down and finish 25th.

One of the evolving stories of the night was the run of Jamie McMurray and the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet. Earlier in the day, Dario Franchitti won the Indianapolis 500 to make Chip Ganassi the first car owner to win both the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500 in the same year. And with McMurray making a run to the top at Charlotte, it looked as if Ganassi might win the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day, an unprecedented accomplishment in auto racing. McMurray finished second behind Busch and moved up two spots to 15th in the points standings.

“We had a great car, you know I was worried after happy hour. Our car had really good speed but it just didn’t drive very well,” McMurray said. “We did a great job of making adjustments though and put the same setup we ran in the All-Star Race. The car was really good and they did a nice job of adjusting on it all night long.”

Starting the race fourth in points, Johnson looked poised for another win at Charlotte early in the race but tagged the outside retaining wall on the front stretch just under 100 laps into the race. Johnson rebounded back into the top 20, but got loose on the back stretch on lap 274 and slammed into the wall, effectively ending his night.

“I was trying to run from the leader, and I had the leader on my tail coming through,” Johnson said. “We made some big adjustments to the car and basically adjusted it to free it up there and I just spun out off of (Turn 2).”

Point leader Harvick picked up an 11th-place finish to retain a slight points lead over Kyle Busch. Other points movers were Jeff Gordon, who moved up two spots to fourth after a sixth place finish while Busch moved up three spots with the win to sixth.

The Sprint Cup Series heads to Pocono Raceway next week for the Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 presented by Target.

Photo courtesy of Wilson Herlong

Geoff Bodine to race for share of $1 million

Yes, you saw that right. 61-year-old Geoff Bodine has signed on to race for the largest U.S. Legends purse in grassroots racing history. Bodine will compete in the Legends million at Charlotte Motor Speedway July 15-17 behind the wheel of the Florida Alzheimer's Association car.

Bodine has an illustrious NASCAR career that includes 18 series wins, including the 1986 Daytona 500 and 1982 Rookie of the Year. The event will feature Legend car Series regulars as well as up-and-coming drivers in a 100-lap dash for the cash. The only other auto racing series that compete for a $1 million prize is the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide and IndyCar Series.

The main event will be nationally telecast on SPEED TV on July 17, from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. The telecast will include the entire live A-Main race as well as highlights from Thursday and Friday night's racing action. The winner of the A-Main event will pocket $250,000 with the final spot assured $10,000.

For the Legends Million, Bodine's race car will showcase his commitment to helping those in need. Bodine's car will carry a special paint scheme for the Florida chapter of the Alzheimer's Association and Bodine has pledged to donate his entire prize winnings to help the organization.

"The only way my friends got me to agree to run in the Legends Million was is I could give the money to a charity," Bodine said. "I've been involved in a lot of charities over the years and want to influence people who do good things. I hope we're able to help those affected by this terrible illness."

Bodine's first experience in a Legend Car came in 1997 in a celebrity race. His son, Barry Bodine went on to win the series championship that year. Bodine's final Sprint Cup Series win came in August 1996 in the "Bud at the Glen." Bodine raced in his final Sprint Cup Series race in 2004 at the MBNA America "A Salute To Heroes" 400 at Dover.

3 drivers to watch in the Coca-Cola 600

Now that it's raceday for the Coca-Cola 600, here are my three drivers to watch in the season's longest race.

Darkhorse: Kasey Kahne

Sure, Kahne is 19th in the points standings, but he's always been strong at Charlotte. Kahne was dominant in yesterday's Nationwide Series race before alternator problems eliminated any chance of a win. Three of Kahne's 11 career wins have come at Charlotte, so don't be surprised if the No. 9 Budweiser Ford is in the mix near the end.

Contender: Kyle Busch

Busch doesn't have a strong track record at Charlotte in the Sprint Cup Series, but who can argue against four straight wins in points races in NASCAR's top three series. Busch has six career Nationwide Series wins at Charlotte and has picked up two Sprint Cup Series wins this season. After his late-race run in with Denny Hamlin last week, Busch is poised to pick up his third win of the season.

Winner: Jimmie Johnson

He's fourth in points, but Jimmie Johnson is always a solid winning pick at Charlotte Motor Speedway. A winner of four straight points championships and six Sprint Cup Series races at Charlotte, Johnson is hard to bet against at the 1.5 mile oval. After three straight wins in NASCAR's longest race, Johnson hasn't picked up a win at the 600 since 2005 and seems overdue for a victory.

Busch wins Tech-Net 300

Kyle Busch was two laps down, almost three. But he never gave up. The self-proclaimed “Old Kyle” might have packed it in, but this is the new Busch. After falling nearly three laps behind in the early going because of a pit road penalty, Busch came over the radio and said of still winning the race, “I’ve never done this before. Let’s do it.”

