|| *Comments on the 2011 Wypall 200:* View the most recent comment <#84> | Post a comment <#post> 1. Smiff_99 posted: 11.12.2011 - 7:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wow.........Hornish! Interesting...... 2. 18fan posted: 11.12.2011 - 7:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't know if anybody agrees with me on this, but the way these guys were cutting the dog-leg was a little ridiculous. Going down a little bit is one thing, but how far Elliott Sadler went on the lap he got wrecked in my opinion was too far. In that wreck, the ESPN broadcast team did not hide their feelings in putting the blame on Leffler. 3. 00andJoe posted: 11.12.2011 - 7:28 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) As long as they CAN go somewhere, they WILL... And I have to say that the second groove rubbered in pretty darn quick. So far I'm giving Phoenix's repaving a thumbs-up. 4. KurtBusch22Fan posted: 11.12.2011 - 7:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Sam Hornish, Jr. gets a well deserved first win and at the same track he got his first IndyCar win at, just a different configuration. Once again, ESPN proves to be the worst NASCAR broadcasters. They decided that crapball was more important then interviewing a first time winner. 5. 00andJoe posted: 11.12.2011 - 7:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #31 sponsor: Brandt Monterey #62 sponsor: Pilot Travel Centers/Oakley (Flying J was not on the car) #87 sponsor: AM FM Energy / Pellet & Wood Stoves (space between AM and FM - same change needed for last week at Texas) #80 sponsor: Northern Provincial Pipelines 6. 18fan posted: 11.12.2011 - 7:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 00andJoe, I think my reaction is mainly that it just looks really weird to see. 7. bob posted: 11.12.2011 - 7:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) great run by hornish! but more importantly, not cup drivers led a lap today. this is what the nationwide series needs to be. a few cuppers in the race for ratings, but the win and attention going to the nationwide guys and their championship battle. well, nascar can now advertise a former indycar driver winning a nationwide race, but perhaps not the one they intended! steve wallace wrecked james buescher on purpose. he should be banned from nascar. not because of this incident specifically but because he is the worst driver in nascar. also, morgan shepherd was in a scary wreck in which he did not get out of the car for almost a minute. it wasn't too hard of a wreck, but when you're 70 years old an accident at 170 mph hurts more than it used too. poor morgan had been having a nice race running in the 19th position at the time of the accident. in his interview he said that he only has 1 engine left and it already has 900 miles on it so he might not be able to run the full race next week at homestead. 8. dUDE gUY posted: 11.12.2011 - 7:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sam Hornish raced smoothly and smartly all race long and won his first Nationwide race. Good job to the 12 team for a well deserved win! 9. Damon posted: 11.12.2011 - 7:44 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) They did interview Hornish on ESPN News and he got choked up, understandably, nice job today Sam. 10. DaleSrFanForever posted: 11.12.2011 - 7:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Damn! I missed it! Congrats to Sam. 11. 1995 Subaru WRX STi posted: 11.12.2011 - 7:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Jason Leffler proves how much a tool he really is by blantly dumping Elliot Sadler out of championship contention. (not that he had much a chance anyway) and takes out others. I agree with post #4. i wanted to see Sam Hornish in victory lane, college football can wait. (not like the game isn't going to affect the Bullshit championship system standings.) 12. bob posted: 11.12.2011 - 7:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) #11 don't worry jason leffler will not be returing to that team next year and has not yet announced any plans. so he probably will not be racing next season. a big of bad news is that go green racing had both of their cars in the lap 1 wreck. that team's fleet of cars in only 4 so they had 50% of their inventory destroyed today :( 13. . posted: 11.12.2011 - 7:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I only saw the last 50 laps, but from what I saw and heard this was a great race. ESPN continues to amaze me with its bad coverage. I feel bad for Sadler for getting taken out, but also bad for Leffler for how horribly ESPN treated him with that wreck. Leffler seemed genuinely sorry and it looked like just a racing incident with a groove that IMO is too low. Great job to Sam Hornish Jr! Penske stuck with him for all these years and it finally paid off. And with ESPN, I spent around 5 minutes flipping back and forth between ESPN2 and ESPN News while both channels were covering the same college football game. 14. Rusty posted: 11.12.2011 - 7:52 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) They did air the interview, on ESPN News. If you didn't pay attention or are too cheap to afford the channel that is your fault. ESPN had a priority to air a game between two popular schools. If you had to miss a green flag of a race due to some interviews in a game because it went to overtime, you would be mad. As for the actual race, only caught the last two laps when I found out Hornish was on the verge of winning. Nice suprise there and happy for him. It is good for the Nationwide series to have some suprise winners, because this series is so boring and predictable it is sad. 15. bob posted: 11.12.2011 - 7:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) morgan shepherd should be glad that he has Jesus on his hood because he had someone looking after him during that crash. when he didn't get out of his car right after the wreck i was scared for a minute, especially when i remembered that he's 70! 