Wimmer is a winner in Nashville
By Lee Montgomery - Associate Editor
Sunday, March 23, 2008
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Grant Halverson / Getty Images
LEBANON, TN - MARCH 22: Scott Wimmer, driver of the #29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series Pepsi 300 presented by Kroger at the Nashville Superspeedway March 22, 2008 in Lebanon, Tennessee. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Scott Wimmer
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LEBANON, Tenn. – 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 teammate Wimmer passed him for the lead with 20 laps to go to win for the first time in nearly five years.
Wimmer is also the first non-Sprint Cup driver to win a Nationwide 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 and swept the top three positions in last weekend’s 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 (Roush Fenway Racing) in third, Brad Keselowski (JR Motorsports) in fourth and Kelly Bires (JTG Racing) in fifth.
Sixth through 10th were David Stremme (Rusty Wallace Racing), Denny Hamlin (Braun Racing), Cale Gale (Kevin Harvick Inc.), David Reutimann (Michael Waltrip Racing) and Bobby Hamilton Jr. (Team Rensi Motorsports).
Reutimann was running third when he had to pit for fuel with six laps remaining. Wimmer, too, was close on gas, as his engine sputtered while he did celebratory burnouts.
“Extremely close,” 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 him 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 No. 2 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.
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Scott Wimmer
Comments
5 responses to "Wimmer is a winner in Nashville"
Thomas Shick said:
Mar 23, 2008 at 10:07 AMKlye Busch is a hard charging driver, But he drives out of control all the time,which shows on his finishes Plus his attitude is terrible after he wrecks or causes a wreck which is usually his fault.He is one of the(if not the) most arrogant drivers in all NASCAR series
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
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» Confirm Abuse ReportGladys Bedwell said:
Mar 23, 2008 at 11:16 AMI like Kyle but his immaturity is getting the best of him. He really needs to learn how to stay patient so he can finish some of these races with a win. He needs to learn how to be patiently aggressive.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportTimothy Schultze said:
Mar 23, 2008 at 6:44 PMPeople question the decision Rick Hendrick made to replace kyle but his finishes should be answer enough Busch cup truck it does not matter. All the talking heads want to talk about his car control but that's not what has hes all over the track and soon he will wad one up good.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse ReportGladys Bedwell said:
Mar 24, 2008 at 12:00 PMI like Kyle but his immaturity is getting the best of him. He really needs to learn how to stay patient so he can finish some of these races with a win. He needs to learn how to be patiently aggressive.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse ReportTimothy Schultze said:
Mar 24, 2008 at 12:00 PMPeople question the decision Rick Hendrick made to replace kyle but his finishes should be answer enough Busch cup truck it does not matter. All the talking heads want to talk about his car control but that's not what has hes all over the track and soon he will wad one up good.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Report