Busch proceeded to plow through the field on the way to his fourth win in his last five tries on the Nationwide Series at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Tech-Net Auto Service 300. That fifth time, Busch finished second to Mike Bliss.

"We don't like to make them too easy I guess," Busch said following the win. "It's a testament to this team and these guys and Jason Ratcliff. They gave me a good piece today."

Busch held off Brad Keselowski and several late restarts for the 35th win of his Nationwide Series career. The win was the 50th of Busch’s career in a Toyota across all three of NASCAR’s series’. The win also moved Busch within one point of Keselowski for the series points lead; however Busch declared this week that he won’t defend his title so he can focus on the Sprint Cup Series. Busch now has six wins in 14 tries at the 1.5 mile oval and is tied with Mark Martin with six wins at CMS.

Keselowski posted his fifth top-10 finish in eight races at Charlotte and 11th top-10 in 2010.

"It was a great day. We led a bunch of laps at the start and there towards the end," Keselowski said. "A great day for us here at Charlotte. If we would have had one more lap, we would have had a shot at it."

Joey Logano, who entered Saturday’s race eighth in points, finished third. It was his second top-10 in four career races at CMS.

I wish we could have turned it up just a little bit and would have had at leas something for him (Busch)," Logano said. "We thought two tires was going to make the difference there at the end. We were sitting in good position, just not fast enough."

Carl Edwards started on the pole but had a mediocre day on the way to a ninth-place finish while second place starter Trevor Bayne finished 17th.

The Nationwide Series heads to Nashville, TN next weekend for the Federated Auto Parts 300.


Photo courtesy of Wilson Herlong

College Player Watch: Jake Locker

The Washington Huskies football program got a boost in the offseason when quarterback Jake Locker decided to return for his senior season rather than declare for the NFL Draft.

At 6-3, 226 pounds, Locker is a game changer and has been a springboard for the Huskies' floundering football program over the last three years.

After an abbreviated season in 2008 because of a thumb injury, Locker returned in 2009 and led the Huskies to a five-win improvement over the 2008 season in which they went 0-12. Locker's big arm gives him the ability to get the ball downfield quickly and allowed him to throw for 2,880 yards, 21 touchdowns and just 11 interceptions. Locker is also very athletic for his size rushing for 388 yards and seven touchdowns in 2009.

Locker showed great improvement in 2009 under head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Huskies will be looking for an even bigger improvement in 2010.

Deegan has aspirations for NASCAR

After making a huge mark on Freestyle Motocross, Brian Deegan wants to try his hand at stock car racing. The most decorated medalist in X-Games history announced today that he plans on making the transition to stock car racing and eventually wants to race in the Sprint Cup Series.

To move up to the Sprint Cup Series, Deegan announced that he will be joining the NTS Motorsports driver development program. Deegan will become part of a two-car program that NTS will field, along with current driver Brennan Newberry.

"When NASCAR chairman Brian France told the world that NASCAR 'is a contact sport...we're going to loosen it up,' I'm not sure Mr. France knew what he was getting into," Deegan said. "I took that as a personal invitation for guys like me. I love racing, I love going fast, I love pushing the limit and that's what I'm going to bring to NASCAR."

In coming to NASCAR, Deegan will bring an entirely new group of fans to the sport.

"Brian is a winner and is going to bring the same commitment and passion that took him to the top of Motocross and the X-Games," NTS Motorrsports Team Owner Bob Newberry said. "We are similarly committed to putting Brian in world class equipment, getting him the seat time to ensure his success, and moving him through our development process to Sprint Cup."

Deegan founded a group called the "Metal Mulisha" and despite numerous injuries and almost dying three separate times, went on to win 10 X-Games medals.

As a precursor to his move into NASCAR, Deegan founded the Rockstar Energy/Metal Mulisha/Lucas Oil short course off-road truck racing team where Deegan won the championship in 2009.


Photo courtesy of Wilson Herlong

College Player Watch: Ryan Mallett

To continue the early college football look ahead, I'll look at the Arkansas' Ryan Mallett. This 6-foot-7-inch, 238 pound gunslinger has it all. A big pro-style arm, tremendous size, and the potential to take the Hogs to a whole new level.

After taking a year off because of a transfer, Mallett exploded out of the gate in 2009. Highlighted by a 409-yard, five touchdown game in a loss to the Georgia Bulldogs. Mallett was the key to the Hog's renewed success in 2009, completing 56 percent of his throws for 3,624 yards, 30 touchdowns and just seven interceptions.

The only weak spot in Mallett is that he shrunk in the big games. Against Alabama, Florida, Ole Miss, LSU and in the bowl game against the East Carolina Pirates, Mallett completed just 39 percent of his passes and threw only five touchdown passes; never throwing for more than 254 yards.

If the Razorbacks want to contend in the battle for the SEC West title, Mallett will need to show more poise in the big games.


Photo courtesy of MCT Campus