16. Damon posted: 11.12.2011 - 7:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This WASN'T a great race by any means with more cautions than lead changes/leaders, but it was interesting in that the Cup guys didn't lead a lap. 17. bob posted: 11.12.2011 - 7:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) i belive that the last nationwide race that no cup drivers led a lap in was 2002 at pike's peak, which was the last nationwide race that no cup drivers participated in. 18. Brad24 posted: 11.12.2011 - 7:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It's always great to see a Nationwide-only driver win one in a race full of Cup guys. But to see it two weeks in a row, and on top of that both first-time winners is amazing. Congrats to Sam Hornish, Jr. on a much deserved and hard-fought win. Going into Homestead, the Cup vs. Nationwide in wins: 27-6 A lot better than I imagined it would be, but not too shabby. Looks like all Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. has to do is basically start the race and the title will be his. I hate that Elliott Sadler had to get taken out like that though. If today's race is any indication, it looks like the Cup race is gonna be an absolute wreckfest. It appears to me that the Nationwide Series is headed back on track to what this series used to mean. We're starting to see less Cup guys every week. I think we'll see even less next year. We already know Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, and Kyle Busch are not running full schedules. It will probably have a lot of Cup guys in the big races like Daytona, Bristol, Talladega, and Indy. The future of the Nationwide Series looks bright. 19. DaleSrFanForever posted: 11.12.2011 - 8:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Saw some replays on NASCAR's website. First off, one of the clips says "Steve Wallace turns Buescher, gets caught in mess". Is there any more of a career summing headline then that one? Secondly ESPN's covering of the Leffler/Sadler wreck was beyond unprofessional. I don't like Leffler one bit and I have criticized him harshly in the past when he has screwed up. But him and Almirola were going the exact same speed into that corner. It is obvious Sadler pulled below the apron, pulled back on track right in front of Jason. Then he clearly slowed way before everyone else normally would. That was Elliott's fault. And of course the ESPN booth went nuts. Totally pathetic. 20. Rusty posted: 11.12.2011 - 8:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "i belive that the last nationwide race that no cup drivers led a lap in was 2002 at pike's peak, which was the last nationwide race that no cup drivers participated in. " There were no Cup drivers in this year's race at Road America. Also the 2005 race at Nashville had no Cup drivers because it was ran the same day as the Cup race in Pocono. 21. bob posted: 11.12.2011 - 8:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @ Brad24 i agree this is what the nationwide series should be! a few cup drivers are needed to bring in ratings, but none of them ever challenged for the win. plus, only 5 full time cup drivers were in the field (logano, edwards, bowyer, keselowski, and nemechek) and i've never minded guys like nemechek running both races anyway. if today doesn't prove that cup guys aren't needed for a good nationwide race, then i don't know what will. 22. bob posted: 11.12.2011 - 8:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) rusty, michael mcdowell was in this years nationwide race at road american. he is a full time cup driver, and led the most laps in that race. 23. Bronco posted: 11.12.2011 - 8:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sam should probably have started out in Nationwide rather going to Cup, doing poorly and ruining his confidence and then having to step down. Of three first time Nationwide winners this year, Sam took less starts to get his first win than Ricky or Trevor, despite never attempting a full Nationwide schedule. The two Nationwide races at Phoenix had two lead changes COMBINED this year, just awful. I'd love to see Phoenix and Kansas lose a date each and have Iowa get two races on the Cup schedule. Ricky pretty much locked up the title today even though he can't celebrate until next week. I felt the ESPN guys were especially harsh on Leffler since they have been quietly rooting for Sadler each and every week. Sadler move's was perfectly legal and timed well, but in doing so lost all his momentum going into the corner which led to Leffler closing in on him much quicker than expected. Not looking forward to tomorrow's race, expecting a single file parade for the most part and wrecks whenever they try and run side by side. 24. bob posted: 11.12.2011 - 8:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) bronco there were 3 leaders today with 2 lead changes so there were 3 lead changes this year in phoenix not 2. "not looking forward to tomorro's race, expecting a single file parade for the most part and wrecks whenever they try to run side by side" that's different from all the other cup races how? 25. Watto posted: 11.12.2011 - 8:19 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "steve wallace wrecked james buescher on purpose." I really didn't see that as intentional. Looked to me that his car twitched when he had to use some of the apron since there wasn't room for his whole car above it. Certainly Steve Wallace's fault, but I don't think it was intentional. "But him and Almirola were going the exact same speed into that corner. It is obvious Sadler pulled below the apron, pulled back on track right in front of Jason. Then he clearly slowed way before everyone else normally would. That was Elliott's fault." I don't think it was simply Elliott's fault. Leffler did enter slightly deeper than Almirola, but it wasn't a big difference. It's just kinda surprising because usually the car on the outside is able to drive deeper than the car on the bottom because of people able to carry more speed higher on the track. Sadler's braking point didn't seem too early based on where it seemed like everyone was braking for most of the race, and certainly Leffler should've been more aware with a championship contender. At first glance, it certainly looked worse than it was, which is why the announcers jumped on his case so bad. After the interviews, Dale Jarrett kinda changed his tune and understood it was a mistake. I even thought it was a cheap shot at first glance so it wasn't too shocking that Petree and others thought the same thing. Anyway, this was kinda wordy, but I feel that it's not plainly Elliott's fault. Combination of factors. I certainly think that Leffler drove in pretty deep because of the 88 above him more than anything. He didn't seem to be watching the car in front of him. 26. bob posted: 11.12.2011 - 8:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) congradulations to the top ten finishers: 1. sam horinsh jr. 2. ricky stenhouse jr. 3. trevor bayne 4. ryan truex 5. justin allgaier 6. michael annett 7. david stremme 8. joe nemechek 9. ron hornaday jr. 10. blake koch 27. jabber1990 posted: 11.12.2011 - 8:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) I would have dumped sadler for going below the yellow line. nobody else is going down there 28. Peter posted: 11.12.2011 - 8:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Back-to-Back first time winners in Nationwide!!!!!!!! When's the last time that happened? 29. JP88 posted: 11.12.2011 - 8:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wow...what a wreckfest, Morgan Shepard took a hard lick, glad he was alright because he took a while to get out...I was scared he had a heart attack or something since he's 70...thankfully he was fine. And Wow...no Cup driver lead a lap today, something you see once in a blue moon. And Wow...surprised that Hornish won, I was happy for him, he really deserved it and you could see how much the win meant to him. 30. Talk4Tar posted: 11.12.2011 - 8:49 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "I would have dumped sadler for going below the yellow line. nobody else is going down there" That's completely untrue. Congratulations to Defiance, Ohio's Sam Hornish Jr. for picking up his first career NASCAR Nationwide Series win. After coming over to IndyCar full time after the 2007 season, it's nice to see Hornish finally have that radical career move pay off for him. 31. Rusty posted: 11.12.2011 - 9:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) If you want to consider McDowell a Cup driver, then okay. But I really don't, he is start and parking just to keep his name out there in hopes of finding something and may a paycheck. If he was in a legit ride competing week in and week out, then I'd throw him in there, but he's not. 32. Anonymous posted: 11.12.2011 - 9:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Good runs by Koch, Hill, McClure and Lepage. 33. Anonymous posted: 11.12.2011 - 9:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the new banking in the dogleg!!! It adds so much character to this track. It's up to the drivers to police the limits of what should prove to be a very exciting section of the speedway. 34. 1995 Subaru WRX STi posted: 11.12.2011 - 9:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "They did air the interview, on ESPN News. If you didn't pay attention or are too cheap to afford the channel that is your fault. ESPN had a priority to air a game between two popular schools. If you had to miss a green flag of a race due to some interviews in a game because it went to overtime, you would be mad." I'm a college student, you'd expect me to shill out something that i'm hardly going to use? In case you didn't notice the US economy is in the crapper and "some" of use can't afford it. It isn't being cheap, its called 'living within your means.' ANd in my case, i'm pinching Mr. Lincoln so hard he is screaming. anyway i saw Sams interview on NASCAR.com, shows emotions and is thankful for winning. good on ya Sam. refreshing to see. 35. Mr X posted: 11.12.2011 - 9:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I really thought the Phoenix repave was going to turn out terrible, I am thrilled to state that the track rubbered in beautifully. I still think the repave was completely unnecessary, the old track was still more of a drivers track, and the tire wear on this new surface is basically zero. Not to mention Phoenix wasn't in need of a repave and it wasn't like Phoenix was in need of any character. However the race tomorrow I think will be very interesting, the lack of available lines and the relatively slow speeds, means a bad handling car will go backwards, and a good car will go forwards regardless of track position or the lack of tire wear. I do believe this race will be run out on the track as opposed to pitroad, which I really feared wouldn't happen. Congrats to Sam Hornish on a well deserved win, and good job to PIR for not screwing up their track. I don't think this new track is better, but it's certainly no worse, and something will probably have to be done about drivers cutting through the appron in the dogleg. 36. samfan11 posted: 11.12.2011 - 10:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Been a long time since I could be proud of being a Hornish fan and didn't have to defend him. Thank you Sam. You could have just gone back to open wheels and became a legend over there(not naming names), but instead you decided to do the hard thing, go part time Nationwide, and try to make it work in NASCAR. Today it paid off. Hopefully this isn't the last time your fans get to see in victory lane. And I think that's the most emotion I've ever seen him show. He's a shy, emotionless guy and sometimes that gets confused as him being stuck up. But it's obvious what this win meant to him. Hopefully this helps him land a full time ride in Nationwide next year. Not sure if he'd be a championship threat, but I'd bet he'd put himself in the top 10 in points, contend for a few more wins, and at least keep his name out there for the future. 