|| *Comments on the 2009 Shelby 427:* View the most recent comment <#62> | Post a comment <#post> 1. Ryan D posted: 03.01.2009 - 10:18 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Good run for McMurray, he will make some noise this year! 2. Ask96 posted: 03.01.2009 - 10:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Go Bobby! Great run for Bobby as he was in the top 5/10 for most of the race. Perhaps one of his best races in quite some time. A well deserved and much needed top 5 finish for Bobby and HOF racing. I have a feeling (w/ Roush horsepower under the hood) that Bobby will some more of these good runs in the coming races. 3. BON GORDON posted: 03.01.2009 - 10:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Of course Gordon would miss the pits and blow a tire. Over the last couple years he's made a lot of mental errors that cost him better finishes. Had a top three car and just was holding on to a top 10 at the end. At least he is currently leading the points. I don't know about anyone else but after this weekend I never want to see another caution flag fly for a long time. It's rediculous to have all those cautions during the Nationwide and Cup races. I want some long green flag runs. Congrats to Kyle Busch for winning at his home track. I don't like him but he doesn't race to have people like him, he races to win races. Great top 5 finishes for David Ruetimann and Bobby Labonte. It's awesome to see great runs by great drivers. 4. samfan09 posted: 03.01.2009 - 10:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Great runs for Reutimann(first career top 5) and Labonte. Both could be chase contender this year. Also good runs for Logano(best career finish), Gilliland, Robby Gordon, Sam Hornish(running top 10 for a good portion of the day), and Regan Smith. Nice to see some different teams contending from week to week. 5. Bronco posted: 03.01.2009 - 11:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was Labonte's first top five finish since a 3rd at Martinsville in the fall 2006 race. WOW! The Reut his first top five ever, and Gilliland lands a great finish in only the second race for the 71. Carl Edwards was running 4th coming to the white when his engine blew, costing him a good finish. I was sad to see Menard crash, he was running 12th and needed a good finish to stay in the top 35. And it's hard to believe this Mark's second straight 40th place finish due to engine failure - ironically he never had any when he drove the Army car. This was Todd Bodine's first Cup race since the Atlanta in the fall of 2006, and thankfully he didn't do a start and park. 6. Kit posted: 03.01.2009 - 11:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) "I was sad to see Menard crash" Why? Screw Menard. I really hope this is the start of a Labonte juggernaut. 7. Jeremy Siple posted: 03.01.2009 - 11:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) John Andretti's car was a Chevrolet, not a Dodge. 8. Anonymous posted: 03.01.2009 - 11:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What is it with the engines for the last 2 weeks? Race teams should be happy that the 600 is 2 months ways. We would be seeing a lot of engine problems if the Coco Cola 600 was today. We seen a good of them happening during the race or have race engines being replaced after qualifying. Good runs by David Reutimann, Bobby Labonte, and David Gilliland. 9. Anonymous posted: 03.01.2009 - 11:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) By leading 17 laps today, Jeff Gordon crossed the 20000 laps led mark. Doubtful if we'll see anyone else hit that mark, and if so, it wont be for a very long time. 10. RaceFanX posted: 03.02.2009 - 12:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Gordon finished sixth despite not having a left front fender after having it wrecked when he blew a tire. 11. 18fan posted: 03.02.2009 - 12:53 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Brad Keselowski's terrible Nationwide luck followed him to his season debut, crashing on the second lap. Good rebound for Gordon after blowing a tire, and Burton ran great compared to last week, and there is seriously something wrong with this track that Bruton needs to address because the slowest Cup race, the two slowest Nationwide races, and the slowest Truck race at Las Vegas have been recorded since the track was repaved. It has made the racing better, and pit road is hard to get onto as there were far more speeding penalties in this race and yesterday than in any race I can remember. 12. Red posted: 03.02.2009 - 1:13 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) Another spectacular run by Casey Mears! 30th place and 3 laps down without any mechanical problems. Any regrets, Mr. Childress? 13. AJ posted: 03.02.2009 - 1:19 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ben Gordon, I hear you about the excessive number of yellow flags. I much prefer to see a race play out on its own without interference from pointless cautions. In my opinion, it takes a lot more skill to keep a car fast over a long run that it does for a 10 lap sprint, but this week we didn't really get a chance to see that. Maybe Mark Martin really is cursed... 