Matt Kenseth Leaving Roush Fenway

Matt Kenseth the driver of the No. 17 Ford car is leaving Roush Fenway Racing at end of this year after being with them for 12 years. 

Nationwide Series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. well be replaced in No. 17 Ford next year You ask me where Matt well be next year, well he believed to head to Joe Gibbs Racing, either in Joey Logano's No. 20 or for unannounced team.

With Matt being at Roush Fenway Racing owner Jack Roush has been finagling every extra dollar he could find to make sure the #17 Ford had enough funding to make it through year. In fact, some say reason Trevor Bayne didn't have full-time ride in Nationwide is due to lack of Funding that Roush siphoning off Kenseth.

"I'd like to thank Matt Kensth for his many years of Loyal servies,"  co-owner Roush said Tuesday. "Matt has been an intergarl part of this organization for well over a decade, and we are extremely appreciative of his accomplishments and contribution to the team, and will always consider him part of the Roush Fenway Family."

Kenseth did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday, but tweeted bout his departure.

"I'm very thankful to Jack Roush for the opportunities he's given me over past 14 years. Together we have enjoyed a lot of success," he posted. "And as a team we can committed as ever to the remainder of the 2012 season and chasing a 3rd sprint cup title for JR and RFR."

Schedule for Kentucky this weekend

Cup:

Practices- 11:30am Friday; 1:30pm Friday

Qualifying- 5:pm Friday

Race- (Kentucky)- 6:30pm Saturday

Nationwide:

Practices- 6:30pm Thursday, 9am Friday

Qualifying- 3:30pm Friday

Race- (Kentucky)- 7pm Friday

Trucks:

Practices- 10:30am Thursday, Noon Thursday

Qualifying- 5pm Thursday

Race- (Kentucky)- 7:30pm Thursday

If I were the guys in the Trucks, I would drink a lot of Monster and Redbull…

Hope you guys enjoy this weekends race! 

Clint get victory at somona holding off Tony

SONOMA, California; 

Clint Bowyer dominated all day long and it paid off with his first victory on a road course. Bowyer held off a charging Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch in a green-white-checkered finish that took the event two laps past it's scheduled distance of 110 laps. 

Clint started 6th and ended up in victory lane at end of the race. There was only 2 cautions in the whole race; a couple of people spun out, but there was no damage to their cars. Kurt Bush was the second fastest to Clint at the end of the race. 

This Victory was Bowyer's first of the year and sixth of his career. Tony Stewart passed Kurt Busch for the second position after the final restart and finished .829 sec. with Brain Vickers and Jimmie Johnson finishing out the top five. 

After a look at Bowyers record at Sonoma, road-course victory seems more less surpring then busch at first blush.  "He's shown consistency, so it was  matter of time before he would get one," said Stewart, who caught a break when the caution flag waved. Stewart's crew hadn't filled the fuel cell in the No. 14 Chevrolet and chance to pit for fuel and tires.

Bowyer did a majestic job of driving in the closing laps to hold off Kurt Busch, who harried him lap after lap until the No. 51 hit the tires on Lap 102.

RACE LINEUP Toyota/Save Mart 350 | Sonoma, CA

1 9 Marcos Ambrose

2 24 Jeff Gordon

3 48 Jimmie Johnson

4 16 Greg Biffle

5 56 Martin Truex Jr.

6 15 Clint Bowyer

7 18 Kyle Busch

8 51 Kurt Busch

9 17 Matt Kenseth

10 39 Ryan Newman

11 99 Carl Edwards

12 42 Juan Montoya

13 2 Brad Keselowski

14 20 Joey Logano

15 5 Kasey Kahne

16 11 Denny Hamlin

17 22 AJ Allmendinger

18 47 Bobby Labonte

19 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

20 13 Casey Mears

21 55 Brain Vickers

22 195 Scott Speed

23 27 Paul Menard

24 14 Tony Stewart

25 1 Jamie McMurray

26 29 Kevin Harvick

27 38 David Gilliland

28 32 Boris Said

29 34 David Ragan

30 43 Aric Almirola

31 78 Regan Smith

32 36 Dave Blaney

33 98 David Mayhew

34 7 Robby Gordon

35 31 Jeff Burton

36 87 Joe Nemechek

37 119 Chris Cook

38 249 J.J. Yeley

39 93 Travis Kvapil

40 26 Josh Wise*

41 10 Tomy Drissi+

42 83 Landon Cassill+

43 33 Stephen Leicht*

Did Not Qualify

44 30 Brian Simo

Road America and Sonoma Racing Schedule June 22nd - 24th

As you guys know NASCAR goes to road course for 1st time this season at Sonoma on Sunday. The Sprint Cup Series heads to Sonoma and the Nationwide Series heads to Road America for some left-and-right action.

Sonoma is one of two road course races on the Sprint Cup schedule (the other is Watkins Glen in August). Road America is one of three road course events in the Nationwide Series (the others are Watkins Glen and Montreal in August). 


The Camping World Truck Series is off until Thursday, June 28, at Kentucky.

Friday June 22nd, 2012 

• 1:00 PM EST/ 12:00 PM CT Nationwide Practice (Not televised)
• 
  
• 3:00 PM EST/ 12:00 PM PT Sprint Cup Practice on SPEED
• 
  
• 4:30 PM EST/ 3:30 PM CT Nationwide Practice on SPEED
• 
  
• 6:40 PM EST/ 3:40 PM PT Sprint Cup Qualifying (On SPEED at 11:00 PM EST)

Saturday June 23rd, 2012

• 10:15 AM EST/ 9:15 AM CT Nationwide Qualifying on ESPN2
• 
  
• 12:30 PM EST/ 9:30 AM PT Sprint Cup Practice (Not televised)
• 
  
• 1:45 PM EST/ 10:45 AM PT Sprint Cup Practice (On SPEED at 11:00 PM EST)
• 
  
• 3:00 PM EST/ 2:00 PM CT Nationwide Race on ESPN

Sunday June 24th, 2012 

• 3:00 PM EST/ 12:00 PM PT Sprint Cup Race on TNT

 Who'll take the checkered flags this week? Stay tuned.

Dale Earnhardt Jr, ninenth Sprint Cup Series Win

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. last NASCAR Sprint Cup victory, four years and two days removed from his most recent visit to Victory Lane, he broke the most talked-about, most frustrating streak in motor sports.


Junior Nation may party all week, and maybe even longer, now that Dale Earnhardt Jr. has finally snapped that long, long, long winless streak.


And Junior himself figures he'll be "jumping in the water too," in celebrating Sunday's Michigan 400 victory...a solid butt-kicking victory on a warm sunny afternoon at newly repaved Michigan International Speedway.


Dale Earnhardt Jr. turned in a dominating performance to win his first Sprint Cup Series race in four years! He took the checkered flag in Sunday’s QuickenLoans 400 at Michigan International Speedway. 


Earnhardt immediately spoke to team owner Rick Hendrick on his cellphone after the win, who called to offer his congratulations. 


“He was just upset he couldn’t be here," Earnhardt said. 


As Earnhardt performed a wild celebratory burnout on the frontstretch, fans and crew members crowded around Victory Lane as the crowd in the grandstands stood and cheered.


Earnhardt led 95 laps on his way to crossing the finish line first and thanked his team and crew for their effort. 


"We just had a really good car. It was real fast," Earnhardt said. "This is pretty amazing. Those last 15 laps were the longest laps ever.


NASCAR threw two competition cautions early today to check tire wear and, overall, there were no major concerns or issues with the rubber. 3 or more of tires that where on cars had got blisters. 


Earnhardt’s 19th career Sprint Cup Series win came by 5.393 seconds over Tony Stewart. 


Junior! Put an Earnhardt in a black car and magic happens


The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series now heads to Sonoma next weekend for the Toyota SaveMart 350.

Tony Stewart looks to return to victory lane at fast Michigan track

Tony Stewart is plowing his way through what might be described as a schizophrenic season. 

The 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series campaign has been hot and cold for the defending champion. 

The past six races provide an open-window look into Stewart’s season. From Richmond to Pocono, he has scored a trio of third-place finishes mixed with runs of 24th, 25th and 25th. 

The tour is rolling into the second half of the regular season. Race 15 is scheduled Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.

Stewart rang up two wins early in the season, putting him in somewhat of a comfort zone in the race for the Chase despite the fact he has fallen from a season-high of third in points to eighth entering the Michigan weekend.

Stewart said his team cannot rest on the probability that he’ll be in the Chase regardless.

Stewart hasn’t won a Sprint Cup race at MIS since his lone victory at the track in 2000, but his career record there also shows 10 top-five runs. He’s expected to be in the mix at the front as teams race on the freshly repaved two-mile surface.

Stewart said he isn’t concerned about the high speeds that will be generated this weekend.

“The safety of these cars has come a long way, and race track safety, too, with the soft walls,” he said. “I don’t think you are ever really concerned about it until something bad happens. But I’ve been to race tracks, and I’ve seen crashes at 60 mph that hurt people a lot worse than 160 mph. So I feel pretty confident with the safety package that we have, with both the race track side and with what NASCAR has done with the cars.”