37. irony posted: 11.12.2011 - 10:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Phoenix was a nice and narrow short-track-style oval with a really cool rumble strip on the backstretch. Now it looks like something F1 would race at if they raced an oval. Miles of extra pavement that lets you take a short cut like it was a video game. And that tighter dog leg that was supposed to resemble Nazareth? They seem to be taking it wide open, so what does it add? If you tried to take Nazareth's dog leg wide open you'd end up in the parking lot. Sorry to rant, maybe the new Phoenix will grow on me. Time for IndyCar drivers to start getting more credit. Hornish has a win, Dario had a pole and a front row start at Bristol during his brief venture. Danica has shown tons of promise. Hornish may of had a nice career by now if he wasn't rushed straight to Cup. Overall, the best NW race in a long while, simply because it wasn't dominated by Cup drivers. 38. Anonymous posted: 11.12.2011 - 10:53 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Irony... It is just a bigger version of concord speedway. 39. Bronco posted: 11.12.2011 - 11:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "bronco there were 3 leaders today with 2 lead changes so there were 3 lead changes this year in phoenix not 2." No, Kyle Busch led every lap from the pole in February so that counts as 0 lead changes, and today Stenhouse took the lead from Almirola and Hornish took the lead from Stenhouse, making it 2 lead changes for the year at Phoenix. I never would have dreamed that Hornish would win this season while Sadler and Almirola would go winless and wouldn't really contend for the championship. Aric hasn't even finished in the top 10 since Chicago after a strong run during the summer. I forget to mention this last week, but shame on Z-Line for dismissing Kyle from the #18 ride next week. What he did was wrong yes, but being parked and fined by NASCAR is punishment enough. Suspending him for a race is no way to treat a guy who has won a TON of races for you and is giving your car more exposure than possibly anyone else in the series. The same goes for M&Ms for pulling their sponsorship for Phoenix and Homestead. 40. 00andJoe posted: 11.12.2011 - 11:23 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Not looking forward to tomorrow's race, expecting a single file parade for the most part and wrecks whenever they try and run side by side. " Just because there weren't many lead changes doesn't mean it was a bad race. The racing in the pack was excellent. 41. bob posted: 11.12.2011 - 11:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) bronco hornish is a much better driver than sadler or almirola. yes, sadler has won cup races before and aric contended for the truck championship last year, but hornish is a series champion in indycar and has won the indy 500. he has been off to a very slow start in nascar, but is still a much more successful and talented driver. btw i didn't think that busch leading every lap in phoenix in the spring would count as 0 lead changes. thanks for pointing that out. rusty, regardless of whether or not mcdowell start and parks, he has 5 starts in the nationwide series this season, and 31 starts in the cup series (2 in races he was not entered in due to nationwide commitments). so imo he counts as a cup driver. also, he is earning his points in the cup series, not nationwide. 42. NazRacePhan posted: 11.12.2011 - 11:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #28--Peter: last back-to-back first time winners: 6/7/2008-Nashville-Brad Keselowski-88-U.S. Navy-Chevrolet 6/14/2008-Kentucky-Joey Logano-20-GameStop-Toyota 43. The Ost posted: 11.12.2011 - 11:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I enjoyed the race. The wrecks were racing incidents. Humans make mistakes, that's what makes sports interesting. Congrats to Sam and Mr Penske. 44. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 11.13.2011 - 12:15 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 18fan (in response to comment #2 that you made), I noticed guys cutting down during qualifying but I only watched bits of this race. It certainly seems the drivers are trying to find as much of an advantage as possible. lol Congrats to Sam Hornish. Obviously Penske's stuff in Nationwide is bad fast, but Sam has done a nice job recreating a career for himself in this series. Seeing his performance this year is pretty much all the proof I need that he should have run a couple of full schedules in this series before going into Cup. You can basically give Ricky Stenhouse the championship trophy now, seeing as he virtually has it locked up after today's race. Phoenix's reconfiguration produces some fairly nice racing so far, but let's just hope the Sprint Cup series can put on a good show tomorrow. 45. AlmirolaFan88 posted: 11.13.2011 - 12:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Anyone have the ROTY standings? It would be a crime if Ryan Truex can't race at Homestead. 