14. RLB posted: 03.02.2009 - 1:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff Gordon leads his 20,000th career lap, and I figure it will be the last time anyone reaches that plateau. 15. b4il3y posted: 03.02.2009 - 2:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) An exciting race for the most part. Reutimann will win a race this year, and I hope Bobby will win one. GJ to David Gilliland as well... 14th in a very underfunded effort. 16. Scott posted: 03.02.2009 - 9:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was the first "normal" race, per say, of the year. There was no chance of rain, no red flags. You gotta love these 1.5 mile tracks (Vegas, ATL, Charlotte, Darlington, which I know is 1.366), they produce such great finishes. I wish Labonte had won, that would've been sweet! Jr. had a good car as well. By the way, why do I see so many race comments posted at 1 or 2 AM? 17. dUDE gUY posted: 03.02.2009 - 10:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton got Richard Childress his top two finished at Vegas this race (2nd and 3rd). The best one of his cars has finished before this race at Vegas was 4th, by Mike Skinner in 1999 and Kevin Harvick in 2008. 18. DaleSrFanForever posted: 03.02.2009 - 2:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Great runs for Reutimann(first career top 5) and Labonte. Both could be chase contender this year." I wish they would both make the Chase, I like both of them, but it won't happen, unfortunately. They'll fall back to Earth soon due to their respective organizations. If they were driving for one of the big 4, they would win multiple races and make the Chase due to their talents, but they aren't. The big dogs will figure it out. The no testing policy has really shaken things up early, but it will go back to the status quo soon. I hope I'm wrong. "Another spectacular run by Casey Mears! 30th place and 3 laps down without any mechanical problems. Any regrets, Mr. Childress?" Ain't that the truth!!! I regretted it as soon as I heard about it. And RC gave him a team that made the last two Chases!!! Of course in 2008 he had the #5 team that made the previous two Chases, and look how that turned out! He just sucks at stock cars. 19. DaleSrFanForever posted: 03.02.2009 - 2:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Major pit road mental mistakes by Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. I guess they have spent too much time around Dale Jr (who had a speeding penalty himself). 20. Haywood posted: 03.02.2009 - 2:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Could the engine issue have to do with no off-season testing to shake these engines down? Seems like in years past, Yates & Hendrick never had engine issues. It's all I can come up with. I guess for that to be true we'd be seeing more engine failures across the board though, no? At this point it's contained mostly to those two teams. 21. Rusty posted: 03.02.2009 - 4:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kurt had one of the better cars before his engine issues put him back to 23rd. This team looks to have it's act together, I expect to see the Blue Deuce in the chase again. 22. Anonymous posted: 03.02.2009 - 4:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Haywood, You forgot that Red Bull Racing changed engines after qualifying for the last 2 races. 5 Toyota teams changed changes on Friday or Saturday including the 18 team of Kyle Busch. 23. Kit posted: 03.02.2009 - 5:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't think off-season track testing would have anything to do with part failures. It's kind of obvious that Dale Earnhardt really had some input in RCR because it's pretty damn stupid for Richard Childress to hire Casey Mears, who has done NOTHING in ANY of the top three series, instead of a champion like Bobby Labonte. He would have been better off pulling Ward Burton out of retirement! Richard Childress probably would never have had an organization that thrived without Earnhardt. 24. DaleSrFanForever posted: 03.02.2009 - 8:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think organizations are being aggressive early with their motors, trying to see where their breaking lies. They have finally realized that the first 26 races mean almost nothing, it is all about the final 10. The #48 team has provided the blueprint. It is only about how fast you are at the end of the season, so they are using the first part of the season as a test. God I hate the Cha$e. 25. 18fan posted: 03.02.2009 - 9:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Although he didn't technically start from the pole, this was Kyle Busch's first win from the pole that he actually had to earn instead of starting first last year because of points and winning at Chicago and Watkins Glen 26. Bronco posted: 03.02.2009 - 11:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "God I hate the Cha$e." God, don't remind me about it. Not only is the idea stupid, they keep "tweaking" it so the criteria for determining a champion keeps changing. First they changed the tracks by removing Darlington and replacing it with Texas. Then they expanded it to 12 drivers and the bonus points. Now they removed Atlanta and gave a race to California, for who knows what reason. And they also pushed Talladega back a few races. WHY!!!! "Another spectacular run by Casey Mears! 