The Final Lap - with Kerry Murphey

NASCAR News

Sept 3, 2004

Starting this weekend in Fontana, Bobby Hamilton Jr. will take over the driving duties of the #32 Tide ride. Ricky Craven will only drive one more race in the car at New Hampshire later this month.

Look for 10 Cup drivers racing in tomorrow's Busch race. The normal double duty guys like Kahne, Biffle, Waltrip...plus Bobby Labonte, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Joe Nemechek, Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears and Sterling Marlin in the #1 car.

Kasey Kahne and World of Outlaws driver Tyler Walker will be splitting the duties next year in the #38 Great Clips Dodge. Tyler drove the car at Pikes Peak, and will run the Memphis race later this year.

TRACK STATS | CALIFORNIA
Distance: 2.0 Mile Oval
Banking/Turns 1-4: 14°
Banking on Trioval:11°
Banking/Backstretch: 3º
Length/Frontstretch: 2,500 ft.
Length/Backstretch: 3,100 ft.
Cup race is 500 miles / 250 laps

Sept 2, 2004

If you're trying to fill up your 2005 calendar now, make sure you include NASCAR Preseason Thunder Fan Fest at Daytona. It all starts January 11th and features music bands, pit-stop demos, and fan forums with the drivers.

Joe Gibbs Racing's J.J. Yeley will try to make his Cup debut this weekend. He was supposed to debut at Michigan, but rain cancelled qualifying and they lined up by points.

DRIVER MILESTONE
Believe it or not Jimmie Johnson is already going to make his 100th career Cup start this weekend at California.

ON TV

BUSCH SERIES QUALIFYING @ 4 p.m. Friday on Speed

NEXTEL CUP QUALIFYING @ 6 p.m. Friday on Speed

NEXTEL CUP HAPPY HOUR @ 1 p.m. Saturday on Speed

BUSCH SERIES RACING @ 3 p.m. Saturday on NBC

NEXTEL CUP FROM CALIFORNIA @ 7 p.m. Sunday on NBC

All times are eastern

Sept 1, 2004

Timber Wolf is ending it's sponsorship of David Green's #37 Busch car at the end of the year. So Brewco Motorsports is actively looking for a new sponsor for 2005. David has an impressive record of 5 top 10 points finishes, 2 second place, and 1 championship.

Bang Racing, who field the trucks of Mike Skinner and Travis Kvapil has lost factory support from Toyota and is considering a lawsuit. No details as to why Toyota dropped the teams support...by the way Travis Kvapil has Toyota's only win in the series.

TESTING | RICHMOND
With the race to the chase ending at the track next weekend, teams at the track this week getting ready include: Dale Jarrett, Mark Martin, Terry Labonte, and Busch driver Kenny Wallace

POINT STANDINGS | BUSCH SERIES

5 David Green
4 Greg Biffle
3 Jason Leffler
2 Kyle Busch
1 Martin Truex Jr. leads by 78 points

POINT STANDINGS | TRUCK SERIES

5 Travis Kvapil
4 Matt Crafton
3 Carl Edwards
2 Dennis Setzer
1 Bobby Hamilton is on top by 96 points

Aug 31, 2004

One more season, that is all you have left to watch Rusty Wallace behind the wheel of the #2 Miller Light Dodge. He announced yesterday that 2005 will be his final year in Nextel Cup racing as a driver. However I'm sure he'll be around the sport for a while to come as the owner of the #66 Busch team, and part owner of the #2 Cup team.

Rusty has 55 series wins, and is the 1989 series champion.

POINT STANDINGS | CUP SERIES

Hoping to get into the top 10 are:

15 Jamie McMurray
14 Dale Jarrett
13 Jeremy Mayfield
12 Mark Martin
11 Kasey Kahne

Just inside the top 10, but certainly not safe yet are:

10 Ryan Newman
9 Bobby Labonte
8 Kevin Harvick
7 Elliott Sadler
6 Kurt Busch

Aug 30, 2004

RACE RECAP | BRISTOL

10 Dale Jarrett
9 Matt Kenseth
8 Kurt Busch
7 Jamie McMurray
6 Sterling Marlin
5 Elliott Sadler
4 Jeff Burton ties his best finish in the 30 car
3 Jimmie Johnson
2 Ryan Newman
1 Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the first ever driver to sweep the weekend @ Bristol winning in Busch and Cup....it's his 4th win of 2004, where he led 295 of the 500 laps

OTHER STORIES ON THE DAY

-Rusty Wallace was leading the race when he ran out of gas, that mistake sent him to a 26th place finish.

-Jeff Gordon was black flagged after not lining up properly for the restart when he received the "free-pass"...Gordon ends up 14th.

-Kevin Harvick's left arm kept going numb, which put Kyle Petty in the 29 to finish the race who grabs 24th place.

-Mark Martin made a huge pit road mistake and forgot to exit in the proper place.

-In terms of points, Ryan Newman is back in the top 10, and Jimmie Johnson gains some ground on his boss Jeff Gordon...more points stuff on tomorrows show.

BUSCH SERIES

On Friday it was Dale Jr.'s #81 Chevy that found victory lane, where he led 125 laps, so simply put...he dominatated the weekend

Updated: Sunday, October 31, 2004 | 9:48 AM Pacific

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