46. bob posted: 11.13.2011 - 12:32 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) rookie standings aren't available until monday when nascar.com posts the official standings. and as of now ryan truex has no ride planned from homestead. sucks for him but it's great for me cause i've met blake koch so i want him to win. 47. cjs3872 posted: 11.13.2011 - 12:34 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) I don't have much hope for the Cup race tomorrow. I'm surprised that nobody has yet mentioned the three blown right front tires that cause hard hits for four drivers in today's Nationwide race [Mike Bliss' blown right front tire caused him and Derrike Cope to crash]. And I think that grass needs to be put on the dog-leg part of the back straightaway. That will keep drivers from cutting the dog-leg. Indianapolis has been criticized this year for the grass are that separates the track from the warm-up/break down lane in the turns. But remember that the turns were reconfirgured there in 1993 for a couple of reasons. First, knowing the NASCAR would come there in the future, they had to stop them from going into the grass in the turns. Then there's the safety aspect, since quite a number of drivers were badly injured as a result of losing control of the car on the apron [Nelson Piquet, Sr. and Jeff Andretti being the most notable examples]. But there's another factor. USAC, who sanctioned the Indy 500 at the time was not very happy about the drivers shortcutting the corners there, and even penalized Mario Andretti one lap in the 1991 Indianapolis 500 for doing so. But the disasters of 1992 was the last straw, so they reconfigured the corners at Indy to make it so that the drivers would have to drive the track at Indy the way it was originally intended to be driven, as much as it had to do with the safety improvements. Well the same thing needs to be done at Phoenix. NASCAR and the Phoenix International Speedway, which is owned by ISC, needs to put grass on the inside of the dogleg so nobody can shortcut the course. If you think what happened near the end of the 1999 Daytona 500 with Jeff Gordon nearly being forced into Ricky Rudd's damaged car was bad, wait until somebaody actually does run into a disable car because of shortcutting the course. Much as many tracks had to have grass taken out for safety reasons, Phoenix has to have grass PUT IN on the inside of the back straightaway for the same reasons. 48. bob posted: 11.13.2011 - 12:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) good point #47. although just telling the drivers they will be penalized a lap should they do it should get them to stop (anyway there's no way they can put grass in by tomorrow) imo making a pass off the racing surface seems like kind of a d$%* move. 49. irony posted: 11.13.2011 - 1:32 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) It just makes no sense why they would pave the whole square mile. A simple apron would do. Completely bypassing a turn isn't racing, even if there's no advantage. It's almost as bad as the green pavement in F1 these days. A race track has black pavement and green grass. Staying on the black stuff and off the green stuff as Murray Walker would say, is one of the obstacles of motor racing. 50. joey2448 posted: 11.13.2011 - 1:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I thought the action in the dogleg was exciting! The Cup race tomorrow should be good. 51. Talk4Tar posted: 11.13.2011 - 4:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) "I forget to mention this last week, but shame on Z-Line for dismissing Kyle from the #18 ride next week. What he did was wrong yes, but being parked and fined by NASCAR is punishment enough. Suspending him for a race is no way to treat a guy who has won a TON of races for you and is giving your car more exposure than possibly anyone else in the series. The same goes for M&Ms for pulling their sponsorship for Phoenix and Homestead." Z-Line and M&M's deserve absolutely no shame for their decisions. These companies shill out MILLIONS of dollars a year to be represented by Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Busch. When on the track with those companies on those cars, Kyle becomes a representation of those brands. Why would those brands want to be associated with someone who is in the midst of a firestorm of controversy because they had a psychotic break in the midst of a race and wrecked another driver under caution, in an offense that was severe enough to force NASCAR to park said driver for the rest of the weekend? When you represent a company, you should act with a certain amount of dignity and class, Kyle did not do so, and is being punished by those companies as a result. Not to mention Z-Line, M&M's and Interstate Batteries have been featured prominently on almost every NASCAR news site thanks to their involvement in this whole Kyle Busch fiasco. Just as much, if not more so, than they would have been mentioned by JUST being a sponsor on the car during the weekend. Weird how that works, eh? 52. NicoRosbergFan posted: 11.13.2011 - 7:46 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Did anyone else notice how ESPN didn't interview Morgan when he was on pole for 30 minutes, but they interviewed Scott Speed when he was on pole for 40 seconds? 53. BIMMERTECH posted: 11.13.2011 - 8:58 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) typical espn not scheduling enough time for the events they want to cover. one football game ran late into the race, the race ran late into another game. seems to be a consistant problem every fall. im just glad i was home to see the victory lane interview. i hate when a driver gets their first win and gets out of the car with an attitude, like it should have come sooner. hornish really appreciated the moment and all the hard work it took to get there. it was a long time coming whether it happened in cup or nationwide. 54. DaleSrFanForever posted: 11.13.2011 - 9:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) I say shame on M&M's and. Z-Line for not completely dissociating themselves from Kyle. With as long as his rap sheet is, no self respecting company should want to be associated with him. 55. Damon posted: 11.13.2011 - 9:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) To Nico on post 52, You mean SPEED Channel 56. Peter posted: 11.13.2011 - 9:59 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Still belive Sam won! He easily could have gone back to Indycar with his tail between his legs, but toughed it out in NASACR and worked his ass off to be where he is today! Great job Sam, you and Trevor have heeled NASCAR after weeks of termoil & bad press. Just a great, great story! 57. Cooper posted: 11.13.2011 - 10:01 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Wait, The dogleg adds character to the track...Fans always want tracks to be different, and this makes Phoenix different. Why would you eliminate something that's entertaining and creative? Drivers have been diving on the apron at tracks since forever. "Go where they're not" is the basis of racing. Way to go Sam!, I really wanted you to get a NASCAR win. Plus your Alliance car looks great. He's a threat for next years Nationwide Championship. 58. DaleSrFanForever posted: 11.13.2011 - 10:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I agree with you guys about Sam. I was one of the loudest "What the hell is Sam doing here? He needs to go back to Indy Cars!" people. But he didn't give up, and that is really inspiring. I am also gonna be pulling for him in NWide next year. Who knows? Maybe he can get a rhythm in stock cars, get another chance in Cup, and make the most of it. What a story that would be! Kinda like Mark coming to Cup in the early '80s, sucking big time, humbly taking a step down in stock cars back to the ASA, then coming back with Roush to re-launch his career. 59. 12345Dude posted: 11.13.2011 - 12:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I agree with everyone on here. Sam Hornish did not do a "Dario Franchetti" and leave the sport after a months, because things weren't going right. He spent 3 misrable years in the cup series, before running a part time nationwide schedule this year. He didn't give up. Good for him. 60. cjs3872 posted: 11.13.2011 - 12:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Doesn't anybody find it interesting that the last two races in the Nationwide Series, both of which were won by drivers that had never previously won in the Nationwide Series, have been won by drivers that have won the two biggest auto races in the world. First last week's race at Texas was won by a Daytona 500 winner [Trevor Bayne, the current champion of that race], and now this week's race is won by an Indianapolis 500 champion [Sam Hornish, Jr., who took the 2006 Indy 500, becoming the first to do so with a last lap pass]. It's also noteworthy that, although this is the sixth race this year won by a non-Cup driver, only Bayne's and Hornish's wins were acheived by championship-eligible drivers during a companion weekend with the Cup series. What this proves to me is that these two drivers, as evidenced by their huge victories previously, seem to have the poise and confidence to win races against the Cup competitors, while the others don't seem to have that confidence. Sure, Stenhouse's wins came in races with Carl Edwards in them, but I'm referring to a weekend that is a companion with the Cup race. Speaking of Stenhouse, all he has to do is run about 15 laps in the season finale at Homestead, and he'll clinch the championship. That's because all the necessary cars that need to drop out of that race [seven] will do so in the first 15 laps, as there will probably be more than that may start-and-parks in that race, so Stenhouse, due to Jason Leffler's boneheaded move, really clinched the championship in this race. 61. KurtBusch22Fan posted: 11.13.2011 - 12:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I bet the same people complaining about the dogleg probably complain about the double yellow line rule. I say if there its asphalt, then it should be able to race on it, except for pit road of course. 62. Evan posted: 11.13.2011 - 12:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The cutting down on the apron is like in NASCAR Thunder 2003 where you can cut down on the grass in Phoenix and gain positions but its unsafe. That was a bad move by Jason Leffler to to take Sadler out. Elliott should not think badly of this season, he had a great year, he had a baby and his luck was much better than his past few years in Cup. The future does not look bad for Elliott Sadler, here's to better days ahead. 63. cjs3872 posted: 11.13.2011 - 1:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) KurtBusch22Fan, the problem is that the way they shortcut the course yesterday is not only unsafe, but it also compromises the integrity of the race track, because it's just not the way the course was designed to be run. That's why grass should be put on the inside of the dogleg as soon as possible. Just imagine the situtation that nearly happened near the end of the 1999 Daytona 500, when Jeff Gordon was forced down and nearly hit Ricky Rudd's already disabled car, actually happening, with a car running 50-70 MPH faster running right over the car in front of it because the trailing driver was shortcutting the course. At the very least, a grass strip, much like what they have in each of the four turns at Indy, would put a stop to drivers shortcutting the course. 64. potatosalad48 posted: 11.13.2011 - 1:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) At first, I thought Sam Hornish was good for nothing but hitting the wall and causing accidents. I was proven wrong today. Congratulations to Sam Hornish Jr. on his 1st Nationwide win, coming at the same track he got his 1st Indycar win. I'm glad Roger Penske didn't give up on him. 65. Bronco posted: 11.13.2011 - 2:37 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) "Why would those brands want to be associated with someone who is in the midst of a firestorm of controversy because they had a psychotic break in the midst of a race and wrecked another driver under caution, in an offense that was severe enough to force NASCAR to park said driver for the rest of the weekend?" Because that same "someone" is the guy that took your sponsorship and raised your brand exposure to a new level. M&Ms went from from sponsoring mid packers like Schrader, Sadler, Gilliland, Rudd to winning multiple races each year, leading tons of laps, and regularly making the chase and leading the standings. And that's just for M&Ms, I