30th place and 3 laps down without any mechanical problems." You guys have a lot of fun bashing Waltrip, but as far as I'm concerned Mears is ten times worse than him. Unlike Waltrip he's driven for good teams and hasn't done squat, with the exception of the fluke Coke 600 win and almost winning Homestead in 2005. Even Ganassi was decent when he drove for them, Marlin and McMurray did a lot better. 27. DaleSrFanForever posted: 03.03.2009 - 12:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Actually, I can draw quite a comparison between Mikey and Casey Mears. Famous last name, well below average stock car driving ability, keeps getting sponsorship because of media friendliness, consistenly underperforms wherever they are at. The only difference is that Mikey has managed to stink it up for 25 years and over 1000 starts in all three divisions. This is Casey's ninth year. Hopefully he will be gone from NASCAR in 16 years. 28. PennzoilChevy posted: 03.03.2009 - 2:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Good run for Harvick after a crash last week. Hopefully he will be able to get some solid finishes and be a contender for the cup. 29. Willy on Wheels posted: 03.03.2009 - 9:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) He'll be gone in 12 more years, not 16 and he will have more wins than Waltrip, but still he isn't very good. 30. Kit posted: 03.03.2009 - 10:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Unlike Waltrip he's driven for good teams and hasn't done squat" DEI from 2000 to 2005 was about as good of a team as anything Casey Mears has driven. Plus Mears has actually won at a non-plate track. "Even Ganassi was decent when he drove for them" Actually, no, they weren't. Marlin went from being with a championship team to a top 20 in points team. 31. Bronco posted: 03.04.2009 - 8:19 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "DEI from 2000 to 2005 was about as good of a team as anything Casey Mears has driven. Plus Mears has actually won at a non-plate track." Uh, not really. The 25,5 and the 07 that he drives now are much better than the NAPA 15 ever was. "Plus Mears has actually won at a non-plate track." Give me a break, he led like the last 5 laps of the 600 and lucked into the win. At least with Waltrip's win came as a result of him driving the car, not his crew chief making a good call. And Ganassi was good when he drove for them. McMurray won ROTY and finished 13th, 11th and 12 in points while driving for them. Even Jimmy Spencer did better in the 41 Target car in 2002 before Mears took over. 32. Kit posted: 03.04.2009 - 11:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Uh, not really. The 25,5 and the 07 that he drives now are much better than the NAPA 15 ever was." You must have missed this: DEI from 2000 to 2005 was ABOUT as good of a team as anything Casey Mears has driven. Emphasis on ABOUT. Considering that Dale Jr. was in the top five in points three times at DEI, with one of those seasons being under the old points system, it's obvious that DEI back in the day was a very competitive team. Hendrick might have been better but I wouldn't say "much, much better" considering that Dale Jr. came close to a championship THREE times. There's no reason why Waltrip couldn't win a non-plate race in a DEI if you are comparing him to Mears. Mears might have been able to win a non-plate race in the #15 NAPA Chevy if we consider his win in Charlotte. Waltrip has been given plenty of good cars that could win, but he never did outside of Daytona and Talladega. "Give me a break, he led like the last 5 laps of the 600 and lucked into the win." Okay, Bronco, then explain to us why Waltrip couldn't do the same thing in 25 years when he had equipment that could easily win races. Hell, Waltrip has ran in more races than the late Dale Earnhardt. "And Ganassi was good when he drove for them. McMurray won ROTY and finished 13th, 11th and 12 in points while driving for them. Even Jimmy Spencer did better in the 41 Target car in 2002 before Mears took over." No they weren't. Ganassi was probably the team I followed the most from 2001 to 2005. McMurray should have finished HIGHER in points back then. Back then, he could do really well in very good equipment. He jumped ship because Ganassi wasn't as competitive while he was there. Marlin's team went from championship contending to 18th in points mainly because they kept missing setups. Marlin only had a few races in 2003 where he ran in the top five but he never finished there. Ganassi fell apart at the beginning of the 2003 season. They went from a very competitive two car team to a sometimes competitive three car team. The resources got spread too thin and personnel got moved around like musical chairs. Ganassi likes to micromanage the teams to death. Obviously they have never recovered. It's hard for you to suggest that Mears is worse than Waltrip when Waltrip now has OVER 600 finishes without a top 10. 