By: Toby Christie – Follow on Twitter @Tobalical

The Sprint All-Star Race lived up to it’s billing. It was simply an amazing race that was contested between the greatest drivers on the planet. This fact was evidenced by the many many close calls Saturday night. Somehow, some way there was just one lone caution (for on track accidents) all the way through the event, despite fender banging, wild segment restarts that spawned three-wide racing and more.

There were so many memorable moments, it’s almost impossible to narrow this race to just five. With that being said, here are five things to remember about the 2013 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

1. Busch brothers dominate, but fail to capitalize on million dollar payday

Between the two representatives of the Busch racing family, Kyle (29 laps led) and Kurt (29 laps led) held the lead for nearly two-thirds of the 2013 edition of the All-Star race, but when the chips were on the table they found themselves behind the eight — rather the 48 — ball.

The pair of brothers still managed to finish third and fifth respectively, but that’s little consolation as they pocketed just a little more than $250,000 combined, where as had one of them won the race they would have gone to the bank with a cool one million dollars.

2. McMurray makes a statement with wire-to-wire showdown victory

Jamie McMurray has had a rough go at things since his explosive 2009 season, where he won three races including the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400. But Saturday in the preliminary race to the Sprint All-Star race, McMurray took the lead on lap one from the second starting position, and he didn’t relent.

McMurray led all 40 laps to make it into the All-Star race for the seventh time. McMurray competed admirably in the big show, as he came home eighth after starting way back in the 20th position. McMurray has won at Charlotte Motor Speedway two times in points paying events, so the fact that the Sprint Cup Series heads back to CMS this weekend for the Coca-Cola 600 bodes well for the driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet.

3. Danica’s first all-star race

Love her or hate her, there is no middle ground. However the All-Star race is all about the fans, as such the fans had a chance to elect a driver into the fray. This season they selected Sprint Cup Series rookie of the year candidate Danica Patrick — by no surprise. What was surprising is that Patrick was basically invisible once the green flag waved.

She came home last among those who finished the race in 20th, but the good thing for her is that she escaped the race on the lead lap, and she didn’t ruffle any feathers all night long.

4. Final pitstop running order turns into a mathematical nightmare

We all knew it was going to happen, and sure enough at the end of segment four we were all left scratching our heads. NASCAR’s format for this year’s All-Star event would line the drivers up by their average finish through the previous segments for a mandatory four-tire pitstop leading into the final segment.

Speed Channel had their estimated line-up, which turned to be very very far off from the real lineup for that final pitstop. Mathematicians at Harvard are still crunching the numbers with their calculators to see who should have lined up where.

5. Jimmie Johnson makes history with fourth All-Star victory

Heading into Saturday there was a three-way tie in the record book for most All-Star victories in history. Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson all had three. But we all know that Jimmie Johnson isn’t content with tying records.

At the end of 90 laps, five segments, a rain delay, and a field of hungry drivers hell-bent on taking a million dollars, Johnson took the checkered flag for his fourth victory in this prestigious event. In doing so Johnson also became just the second driver to ever win two-consecutive editions of the All-Star race, joining Davey Allison who accomplished the feat in 1991 and 1992.

Johnson started the race from a very undesirable position — 18th — after he overshot his pit stall in All-Star qualifying. But he, and the newly renovated No. 48 pit crew got the job done under the spot light. Johnson averaged a good enough position during the night to line his car up fourth for the final mandatory four-tire pitstop, and his crew knocked out an impressive 11.8 second pitstop.

Once the green flag flew again, Johnson made quick work of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne, and he soon after went to victory lane.

–

Danica’s second trip to the Lady in Black, otherwise known as Darlington Raceway, didn’t go exactly how she and her team had hoped. This marked Patrick’s second start at NASCAR toughest track after she made her inaugural appearance there last season as one of her 10 scheduled Sprint Cup Series races.

After hitting the wall in the middle of the first practice session that put her in a back-up car, Patrick and her team struggled to find the right set up in time for qualifying. Starting 40^th for Saturday’s race, Patrick reported a tight-handling racecar but with only one caution flag in the first 303 laps, it left little time for the team to make adjustments.

“Those long green flag runs just killed us,” Patrick said in a press release after the race. “It’s tough because you get behind, and it’s hard to get caught back up when the pace is that fast and there are so little yellows at the beginning. We had a setback in practice, and that cut into our practice time and because of that we didn’t get to make any qualifying runs, which led us to going out cold in qualifying, which is not a strength of mine anyway. So it was just a tough weekend. Nothing is wasted. No run or no lap is wasted, but sometimes the fruits of your labor aren’t realized until later on.”

Despite her 28^th place finish, her Crew Chief Tony Gibson was pleased with her efforts.

She did a really nice job. Probably about halfway through the race, it kind of clicked, and she started running some really good lap times,” he said. “She picked up on a few things following other guys, so our progress I thought went really good. The goal coming in here was to run all the laps, and if we can’t run them all, run as many as we can. Learn, then go home and digest all that and put it in our notebook and build off that, and that’s exactly what we did. She gave great feedback, and we made the adjustments, and it showed in the lap times. The pit stops were really, really good, and Danica did a good job. We learned a lot, and we’ll build on it for the next one.”

The team is off this weekend as they don’t have to worry about running for points but they still have a race to prepare for. Patrick is scheduled to run in the Sprint Showdown, a race that lets drivers who haven’t qualified for the Sprint All-Star Race a chance to race their way in. If she doesn’t finish in the top two positions, she can still rely on the fan vote as a way to get into the big show.

There are two ways to vote for Danica Patrick to get her into the All-Star Race: Online and by the NASCAR Mobile 13 App. GoDaddy, Patrick’s primary sponsor, is donating money to three notable charities this season through their foundation, GoDaddy Cares, which will be featured on Patrick’s car this weekend. Those three charities are:

Hope for Haiti: Hope for Haiti is a Naples, Fla.-based charitable organization operating in Port-au-Prince and out of Les Cayes in the south of Haiti. Serving in the most remote areas, Hope for Haiti’s mission is to improve the quality of life for the Haitian people, particularly children, through education, nutrition, and health care. For more than 20 years, the organization has been working in partnership with the Haitian people to connect, heal, and empower communities on the path toward sustainability.

National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF): The National Breast Cancer Foundation was founded in 1991 by breast cancer survivor Janelle Hail. NBCF continues to grow every year to help more and more women around the world by educating them about breast cancer and providing free mammograms to women in need.

VEX Robotics / REC Foundation: The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation (REC) seeks to increase student interest and involvement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by engaging students in hands-on sustainable and affordable curriculum-based robotics engineering programs across the United States and internationally.

If you want to see Danica Patrick in the All-Star Race, then click here to vote online or check out the NASCAR Mobile 13 App where each vote casted counts twice and catch her in the Sprint Showdown Saturday night. The Fan Vote closes at 5pm ET on May 18^th.

By: Toby Christie – Follow on Twitter @Tobalical

Dick Trickle was more than just a funny name, he was one of the greatest drivers in short track history. Trickle was found at his home Thursday with what seems to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

According to a Lincoln County press release Trickle called a police dispatcher and said, ”there would be a dead body and it would be his.” Trickle — one of the all-time greats in the sport — was 71 years old.

Though his 303 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts without a win doesn’t fully come close to telling Trickle’s tale as a driver, he did record two victories in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, and he was the oldest Sprint Cup Series rookie of the year in NASCAR history when he accomplished the feat at age 48 in 1989.

Trickle’s true legacy was built on the short tracks of Wisconsin. Legend has it that Trickle, also known as the “White Knight” racked up more than 1,200 feature wins in roughly 2,200 starts. Local legend also claims that he ran more than 1-million laps in local short track competition.

Trickle also was one of the more interesting personalities in NASCAR for a long time. It was Trickle who was seen smoking cigarettes while driving under caution, and his firesuit even had a pocket made to hold a pack of his smokes. Also there are still people talking about the aftermath of post-race parties involving Trickle when he was sponsored by adult-beverage companies.

NASCAR’s CEO, Brian France, released the following statement in regards to the passing of Trickle:

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Dick Trickle on his passing today. Dick was a legend in the short-track racing community, particularly in his home state of Wisconsin, and he was a true fan favorite.  Personalities like Dick Trickle helped shape our sport. He will be missed.”

It’s a sad tale, and there will hopefully be more to come out about why Trickle took his own life, but the irony of Trickle’s death, is that his nephew, — Chris Trickle — who was an up and coming racecar driver, lost his life after he succumbed to injuries related to a gun shot wound in March of 1998.

He may only be 11 races into his career with Joe Gibbs Racing, but Matt Kenseth seems to be hotter than ever. With three wins already this season and seven top-10 finishes, can anyone stop him?

Matt Kenseth spent his entire Sprint Cup Career with Roush Fenway Racing behind the wheel of the No. 17 Ford. He had 24 wins, 126 top-5 and 232 top-10 finishes with RFR yet he felt the need to change teams. Now he finds himself behind the wheel of a Toyota, driving the No. 20 for Joe Gibbs Racing and he is off to the hottest start of his career.

Kenseth started off the season with a strong showing at the Daytona 500 until his engine decided it just wasn’t his time to win the Great American Race. Two races later, he was standing in Victory Lane in Las Vegas, just three races into his career with JGR.

He followed up his Vegas win with a wrecked car at Bristol, but came back to win a few races later at Kansas from the Pole. The next weekend at Richmond, he won the Pole again and finished seventh. Moving ahead to last weekend’s race at Darlington, Kenseth brought home his first victory at the Lady in Black, without his Crew Chief.

Despite his team’s troubles with their illegal engine part which cost them 12 points and one race without Crew Chief Jason Ratcliff, this team has been flawless. Take away Kenseth’s two worst finishes this season, one due to an engine and the other due to a wreck, he has finished outside the top-10 twice; the lowest being 14^th. Could he be a contender for the Sprint Cup Series Championship?

Jimmie Johnson may be leading the current points standing by a full race, but don’t think that lead will be there for long. Kenseth is sitting third in standings, 59 points behind Jimmie Johnson and just 15 behind second place Carl Edwards. If Kenseth continues on the path that he is on, he could very well be on top of the point’s standings before you know it.

Kenseth’s biggest competition this season will be Johnson. Johnson, after barely missing out on the Championship last season, is out to prove he still has it and has been stronger than ever this season. If Kenseth and his team keep doing what they have been doing and continue to build on their chemistry, they will be well on their way to keeping Johnson from his sixth Championship.

By: Toby Christie – Follow on Twitter @Tobalical

Heading into Saturday evening’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington, Jeff Gordon was in the midst of a disappointing start to his 2013 Sprint Cup Series campaign. Two DNFs through the first 10 races of the season, and eight finishes outside of the top-10, had Gordon reeling in 13th in the standings. Outside of Martinsville, where he finished third, Gordon hadn’t really came close to sniffing victory lane.

In sports though big-time athletes come through in the clutch during milestone events. This week’s race marked Gordon’s 700th career start in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and he rolled off of the grid from the eighth position, and he proceeded to have his best race of the season.

“We all wanted this 700th start to be a memorable one and not one like we had last year,” said Gordon. “So, it was a great effort by this Cromax Pro Chevrolet team. Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) made great calls and the pit stops were fantastic; especially when it counted the most there at the end. We were just bouncing between tight and loose and right there at the end, it was about the best that it had been all night.”

Gordon led 16 laps during the 500-mile event, and he came home in third place when all of the dust settled. For Gordon the key was being comfortable during long green flag runs, as there was a 301 lap stretch of the race where the caution flag was shown just once.

“I don’t know.  I just kind of got into a rhythm.  It felt good to me.  I was enjoying it.  I feel like green‑flag stops kind of separate the good pit crews and teams, and you can get yourself in a position, where as a competitor, you want to race against the least amount of guys as possible.”

With his second top-five of the season, Gordon now moves into the top-12 of the standings — but more importantly he and crew chief Alan Gustafson can now build some momentum.

The duo is of course accustomed to recovering from sluggish starts. Last season Gordon was mired back in 17th in the point standings with just seven races until the Chase cutoff. It was at this point that Gordon and Gustafson caught fire and reeled in a victory and five top-five finishes during that seven race stretch.

Now as he sits just one top-five away from tying David Pearson for the fourth-most in NASCAR history; being 12th in the championship standings doesn’t seem so bad all of a sudden for the four-time Sprint Cup Series champion.

By: Toby Christie – Follow on Twitter @Tobalical

What a start to the 2013 Sprint Cup season it’s been so far. We’ve honestly seen 11 great races already, and things are far from over. This week we saw a team win without their crew chief. We also saw the dominant car not go to victory lane, and even a new rivalry possibly kicking off.

Without further adieu here are five things to remember about this week’s race at Darlington Raceway:

1. Front Row Motorsports Lays an Egg After Huge Week In Talladega

Last week in Talladega, the three Front Row Motorsports cars all finished 19th or better, and they also swept the top two finishing positions in the race.

This week it was a completely different story in Darlington. The team fell back down to Earth a bit as all three teams finished 29th or worse in the Southern 500. Of their three cars David Gilliland in the No. 38 was the highest finishing in 29th, while an accident on lap 328 ended Josh Wise’s night, and engine issues plagued David Ragan all night long. Wise would end up 38th, while Ragan came home a disappointing 39th.

The team has literally seen the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows in a two week stretch.

2. Kurt Busch Nabs Second-Ever Pole For Furniture Row Racing

Darlington Raceway is a special place for Furniture Row Racing. The team got their first-ever Sprint Cup Series win there with Regan Smith behind the wheel in 2011. This past Friday they also added their second-ever pole position at the 1.366-mile speedway.

The first pole in team history came back in 2008 with Joe Nemechek behind the wheel at Talladega. Kurt Busch is the latest driver who added a pole to the FRR track record, as he set the Darlington track record with an average speed of 181.918 mph.

Busch would lead 69 laps on the night and he went on to a finish 14th after suffering damage in a multi-car accident on lap 312.

3. Denny Hamlin Comes Back From Injury In Style

What a great night it was for Denny Hamlin, who was coming back from a broken vertebra in his back.

The driver of the No. 11 SportClips Toyota started sixth, completed all 367 laps, and ran competively all race long. In the closing laps Hamlin picked his way up to second position. After nearly a month and a half off, Hamlin showed some fatigue when he climbed from the car after 500 miles.

“I’m tired. I’m just worn out. This is a tough grueling race,” Hamlin said.

Hamlin is working on getting back inside the top-20 of the Sprint Cup Series standings so he can be in contention for a wildcard berth. This second-place finish will go a long way to making that happen.

4. Kyle Busch Dominates, But Comes Up Short of Victory

The No. 18 Doublemint Toyota was the class of the field Saturday night. Driver Kyle Busch led an astonishing 265 of the 367 laps on the night, but when it mattered most Busch lost the handle of his car.

He lost the lead to teammate Matt Kenseth with 13 to go, and from there he was in a free-fall to the checkered flag as he suffered a cut right-rear tire. Busch would salvage a sixth-place finish, but it was little consolation after what should have been a victory.

Busch’s night was almost flawless until he made contact with Kasey Kahne battling for the lead with 34 laps to go. And now there is a feud brewing between the two drivers. Of course Busch wiped Kahne out in Talladega the week before, and they also had an issue back in Daytona.

After climbing from his car a visibly upset Kasey Kahne talked about on-track drama with Kyle Busch,”Three times this year me and Kyle have had contact and I’ve had chances — capable of winning cars. So it’s disappointing on the points side, and not winning some of these races.”

Kahne would go on to say, “He blew his entry and I’m not real sure what he was thinking on that.”

5. Matt Kenseth Continues Amazing Start to 2013

Restarting from the fourth position with 35 laps to go, Matt Kenseth was a long shot for the win. Kyle Busch had the car to beat all night long, and Kenseth had two other strong cars ahead of him in Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin. However Kenseth made all of the right moves to collect win No. three of 2013.

This latest win comes without crew chief Jason Ratcliff, who was serving a one-race suspension. But the No. 20 team rallied around interim crew chief Wally Brown, and they got the car dialed in when it really counted.

Kenseth has carried the banner for Joe Gibbs Racing all season long, and he continued that Saturday for the organization that finished 1-2 in the race. If the Chase were to start today, Kenseth with three wins, would be your points leader. He also carries the pride of capturing his first ever Southern 500 trophy.

–

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Photo Credit: NASCAR.com

The VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 from Darlington Raceway lap by lap breakdown.

Pre-Race Facts:

12 drivers who have never raced at Darlington

Joe Gibbs Racing is starting 1-2-3-4

Kyle Busch is starting on Pole

Lap-By-Lap:

Lap 1: Green flag. Kyle Busch on Pole

Lap 23: Caution. Contact between No6 of Bayne and No24 of Silas (Leader Busch)

Lap 28 restart: Busch Sadler but Sadler quickly taken over by Kenseth

Lap 33: McClure in the wall

Lap 38: restart Busch and Kenseth. Kenseth quickly taken over by Sadler

Lap 50: Sadler spins from 2^nd place, keeps it from hitting the wall.

Lap 55: Kahne is the leader after a round of pit stops under caution after Busch’s jackman loses footing, costing him the lead. Kahne loses the lead to Kenseth.

Lap 70: After being bumped to 6^th after a bad pit stop, Busch fights his way back up to 2^nd, catching up with race leader Kenseth

Lap 73: Pastrana gets his Darlington Stripe dropping him one place to 16^th

Lap 75: After a spin on lap 50, Sadler fights his way back into the top-10, running P10

Lap 78: Kahne and Vickers fight hard for 3^rd, Pastrana hits pit road after hitting the wall on Lap 73

Lap 82: Busch takes over the lead after Kenseth gets caught behind lapped car No70 of Raines

Lap 90: Busch has contact with Wallace while trying to get around him: Kenseth to get to his bumper.

Lap 91: Vickers pits from 3^rd under green for a vibration

Lap 93: Busch and Kenseth complain about loose racecars. Running 1-2

Lap 108: Green flag pit stops start. Rookie Alex Bowman running in the top-10

Lap 112: Green Flag stops complete. Busch still leads over Kenseth

Lap 119: JGR is running 1-2-3-4 again; No 79 of Kyle Fowler spins, hitting the wall. Caution flies

Lap 121: Leaders pit under caution. Busch and Kenseth both change 4 tires.

Lap 121: Sadler emerges as the leader off of pit road after only taking 2 tires.

Lap 124: A. Dillon and Logano lead take the green after foregoing pit stops. Logano passes Dillon to lead.

18 to go: After a slight error by Logano, Busch retakes the lead.

14 to go: Bayne hits the wall again, running outside the top-20.

13 to go: battle for 7^th: Dillon, Smith, Hornish heats up leading to contact between Dillon and Hornish.

10 to go: After taking 2^nd from Logano, Sadler is gaining on race leader Busch.

9 to go: Vickers takes 3^rd from Logano. Logano on old tires.

5 to go: Sadler is slowly losing ground on race leader Busch.

4 to go: Kenseth and Larson battle hard for 5^th. Larson gets his Darlington Stripe.

Checkered Flag: Kyle Busch gets his 5^th win this season in the Nationwide Series making JGR the winner of 6 of the last 7 races at Darlington Raceway. Busch led 107 of the 147 laps. Points leader Regan Smith increased his lead to 28 points over second place Sam Hornish Jr. With his win, Busch scored a perfect Driver Rating of 150.0, his 16th perfect rating since NASCAR started keeping the statistic in 2005.

Final Running Order:

1: Kyle Busch (54)

2: Elliott Sadler (11)

3: Brian Vickers (20)

4: Joey Logano (22)

5: Matt Kenseth (18)

6: Kyle Larson (32)

7: Regan Smith (7)

8: Sam Hornish Jr (12)

9: Kasey Kahne (5)

10: Justin Allgaier (31)

11: Austin Dillon (3)

12: Chris Buescher (16)

13: Ty Dillon (33)

14: Brian Scott (2)

15: Parker Kligerman (77)

16: Nelson Piquet Jr (30)

17: Alex Bowman (99)

18: Reed Sorenson (43)

19: Mike Bliss (19)

20: Jeremy Clements (51)

21: Josh Wise (40)

22: Blake Koch (00)

23: Landon Cassill (4)

24: Joe Nemechek (87)

25: Mike Wallace (01)

26: Eric McClure (14)

27: Danny Efland (74)

28: Travis Pastrana (60)

29: Hal Martin (44)

30: Dexter Stacey (92)

31: Harrison Rhodes (23)

32: Trevor Bayne (6)

33: Tony Raines (70)

34: Kyle Fowler (79)

35: Kevin Lepage (52)

36: Bryan Silas (24)

37: Jeff Green (10)

38: J.J. Yeley (42)

39: Chase Miller (46)

40: Tanner Berryhill (17)

]]> http://sicknissified.com/index.php/nascar-1/vfw-sport-clips-help-a-hero-200-at-darlington-lap-by-lap/10862/feed 0 http://sicknissified.com/index.php/featured/earning-her-stripes/the-lady-in-green-vs-the-lady-in-black-round-ii/10852 http://sicknissified.com/index.php/featured/earning-her-stripes/the-lady-in-green-vs-the-lady-in-black-round-ii/10852#comments Fri, 10 May 2013 13:35:34 +0000 Katie Copple http://sicknissified.com/?p=10852

Photo Credit: DanicaRacing.com

The Lady in Green known as Danica Patrick will face off against the Lady in Black known as Darlington Raceway for the second time in her Sprint Cup career this Saturday. After a roller coaster ride that is known as Talladega, this short track will definitely give us race fans a good show.

Patrick took to Talladega Super Speedway last weekend and tried to repeat her whirlwind weekend at Daytona. Running in the Nationwide Race with Turner Scott Motorsports with sponsorship from AccuDoc Solutions and GoDaddy, Patrick qualified 4^th but unfortunately finished 39^th after her tandem draft with teammate Kyle Larson went horribly wrong and sent her spinning through the muddy infield.

“I hate it for everyone at Turner Scott Motorsports, this is the second time they gave me great car this season,” said Patrick in a press release on her website. “We were just riding and trying to make our way back up to the front. I’m just disappointed that I wasn’t able to bring the AccuDoc Solutions/Go Daddy Chevy home with a finish that I felt like we could have gotten.”

Sprint Cup qualifying was rained out on Saturday leaving Patrick starting in the 23^rd position. Patrick missed a big accident early in the race that claimed thirteen cars and showed car control that stunned her Crew Chief Tony Gibson.

Photo Credit: DanicaRacing.com

“We were watching, and we were like, ‘Holy cow,’” Gibson said. “The next thing you know is she came on the radio, and she just aimed for the empty hole. I don’t know how she missed the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) there at the end. How she survived, I have no idea. The GoDaddy.com Chevy did good, and our spotter (Brandon Benesch) did an awesome job.”

Unfortunately, when the race was restarted after a three and a half our rain delay, she wouldn’t get so lucky. Running mid pack, an incident that started between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and J.J. Yeley cause another big one.

“Ricky was trying to make it four-wide, and the No. 36 (JJ Yeley) came up to block him, and it turned him,” she said in a press release. “Then the No. 78 (Kurt Busch) was spinning; I went high, and somebody came up and clipped me and put me in the wall. I’m not sure which car it was. Honestly, it is just the way it goes. People forcing the issue. It is late in the race; I get it. But that’s what causes these accidents that makes speedway racing speedway racing. It’s just unfortunate for everyone on the Go Daddy team.”

Photo Credit: Stewart-Haas Racing

Patrick has made two starts at Darlington, both coming last season. She started 15^th and finished 12^th last season in the Nationwide Series and then made her second start in the Sprint Cup Series the very next day and finished 31^st.

 “Last year, I ran there in the (Sprint) Cup race and it was basically my first Cup race, really. I ran Daytona, but Darlington was like getting thrown into the deep end. That was the purpose of it, to get seat time so I’m not thinking or dreading going there this weekend worrying about what that’s going to look like for me and how it’s going to feel. I have an idea now of how it’s going to feel and what needs to be done.”

So how will the Lady in Green fair against the Lady in Black? Tune in Saturday night to the Southern 500 to see for yourself. And don’t forget to vote for Patrick in the Sprint All-Star Race! Voting is open until 5pm ET on May 18^th!

Photo Credit: Emily Horos, AP

The Nationwide Series heads to Darlington this weekend to take on the Lady in Black. The VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 will run Friday night under the lights at 7:30 PM ET and it will be one of the races this season that you do not want to miss.

In the last 10 Nationwide Series races that have been held at the track, the win has gone to a Sprint Cup Series regular. Brian Vickers, back in 2003, was the last Nationwide Series regular to come home victorious from Darlington.

Last season, the highest finishing Series contender was Sam Hornish Jr who finished fourth behind race winner Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski. Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, and Brian Scott rounded out the top-7.

This season, there are four Sprint Cup Series regulars scheduled to hit the track for Friday’s race. Defending winner Joey Logano returns to the No22. Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth will all be fighting for the win Friday night as well. The question is, with Kyle Busch getting behind the wheel of the No54 after taking a break last weekend, will he be once again get back to his winning ways? Busch has three Poles at Darlington as well as a win in 2011. With four wins already this season, Darlington isn’t out of the question for Busch.

There are a few Nationwide Series regulars who are looking for that Darlington win as well. Hornish raced well here last season and recorded his best finish of 4^th at the track. After a rough weekend at Talladega that cost him the points lead, Hornish will be fighting hard for the win, and the return to the top of the standings.

Regan Smith will be looking to increase the point’s lead that he took from Hornish last weekend when he came out victorious at Talladega. His last start at the track in the Nationwide Series was back in 2007 where he finished 12^th. That was also his highest finish at the track to date. Smith is going to have to improve that finish by quite a bit to take the win but he JR Motorsports team has been strong this season.

Austin Dillon is also another to watch this weekend. With a top-10 finish last season, this guy knows how to get around this track. He needs a few good finishes and even a win or two to have a chance at the Nationwide Series Championship at the end of the year.

Darlington is known as being “Too Tough to Tame” for many reasons which is why the Sprint Cup Series regulars are so good here. At Darlington, it’s not your competitiors that you race, it’s the track itself. Can a Nationwide Series contender come out on top this Friday? It is very possible. The one who can tame the Lady in Black is the driver who walks home with the shiny trophy at the end of the day.

By: Toby Christie – Follow on Twitter @Tobalical

Following a rule infraction that saw both Penske Racing teams (No. 2 and No. 22) rear-end parts confiscated, both the No. 2 team and No. 22 team faced 50-point penalties, and huge monetary fines as well, but possibly the most damaging part of the sanctions were the fact that both teams would be losing their crew chiefs, car chiefs, lead engineers and overall team leader for six races.

Those six-race suspensions of the team members will be reduced to just two points races and the All-Star race after the team’s final appeal was heard Tuesday. The point penalties, and monetary fines will remain the same, but this is a huge win for the Penske Racing team.

“After looking at all the facts and data and interpretations from the rule book, I have decided to uphold the original fines and points penalties,” said John Middlebrook, Chief Appellate Officer. “However, I have decided to reduce the suspensions of the seven team members involved from six points races and the all-star race to two points races and the all-star race.”

The original penalties concerned Sections 12-1: Actions detrimental to stock car racing; 12-4J: Any determination by NASCAR Officials that race equipment used in the event does not conform to the NASCAR rules detailed in Section 20 of the NASCAR rule book, or has not been approved by NASCAR prior to the event; and