Daily NASCAR

by Holly Cain

Filed under: Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, NASCAR

It wasn’t as dramatic as historic, but Kyle Busch completed an unprecedented sweep of three NASCAR races at Bristol Motor Speedway Saturday night, holding off David Reutimann and Jamie McMurray for his third victory in four days at the half-mile track in Tennessee.

His No. 18 Doublemint Toyota led a resounding 283 of 500 laps for a convincing win Saturday that makes the 25-year old the first driver in NASCAR history to win all three national touring events in the same weekend. It was his fifth try at the historic achievement.

Busch won NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series race Wednesday at BMS, then added a win in the Nationwide Series race Friday courtesy of a controversial bump-and-go in the closing laps with Nationwide points leader Brad Keselowski.

“What a weekend,” Busch radioed his Joe Gibbs Racing team as he took the checkered flag in what seemed the ultimate understatement.

The win was his third of the season and vaulted him five positions — to third place — in the Sprint Cup standings with two races remaining to set the Chase for the Sprint Cup 12-driver playoff run.

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Daytona Int’l Speedway, NASCAR Tracks, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

So much for the suspense.

After weeks of leaks and days of announcements and eye-rolling spectacle from NASCAR track promoters, the sanctioning body finally revealed the full 2011 Sprint Cup schedule Tuesday.

Thanks to the steady stream of announcements from individual tracks, there were no real surprises.

Most notable for the marquee Cup Series is a new venue for 2011 — Kentucky Speedway — which will host its first Sprint Cup event, a night race on July 9. The Chase for the Championship will begin in Chicago (Sept. 18) instead of New Hampshire, which will host the second Chase race instead.

Speedways in Atlanta and Los Angeles will only hold one Cup race instead of two, while conversely Kansas Speedway was awarded a second date in the summer (June 5) to complement its Oct. 8 Chase race.

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Kevin Harvick, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Richard Childress Racing, NASCAR

It’s been a big week for Kevin Harvick; actually, a big year.

Months removed from what looked like a certain parting with a struggling 2009 Richard Childress Racing (RCR) organization, “Happy” Harvick has both himself and RCR comfortably atop the Sprint Cup championship standings.

On Sunday he won his third race of the season and became the first driver to lock into NASCAR’s Chase for the Championship playoffs. On Tuesday, he and RCR welcomed a prized, major sponsor for 2011, Budweiser.

So what changed in the last 10 months?

“It would be easier to tell you what didn’t change, to be honest with you,” Harvick said Tuesday.

“I think everything (changed) from top to bottom. All the things we had here, we’re just using them correctly and more often.

“It’s still the same people; just working in a different direction.”

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Ford, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

As speculated, Australian driver Marcos Ambrose has officially signed a multi-year contract to drive the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 9 Ford in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series beginning in 2011.

In its announcement Tuesday, the team also confirmed that Stanley Black & Decker will now be the primary sponsor of the car next year, replacing Budweiser, which goes to Kevin Harvick’s No. 29 Chevrolet.

The move will reunite Ambrose with Ford Motor Company, which played a key role in bringing the former Australian V8 Supercar champ to America in 2006. He will replace Kasey Kahne, who revealed last week he is moving to Red Bull Racing for 2011 before joining the Hendrick Motorsports organization for 2012.

“It’s a journey that I’m on — this NASCAR journey — (and) I’m very excited to be able to stay in the sport,” Ambrose said during a press conference at Stanley’s world headquarters in Connecticut.

Also, RPM announced last week that former open-wheeler A.J. Allmendinger will remain driver of the team’s No. 43 Ford next season. Paul Menard will move from RPM to Richard Childress Racing in 2012, and it remains unclear where the RPM team’s other driver, Elliott Sadler, will end up next season. Stanley has been a long-time sponsor of Sadler’s No. 19 Ford at RPM.

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Kevin Harvick, NASCAR Sponsors, Richard Childress Racing, NASCAR

Richard Childress Racing made it official Tuesday: Longtime NASCAR sponsor Budweiser will join RCR as primary sponsor on current Sprint Cup Series championship leader Kevin Harvick’s No. 29 Chevrolet for 20 of the 36 points races in 2011.

Harvick is the latest in a long line of high-profile sponsorships for the company during the last three decades, including three-time Cup champ Darrell Waltrip, a lengthy and popular pairing with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and currently Kasey Kahne.

Childress announced earlier this year that Harvick’s current sponsor Shell-Pennzoil would not be returning next season and Kahne revealed last week that he will be joining the Red Bull Racing team for 2011.

A release from the team said in addition to its 20-race primary sponsorship deal, Budweiser would appear on Harvick’s Chevy for Daytona Speedweeks’ two non-points races and would be co-primary sponsor on the car for the exhibition Sprint All-Star Race. It will be an associate sponsor on the remaining events.

“We’re excited to have as successful a driver as Kevin Harvick to usher in a new era for Budweiser,” said Mark Wright, Anheuser-Busch Vice President of Media, Sports and Entertainment.

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