33. Anonymous posted: 03.05.2009 - 12:50 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) When it comes to the 41, Jimmy Spencer was better in 02 than Mears was in 03, but Mears surpassed Spencer's 02 performance in 04 & 05 34. Dodge posted: 03.05.2009 - 10:09 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) One reason why Ganassi's teams seem to struggle is that he is not with the teams that needs him the most. He spends EVERY single week at the IRL races when they run, just like Penske. 35. Neal posted: 03.05.2009 - 12:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) NASCAR announced yet ANOTHER rule change yesterday because of the rash of engine failures at Vegas. They plan to mandate the gear ratios at LVMS starting next season. One more step toward being a spec series. 36. DaleSrFanForever posted: 03.05.2009 - 3:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 2009 Paul Menard 20th or worse count: 3 37. DaleSrFanForever posted: 03.05.2009 - 10:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Like I said, I give Mikey the edge over Casey due to the pure longevity of Mikey's sucktitude. Mikey has made over 1,000 NASCAR starts while never doing much along the way. And they actually celebrated that!!! I'd be embarrassed. 38. Dodge posted: 03.06.2009 - 10:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) One thing that Mikey has that Mears WILL NEVER GET is a trophy from the All-STAR race that Mikey won in 1996. 39. Kit posted: 03.06.2009 - 4:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dodge, who cares? Just shows you how bad of a driver Waltrip is if his only claim to fame over another crappy driver is a win in a non-points race back in 1996. He might as well hoist a state fair, dirt track feature trophy over Mears. 40. Ryan posted: 03.07.2009 - 2:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Michael Waltrip is the worst driver ever to get in a race car in the Sprint Cup Series. He had two gift wrapped Daytona 500s and he thinks is something special. Speaking of gift wrapped... Jeff Gordon gift wrapped this one for Kyle. Kyle had at best a 6th or 7th place car. At least he did admit it after the race. 41. schraderfan posted: 03.12.2009 - 12:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) David Gilliland records the highest finish by a field filler since Kevin Lepage finished 12th in the 2005 World 600. 42. Anonymous posted: 08.05.2009 - 9:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "David Gilliland records the highest finish by a field filler since Kevin Lepage finished 12th in the 2005 World 600. schraderfan | 03.12.09 - 12:14 pm" Only to have it broken at Talladega a few weeks later by one that can't be broken 43. TeamPlayersBlue posted: 02.25.2010 - 7:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Interesting fact: If this race was the traditional 400 miles (this was the only year so far at LVMS that they have had a sprint cup race that was SCHEDULED past 400 miles) Clint Bowyer would be the winner. This year the race will be scheduled to the traditional 400 miles again. 44. RaceFanX posted: 01.01.2012 - 12:59 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bobby Labonte records his only top-5 of 2009, the only year he drove the Hall of Fame Racing #96 Ford. To date it remains the only time he finished in the top-5 driving for the Blue Oval Boys, he drove a Ford full-time for Bill Davis in 1993 but never finished higher than 7th that season. 45. Daniel posted: 05.22.2012 - 10:34 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) In using fastest 43: #28 Travis Kvapil, #66 Dave Blaney, #73 Mike Garvey Out using fastest 43: #07 Casey Mears, #17 Matt Kenseth, #82 Scott Speed 46. SG224 posted: 12.03.2012 - 7:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) After looking back on 2009, this was the best race all year i my opinion. Second was the Coke-Zero 400. 47. CBASS posted: 02.02.2013 - 10:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor updates #8 TomTom/ Target #41 All Sport Body Quencher #47 Kingsford Match Light #17 USG Sheetrock #42 Energizer Ultimate Lithium #73 Quality Concrete #12 Penske #14 Old Spice/ Office Depot http://archives.ciastockphoto.com/cgi/images.php?group=w0903 48. LASTCAR posted: 04.23.2013 - 12:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Point leader Matt Kenseth picked up only the 2nd last-place finish of his career in Sunday's Shelby 427 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway when his #17 USG Sheetrock Ford blew an engine on lap 6 of the 285-lap race. Following wins in the Daytona 500 and the Auto Club 500 in Fontana, California, Kenseth came into the Vegas event looking to become the first driver to win the first three races