don't think to elaborate on what Kyle has done in the #18 Z-Line Nationwide car. Gratitude, if nothing else should have led M&Ms to talk to Kyle, fine him if need be, but not to just yank away their support like that. Also, lost in all of this is the fact that Kyle wasn't even being sponsored by M&Ms or Z-Line in that truck race!! He was sponsored by Traxxas so if anything they were the ones facing the negative image of him wreckig Ron. I know M&Ms and Z-Line have sponsored the #18 truck in the past, but that wasn't the case at Texas. "I say shame on M&M's and. Z-Line for not completely dissociating themselves from Kyle. With as long as his rap sheet is, no self respecting company should want to be associated with him." Lol, and I'm sure that completely objective statement right there has absolutely nothing to do with your intense dislike of Kyle right? From a sponsor's perspective, Dale Jr and Tony Stewart get away with dropping profanities on live TV, Harvick get away for triggering brawls with other drivers, Edwards triggers violent crashes and get away with it, Waltrip and Allmendinger get away with DUIs, but Kyle gets dumped by his sponsor for actions in a race when he wasn't even representing them? How does that work? 66. 1995 Subaru WRX STi posted: 11.13.2011 - 2:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Wait, The dogleg adds character to the track...Fans always want tracks to be different, and this makes Phoenix different. Why would you eliminate something that's entertaining and creative?" its the H-word again Cooper. 67. bob posted: 11.13.2011 - 5:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "mid-packers" like elliott sadler, david gilliland, and ernie irvan have more respect in one bone than kyle busch has in his entire body and did more for m&m's than kyle busch ever had or ever will. and z-lines is stupid for in 2008 not wanting brad coleman or kevin conway in the #18 like in 2007. 68. RCRandPenskeGuy posted: 11.13.2011 - 6:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) After seeing a replay of the Sadler/Leffler incident, I place blame on Elliott. By cutting down on the apron like that and pulling in front of Jason, he lost whatever speed and momentum he would have had entering the corner while Jason was going normal speed. Although Leffler took the blame himself, I gotta disagree. 69. Brad24 posted: 11.13.2011 - 9:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @bob(#21 in response to my earlier comment #18) There is also a lot of uncertainty with plenty of Cup drivers not having rides for next year. David Ragan(If he can't get a sponsor), Brian Vickers, David Reutimann, and the list goes on. This could lead to more current Cup drivers coming back to Nationwide full-time next if they can't secure a ride. If that happens, it could make this series very competitive next year. 70. irony posted: 11.14.2011 - 6:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Phoenix had character to begin with. I'll get used to the new Phoenix, but I wish they left it alone. They could of put the effort into reconfiguring the generic Kansas Speedway. Instead they're taking what little character it has away by adding banking and making it a Vegas clone. 71. Damon posted: 11.14.2011 - 8:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) In fairness to Dario, his team ran out of sponsorship and Ganassi had a seat open up on the IndyCar side, not a hard choice to make. If Ganassi had sponsorship to run Dario full-time with no issues like Penske did with Mobil 1/Hornish for 3 years from 2008-2010, he probably sticks around that same length of time in Cup that Sam did, whether he would've improved or not in Cup is anybody's guess. Either way though, both guys jumped to Cup way too soon and should've run a full Nationwide season first to fully adapt to stock cars, as Dario had success in his limited NW starts and Hornish has run well this year in a part-time role. 72. cjs3872 posted: 11.14.2011 - 2:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) No Bronco, it's because Kyle Busch has a rap sheet as long as Interstate 10, and it's getting longer. Do you really think that what has happened over the last 10 days is going to change him, because I think there's just as good a chance of the sun rising in the west and setting in the east. 73. Talon64 posted: 11.14.2011 - 6:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I still say shame on M&M's and Z-Line; to me, it's just a PR stunt to the Kyle Busch hater bandwagon but then they can still stick with Kyle to take advantage of all the air time that he gives them. also, Hornish's surprise win kind of reminds of another Penske driver who took advantage of a part-time schedule after losing his full-time ride. That'd be Will Power in Indycar. Sam Hornish Jr. becomes the 131st driver to win in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, and 2nd straight 1st time winner after Trevor Bayne at Texas. Hornish led a career-high 61 laps in the race after leading just 51 in his first 31 Nationwide starts (and leading 55 in 109 Cup races). After just 1 top 10 in his first 26 starts, Hornish has 2 top 5's and 4 top 10's in his last 6 (9.2 avg fin). It's Hornish's 3rd win at Phoenix, including his 2 Indycar wins (2001, his 1st career Indycar win, and 2005). Brad Keselowski made it a Penske 1-2 with his runner-up finish, the 10th of his career. Keselowski also reaches 20 top 10's for a 4th consecutive season in Nationwide. Carl Edwards failed to lead a lap for the first time in 8 races, but extended his podium streak to 8 consecutive races. He's assured of finishing 2011 with the most top 5's (22) but has just 1 more top 10 (26, vs. 25) than Roush teammate and NNS regular Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Joey Logano picked up his first top 5 in his last 6 Nationwide starts, but his 41st in 87 career starts. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led the most laps in a race for the 2nd time this season, but has failed to win both times (led 189 at IRP, finished 3rd). However, his 8th straight top 10 finish (5.5 avg fin) and NNS-regular-leading 25th of 2011 has all but clinched him the Nationwide championship; he just needs to finish 37th at Homestead, and considering the series averages about 8 S&P's a race he'll just need to get to half-distance at the most for the team to start popping the champagne. Trevor Bayne extends his career-high top 10 streak to 5 straight races (5.0 avg fin). If Bayne hadn't missed the 5 races due to illness he'd be 6th in the standings at 1012 points, 167 behind Stenhouse Jr. and 16 points ahead of Jason Leffler, based on his points-per-race. Clint Bowyer picked up his 6th top 10 in 9 Nationwide starts this season; his top 10's matches his total in 13 starts in 2010. Ryan Truex was the highest-finishing rookie in 8th, his 4th top 10 in 6 starts in the #20 JGR car (9.0 avg fin). Truex now holds a 3 point lead in the ROTY standings heading into Homestead, where either Timmy Hill or Blake Koch (T-2nd) will need to finish 9th or better in order to catch Truex. Since Truex isn't racing at Homestead, Hill and Koch will get an extra point over Truex for attempting the race. Justin Allgaier picked up his 6th top 10 in the last 10 races (just 3 in the previous 9). Michael Annett picked up just his 2nd top 10 in 14 races since his 4 race top 10 streak. However, his 7 top 10's this year are more than the 6 he had in his first 71 career starts. Blake Koch tied his best career finish in 14th (previous time was at Road America this year), his 8th top 20 finish in 34 career starts. Ricky Carmichael picked up his 3rd top 20 finish in 8 career Nationwide starts. Aric Almirola earned his 5th career Nationwide pole, first since 2007 at IRP when he drove for JGR; the 67 laps led are 2nd only to that same 2007 IRP race when he led 87 (I'm not counting his Milwaukee "win" where he "led" 107 laps, but actually led 43 laps himself). 74. cjs3872 posted: 11.14.2011 - 8:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And as I mentioned, Talon64, those first-time Nationwide winners, Hornish and Bayne, each have victories in one of the two biggest races in the world. Hornish in the 2006 Indianapolis 500 and Bayne in this year's Daytona 500. When they battled for the lead earler this year early in the second Nationwide race at Iowa, it was almost like the golden years of racing, when guys like Richard Petty or Cale Yarborough would go against A.J. Foyt or Johnny Rutherford, with an Indianapolis 500 winner racing against a Daytona 500 winner head-to-head. And this wasn't even in a race in NASCAR's top series, or in one of NASCAR's showcase races. By the way, Hornish became the first Indianapolis 500 winner to win a NASCAR race on an oval since A.J. Foyt won the 1972 race at the Ontario Motor Speedway for the Wood Brothers just two weeks after his Daytona 500 win, his final NASCAR win, not counting his win in the first Daytona qualifying race in 1978. Remember that all of Juan Montoya's NASCAR wins have come on road courses. 75. jr88fan posted: 11.14.2011 - 9:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm surprised that no one has mentioned that Daryl Harr had a HARD hit in qualifying. 76. 00andJoe posted: 11.15.2011 - 10:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) So...what the heck was Tony Eury penalised for? The report said loose weights? 77. cjs3872 posted: 11.16.2011 - 3:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 00andJoe, that's accurate. Loose weights can be jettisoned on to the track, which in turn, makes the car lighter. Many years ago, this was a favorite tactic of men like Junior Johnson and Gary Nelson. Making the car lighter makes it go through the turns faster, making lap times much faster. Loose weights also change the weight distribution ratio, which also make the car handle better. In either case, having loose weights would give a car an unfair, and illegal, advantage. I'm not sure how long you've been a fan of NASCAR, but Jeff Hammond was fined 40,000 dollars for such an infraction after the car of Greg Sacks, on which he was the crew chief, was found with loose wight after crashing on the first lap of the 1995 Busch Clash, so this has been penalized for many years. 78. Daniel posted: 05.21.2012 - 12:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In using fastest 43: #13 Jennifer Jo Cobb & #75 Carl Long Out using fastest 43: #28 Derrike Cope & #32 Ron Hornaday Jr. 79. Nascar Lead Lap Points posted: 04.24.2014 - 8:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Withdrew 48 Dennis Setzer Jay Robinson Racing Jay Robinson Chevrolet 80. Anthony posted: 09.15.2016 - 6:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The more things change, the more that stay the same: Brian Scott, crash 81. Maverick19 posted: 04.19.2017 - 1:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ron Hornaday's last Busch/Nationwide race. 82. Jimmie4life posted: 04.22.2018 - 11:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race had probably the most impressive run by Morgan Shepherd in a long time(like 10 years). Top 20 most of the day, running on the lead lap, and crashed with Sadler, Clements, and more. For a 70(now 76)year old, that's impressive. 83. rm posted: 11.09.2019 - 8:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) They crashed hard and often in this race, in this whole Nationwide weekend. Some brutal hits. Shepherd ran well but ended the race on a sour note by taking out Robert Richardson with 40 to go and then piling into the Elliott Sadler/Jason Leffler wreck later on. Shepherd knocked the whole back end off Leffler's car, fuel cell and all. Really didn't even look like he slowed down for that wreck. 84. SweetRich posted: 07.14.2020 - 9:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The final career NASCAR start on any level for Mark Green. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: