Elliott said:

I am really excited to be racing with NEMCO Motorsports and Joe Nemechek, who has been a friend and respected competitor through the years. This will be a great way to start off the 2012 NASCAR season in Daytona.

In related news, the team’s No. 87 Toyota will be sponsored by AM FM Energy in the Daytona 500. AM FM will also serve as an associate sponsor for the team’s Nationwide Series entry in the season-opening Drive4COPD 300 at Daytona.

AM FM will appear on the Cup and N’Wide cars in select races throughout the season.

He said that if Raikkonen wanted to race in that series this weekend, it would need to be with another team. Raikkonen was approved to race in the series prior to the CWTS race at Charlotte.

Following Raikkonen’s 15th-place finish in his first Trucks series start, it appears now that KBM has found a way to field a Toyota Camry for him in the N’Wide series race at Charlotte.

Raikkonen will pilot a car built by KBM with owner’s points coming from Joe Nemechek’s NEMCO Motorsports team, which is currently 19th in the standings.

NEMCO will provide the crew, with additional support from KBM. NEMCO will also provide the transporter, equipment, and a backup car.

Top 5: Busch, Edwards, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick.

Joey Logano, Mark Martin, Michael McDowell, Jason Keller, and Jason Leffler finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

Notables: Steven Wallace (11th), Scott Wimmer (16th), Joe Nemechek (18th), Kenny Wallace (23rd), and Jeff Burton (31st).

Edwards’ car’s rear wheels came off the ground. Then, while his cars were in the air, Newman hit him and send him into the catch fence.

The crash collected Ryan Newman.

Keselowski held on to win, with Dale Earnhardt Jr finishing second.

Top 5: Keselowski, Earnhardt Jr, Newman, Marcos Ambrose, and Scott Speed.

Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle, Brian Vickers, Joey Logano, and Jeff Burton finished sixth through tenth.

Notables: Matt Kenseth (17th), Denny Hamlin (22nd), Tony Stewart (24th), Edwards (25th), Kyle Busch (26th), David Reutimann (27th), Jimmie Johnson (30th), Kasey Kahne (36th), Jeff Gordon (37th), Kevin Harvick (38th), Clint Bowyer (39th), and Mark Martin (43rd).

Give a call to Reed Sorenson, Paul Menard, Joe Nemechek, and Regan Smith who all finished in the top 15.

Top 5: Martin, Busch, Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Greg Biffle.

Rounding out the top 10 starters are Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Joe Nemechek, Kyle Busch, and Kevin Harvick, respectively.

Notables: Tony Stewart (11th), Ryan Newman (12th), Jeff Burton (15th), Jeff Gordon (16th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (20th), Carl Edwards (29th), and Matt Kenseth (30th). 

Did Not Qualify: Todd Bodine, Scott Riggs, Jeremy Mayfield, and Geoff Bodine.

Jimmie Johnson, David Reutimann, and Marcos Ambrose will start third through fifth, respectively.

Rounding out the top 10 are Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Kevin Harvick, and Tony Stewart.

Notables: Jeff Burton (14th), Carl Edwards (16th), Greg Biffle (24th), Jeff Gordon (28th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (31st), Denny Hamlin (34th), and Matt Kenseth (40th).

Go-Or-Go-Homers That Will Start: Stewart, Max Papis, Brad Keselowski, Regan Smith, AJ Allmendinger, Joe Nemechek, David Gilliland, and Todd Bodine.

Did Not Qualify: Travis Kvapil, Dave Blaney, Mike Garvey, Jeremy Mayfield, Sterlin Marlin, Scott Riggs, Tony Raines, and Dexter Bean.

Kyle Busch held off a hard-charging Mark Martin to win the second Duel, meaning he will start the 500 fourth.

AJ Allmendinger and Jeremy Mayfield earned the two transfer spots available in the first race. Scott Riggs and Regan Smith raced their way into the show, earning the last two transfer spots.

Top 10 Starters: Martin Truex Jr, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Brian Vickers, Jimmie Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya, Joey Logano, and Denny Hamlin.

Did Not Qualify: Joe Nemechek, Boris Said, Brad Keselowski, Kirk Shelmerdine, Mike Wallace, Tony Raines, Mike Garvey, Derricke Cope, Mike Skinner, Kelly Bires, Carl Long, Geoff Bodine, and Norm Benning.

Greg Biffle stayed out on a early on lap 165 to take the lead. By lap 174, Biffle’s tires began to fade, as did he. He dropped from first to seventh by lap 208. The strategy ended up backfiring, as Biffle lost a lap when he pitted.  Biffle remained a lap down until lap 485, when he got the free pass after David Gilliland got into the wall following contact with David Reutimann. He finished 12th.

Jeff Burton was shaping up to have a quiet day, running in the teens for most of the race.
On lap 457, Reed Sorenson spun and hit the wall. Burton pitted under caution and had some issues on pit road. Jeff Gordon was exiting his pit box when Burton was about to enter his. He couldn’t turn in without making contact with Gordon, so he let Gordon by him. He turned into his pit box, but his splitter was outside the box when the crew began changing right-side tires. He was held one lap for pitting outside his box. Burton finished 17th, one lap down.

Carl Edwards had a strong car, running near the front all day. He managed to stay out of trouble and have an uneventful day. He finished third.

Clint Bowyer also had a decent car and stayed out of trouble. He posted a solid ninth place finish.

Kevin Harvick, much like teammate Clint Bowyer, had a quiet and uneventful day at Martinsville. He posted a very quiet seventh place finish.

Jeff Gordon had a strong car. He was one of the few drivers that was able to drive around his teammate Jimme Johnson for the lead. He did so on three occasions, on lap 35, lap 242, and lap 272. He finished fourth.

Tony Stewart had a decent car early, running near the front for the early portion of the race. But, on lap 361, Stewart had a right front tire go down. Fortunately, he was able to make it to pit road without any major problems. He lost two laps during his stop. On lap 453, he returned to put road under green for another flat right front tire. He finished 26th, four laps down.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a solid car and started near the front due to rain washing out qualifying. An early pit road speeding penalty sent him to the tail end of the longest line. He restarted in 37th on lap 34. By lap 75, he was up to fifth. On lap 81, he got into Jamie McMurray, sending McMurray spinning. In th late stages of the race, Jr had the strongest car, but by that time teammate  Jimmie Johnson had too big of a lead to overcome. On the final two restarts, Jr did not have enough to get it done. He finished second.

Matt Kenseth stayed out of trouble until lap 114, when he got together with Joe Nemechek to bring out a caution. He lost a lap as a result of the crash. He got his lap back when Elliott Sadler and Aric Almirola got together on lap 196 and brought out the caution. On lap 462, he used strategy of staying out when the leaders pitted under caution to inherit the lead. He began falling back after the restart. He made contact with teammate David Ragan bringing out the final caution, setting up the green-white-checker finish. He finished eigth.

Denny Hamlin managed the avoid the tire problems that plagued teammates Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch. He ran near the front most, if not all of the day. While he never led, he managed to post a solid fifth place finish.

Kyle Busch‘s Chase problems continued to unfold with another lackluster day. By lap 98, Busch was complaining of brake issues. On lap 161, he hit the wall after his right front tire blew. He stopped on track to bring out the caution NASCAR penalized him two laps. On lap 346, he lost another right front tire. He made it to pit road. On lap 457, another right front tire lost and another trip to pit road. He finished 29th, seven laps down.