of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Season. On Friday, Kenseth struggled in qualifying, lining up 40th with a speed of 182.143 mph, but few were concerned about this as Kenseth had started an average of just over 21st in each of his wins. However, on race day, Kenseth was concerned about a loose plug wire and was saved by an early lap 2 caution, allowing his crew to look under the hood. This, combined with a pit road speeding penalty, kept Kenseth in the back for the lap 6 restart, but his #17 would not get up to speed when the green flag waved. The next time by, Kenseth's engine blew in a huge plume of smoke going into turn one, ending his day. The run was Kenseth's first last-place finish since the season-ending 2003 Ford 400 at Homestead, where another engine failure took him out of the race just 28 laps in. Interestingly, that was also the day Kenseth officially became the 2003 series champion. Kenseth had clinched the title the previous week through remarkable consistency and won only one race in the process: the spring race at Las Vegas. 2009 RANKINGS 1st) Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Joe Nemechek (1) Visit http://brockbeard.blogspot.com/ for more. 49. Anthony posted: 01.19.2016 - 1:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) only time the pole sitter has won at Las Vegas 50. Maverick11 posted: 03.17.2016 - 1:11 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Surprised no one has mentioned it at all, but McMurray had one of the greatest saves I've ever seen in this race. About midway through, Joey Logano made contact with McMurray's left rear after turn 1 and he literally drifts for an entire TURN and somehow only manages to lose a few spots. 51. Braindead Zombie posted: 03.17.2016 - 9:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think the reason why nobody mentioned it is because IIRC it happened in the 2010 race. I could be wrong though. 52. Ultimate Warrior #18 posted: 11.22.2018 - 10:40 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 50 drivers qualified within 1 second of the pole winning time amazing competitive depth in Cup. Even underdog small teams were out qualifying the big teams. Now a days.......... um yea. 53. Mannoroth posted: 11.22.2018 - 1:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Why was this race extended by 27 miles, anyway? 54. RaceFanX posted: 11.22.2018 - 1:56 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) @53 427 is a very meaningful number for Shelby as a brand. The original, legendary Shelby Cobra had a 427 cubic inch V8 engine. 55. Mannoroth posted: 11.23.2018 - 7:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (4) 54. Okay, thanks for the info! I didn't know it. Anyway, there's a little paradox - if this race wasn't extended to 427 miles, then Clint Bowyer would probably win after leading "the last lap", which was lap 267. That would mean Kyle Busch would be still winless at Las Vegas, because this is his only Cup win at this track. On the other hand, if the 2010 Subway Fresh Fit 600 wasn't extended by 100 kilometers, Kyle Busch would score his 1st win at Phoenix, because he led the 312th lap and wouldn't have to wait 8 more years for that win. 56. Wil posted: 11.23.2018 - 2:48 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) @55 Thank you for that crucial hypothetical (never happened) that changes the manner in which everyone views the sport. Who knew that "Why was this race extended by 27 miles, anyway?" was just a plot to bring up Kyle Busch again. 57. JSPorts posted: 11.23.2018 - 4:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also, didn't Busch win at Phoenix in 2005? 58. Mannoroth posted: 11.24.2018 - 7:33 am Rate this comment: (0) (2) 56. Well, it's just another fact involving Kyle Busch, that's all. Anyway, it's like plus and minus - he would get something, if it was different, but would also lose something, if it was different. That means nothing would change, but I think it's better to wait for some win longer than not having some win at all... 57. Yes, he did. I just forgot to mention I mean with JGR. Sometimes I just forget to add something to my comment, because I don't always read what I wrote carefully. 59. Sector posted: 11.24.2018 - 4:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @58 making a huge deal about the season long points standing for 2018 yet your double standard is ridiculous. Nobody cares about where Kyle Busch would be at a certain point of a race. 60. Jeffgordonfan posted: 02.18.2019 - 6:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ^This race was the one with the famous Mcmurray save 61. TheDewCrew posted: 09.05.2020 - 4:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Germain Racing's first Cup start 62. Rich posted: 12.17.2020 - 11:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip were the commentators. Dr. Dick Berggren, Steve Byrnes, Matt Yocum and Krista Voda were the pit road reporters. Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond were in the Hollywood hotel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: