Backstretch Motorsports

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (May 26, 2009) – With expectations high coming into the season, merely putting three drivers in the top 12 through 12 races isn’t enough for Roush Fenway Racing.

After starting off the season with back-to-back wins by Matt Kenseth, Roush Fenway has gone winless over the last 10 races.

All that seems likely to change, as nearly the entire stable excels at Dover – a track at which Roush Fenway finished 1-2-3 the last time the series raced there. [read more...]

RICHMOND, Va.—Kyle Busch celebrated his 24th birthday in the best possible fashion, winning Saturday night’s Crown Royal Russ Friedman 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Richmond International Raceway and completing a weekend sweep of NASCAR events there.

Busch and Cale Yarborough are the only drivers to win NASCAR Sprint Cup races on their birthdays. [read more...]

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 30, 2009) – Jeff Gordon has come close to Victory Lane in 2009.
He came close a number of times last season.
He has come close a number of times at Texas Motor Speedway.
But close doesn’t cut it.
Gordon’s career-long winless drought reached 47 races after Sunday’s event at Martinsville, but the four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion has shown signs that it won’t last much longer.

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 16, 2009) – It’s still early, but seeing his name absent from the top 12 must be a growing concern for three-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson.
There’s good news and bad news for Johnson where his points position is concerned.
The good news: It’s nothing new. After four races last year, he was 13th in points. This season, he is again in 13th after four races.

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“Good Night, Gracie”. With that quick quip borrowed from the late George Burns over the radio to his Joe Gibbs Racing crew chief Steve Addington, Kyle Busch blew past both Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton to win Sunday’s Shelby 427 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Starting from the rear of the field because of an engine change during Friday’s practice session, pole winner and Las Vegas native Kyle Busch worked his way to the front throughout a race punctuated with a record 14 caution periods and streaked to a .411-second victory, his first of the season and his first at Las Vegas.

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WELCOME, N.C. — Richard Childress Racing’s No. 29 Holiday Inn/Holiday Inn Express Racing team has added championship-winner Clint Bowyer to its driver lineup for the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series season.

The 2008 Nationwide Series drivers’ champion will share the behind-the-wheel duties with Jeff Burton and Stephen Leicht, who were announced in August as co-drivers for 2009. Burton and Scott Wimmer steered the No. 29 Holiday Inn Racing team to the 2007 NASCAR Nationwide Series owners’ championship and finished fifth in the owners’ standings last season.

Crew chief Dan Deeringhoff, who guided Bowyer to the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver’s title, will move from RCR’s No. 2 team to assume the position of crew chief for the Holiday Inn Racing team.

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. ( – Jimmie Johnson’s 69-point lead over second-place Jeff Burton may look secure, but recent history indicates otherwise.
The points leader with five races remaining has failed to win the championship in each of the last two seasons.
In 2006, Johnson was in seventh place and 146 points behind leader Jeff Burton with five races remaining. He won the championship by 56 points, a swing of 202 points.

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CONCORD, N.C.—Despite Jimmie Johnson’s fast start to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Jeff Burton hasn’t been willing to concede the trophy to the two-time defending champion.

On Saturday night, Burton gave more than lip service to that notion, holding off Kasey Kahne to win the Bank of America 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. The victory, Burton’s second of the season and the 21st of his career, vaulted the driver of the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet into second place in the standings, 69 points behind Johnson with five races left in the Chase.

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 29, 2008) – Talladega Superspeedway is dubbed the “wild card” in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup for a reason. Standings shuffling – and championship hopes shattering – races have been staged at Talladega:
2004: Jeff Gordon came into Talladega as the points leader. He finished 19th in the race, and was bounced from atop the standings by eventual series champion Kurt Busch. Gordon finished the year in third.

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is one big Numbers Game; 10 races, 10 tracks, 12 drivers, one champion. Here are a few more:

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