Saturday, March 22 Nashville Superspeedway Nashville, Tennessee

To the winner goes the - guitar; Scott Wimmer shows off the trophy unique to Nashville Superspeedway.

Wimmer Breaks Winless Streak
Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

LEBANON, Tenn. (March 22, 2008) -- Kyle Busch's loss was Scott Wimmer's gain.

Busch dominated Saturday's Pepsi 300 at Nashville Superspeedway but lost control of his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota off Turn 4 after leading 125 of the first 162 laps.

That handed the lead to Richard Childress Racing's Clint Bowyer, but RCR teammate Wimmer passed Bowyer for the lead with 20 laps to go to notch his first win in nearly five years.

Wimmer is also the first non-NASCAR Sprint Cup driver to win a NASCAR Nationwide Series race this season and the first since Jason Leffler won at O'Reilly Raceway Park last July.

"Stepping down and running a partial schedule in the Nationwide Series is not what I want to be doing, but those are the cards that are dealt to me right now," Wimmer said. "I'm with a great team with Richard Childress Racing and have great teammates. You can struggle in a single-car operation or a lower-budget team, but that's not where any driver wants to be.

"I'm just trying to do the best I can for Richard right now, and hopefully, it'll fall that someday I can get back to racing Nationwide full time or Sprint Cup full time. But right now, I'm having a good time."

RCR has won the last two Nationwide Series races and swept the top three positions in last weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Bowyer finished second Saturday, with the third RCR driver, Stephen Leicht, finishing 12th.

Wimmer, who helped RCR's No. 29 Chevrolet team to the owners championship last year, was winless in his last 57 races in the series and last scored a win in the series July 26, 2003 at Pikes Peak International Raceway.

Behind Wimmer and Bowyer were Carl Edwards in third, Brad Keselowski in fourth and Kelly Bires in fifth.

Sixth through 10th were David Stremme, Denny Hamlin, Cale Gale, David Reutimann and Nashville native Bobby Hamilton Jr.

Reutimann was running third when he had to pit for fuel with eight laps remaining. Wimmer, too, was close on gas, as his engine sputtered while he did celebratory burnouts.

"Extremely close," Wimmer's crew chief, Pat Smith, said. "We knew when that last caution came out, immediately when we went back [to green], I told Scott to start saving fuel then because I knew there was a chance [we were going to run out]. We were three laps short."

Busch led the first 61 laps after winning the pole by more than two-tenths of a second earlier in the day.

He lost the lead in the pits, with Bowyer's crew getting the No. 2 out first on Lap 62. Busch whipped into the lead two laps after the green flag waved, but Bowyer stayed with Busch and then passed him for the top spot on Lap 66.

Bowyer's Chevrolet was able to stay out front for 29 laps before Busch's car ran him back down, and he retook the lead on Lap 100.

Busch has now led 345 laps this season, yet is still without a victory.

"Just a stupid mistake on the driver's part," Busch said as he headed to his hauler.

Complete Race Results click here

Post-Race Point Standings click here


Kyle Busch was the centre of attention Friday in Nashville after recording the fastest practice lap of the day. Qualifying time trials at Noon/AT will set the starting grid for this afternoon's race - broadcast live in Canada on TSN-alt and SIRIUS Satellite Radio...

Friday First Practice Speed Chart click here Stremme fastest at 159.806 mph

Friday Final Practice Speed Chart click here Busch fastest at 162.292 mph

Saturday Qualifying Order click here

Qualifying Results click here Busch on the pole

Starting Lineup click here

Schedule/Broadcast Times*

Practice: Friday, March 21 (ESPN2 at 3:30 p.m./AT)

Qualifying: Saturday, March 22 (TSN at Noon/AT)

Pre-Race: Saturday, March 22 (ESPN & TSN-alt at 3 p.m./AT)

Race: Saturday, March 22 (ESPN & TSN-alt at 4 p.m./AT)

Race - encore broadcast: Saturday, March 22 (TSN at 8 p.m./AT - taped)

*AT is one hour ahead of ET, i.e. if it's 2 p.m./AT - it's 1 p.m./ET...

Green Flag Fast Facts
The Race: Pepsi 300 presented by Kroger
The Place: Nashville Superspeedway
The Distance: 300 miles/225 laps
TV: ESPN2 & TSN-alt, 3:30 p.m./AT
Track Size: 1.333 miles
2007 Winner: Carl Edwards
2007 Pole: David Stremme
Schedule (local track time): Friday-Practice 1:30-3 p.m.; Final Practice 4:30-5:30 p.m.; Saturday-Qualifying, 10:05 a.m. (Impound).
Year-To-Date Standings: click here

Track Map



Pre-Race Pit Stops

• Series In The Spotlight At Nashville...The first stand-alone event of the NASCAR Nationwide Series season at Nashville Superspeedway has plenty of drama attached to it. First and foremost, who’s got something for Carl Edwards (No. 60 Scotts Miracle Gro Ford), the reigning series champion who has three straight wins at Nashville? Clint Bowyer (No. 2 BB&T Chevrolet) thinks he does. His win last week at Bristol Motor Speedway propelled him into second place in the standings. Bowyer won his first series race on the 1.333-mile track in 2005. Two-time series champion Kevin Harvick isn’t racing this weekend, leaving the door wide open for a new leader. Bowyer’s ready to walk through but Edwards is only one point behind him in third. In fact, Harvick’s 49-point cushion over Bowyer is the largest difference between one position and the next in this week’s top 10-rankings where eight of the 10 are full-time series regulars. A spot in the top 10 isn’t out of the question for Nashville native Bobby Hamilton Jr. (No. 25 Smithfield Foods Ford). He’s only 30 points out of 10th as he heads to his home track. But it’s a win at Nashville that drives Hamilton to circle this event on his calendar each year. Just ask Tony Stewart about Indianapolis as far as what a home track win means. Hamilton feels the same about Nashville. He won’t be satisfied until he holds aloft one of the most sought-after trophies in NASCAR – a one-of-a-kind Gibson guitar custom-designed by Sam Bass. The closest Hamilton has come is a runner-up finish in 2002.
• Opportunity Knocks At Nashville For Series Regulars, Up-And-Comers...The first stand-alone event of the season offers series regulars a prime opportunity to get into Victory Lane. It’s also a chance for up-and-comers to gain experience. Landon Cassill (No. 5 National Guard Chevrolet), Bryan Clauson (No. 40 Fastenal Dodge) and Colin Braun (No. 16 CitiFinancial Ford) are in line for their season and track debuts. Chase Miller (No. 9 Valvoline Dodge) is set for his season debut – he made his series debut at Nashville last June. Braun and Brad Coleman (No. 27 Cottonelle Ford) will meet for the first time in their NASCAR careers at Nashville, but the native Texans are familiar with one another. In 2005, they set a world record as the youngest team in the Rolex 24 at Daytona (seventh in GT). Both were 16. A good showing has added importance to Coleman, who competes full-time for Nashville-based Baker Curb Racing. He also made his series debut at the track in 2006.
• Saturday’s Field Has Nashville Firsts...Along with Clint Bowyer, Jason Leffler (No. 38 Great Clips Toyota) earned his first series win at Nashville in 2004. In addition to Chase Miller and Brad Coleman, Kelly Bires (No. 47 Clorox Ford), Cale Gale (No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet) and David Stremme (No. 64 Atreus Homes & Communities Chevrolet) also made their series debuts at Nashville.
• Cooper Brings Impressive Resume Home...Nashville native Stewart Cooper joined Braun Racing late last season to lead Leffler, and the No. 38 Toyota team, in 2008. Cooper’s career began at the Nashville Fairgrounds where he served as crew chief on Casey Atwood's late model team and followed Atwood to the NASCAR Nationwide Series and Brewco Motorsports (now BakerCurb Racing) where he was promoted to crew chief in 2005. During his tenure, Cooper led his team to a total of eight wins, seven poles, 32 top-five and 79 top-10 finishes.
• Keselowski Prepping To Be “Guitar Man”...Thanks in part to the rainy weather the NASCAR Nationwide Series has experienced during the first few weeks of the season, Brad Keselowski and his No. 88 U.S. NAVY Chevrolet team have spent some time playing “Guitar Hero.” Keselowski hopes to trade the video game experience for real-time strumming. If he wins the race and earns the Gibson guitar trophy, the JR Motorsports driver says he’ll take on the challenge of learning to play a real guitar.
• Harmon Goes Country... Rising country music artist James Otto will be displayed on the hood of Mike Harmon’s No. 84 Chevrolet at Nashville. Otto is a member of “Muzik Mafia,” a group of Warner Bros. Records artists that include Big and Rich, Gretchen Wilson, Cowboy Troy, and John Anderson among others.
• Phoenix Racing, Jay Robinson Racing and Rusty Wallace Racing have made driver changes that will be in effect at Nashville. Tennessee’s own Sterling Marlin will be in the No. 1 Miccosukee Resort Chevrolet, replacing Johnny Sauter. David Stremme is now in the No. 64 Atreus Homes & Communities Chevrolet in place of Chase Austin and Kenny Wallace will move to the No. 28 U.S Border Patrol Chevrolet for the remainder of the season; Brian Keselowski had been manning that car.

IMPORTANT: All information, schedules and/or scheduled events is/are subject to change without notice. Please check with the source to confirm.