In a race that saw Eric McClure injured and Danica Patrick using her Chevrolet for payback, Logano beat Busch to the finish line by .034 seconds to win his second NNS race of the season and the 11th of his career.

Defending series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ran third and took over the points lead from Elliott Sadler. Cole Whitt came home fourth, followed by his JR Motorsports teammate and boss Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“Kyle and I have worked together in the past, obviously, being teammates on the Cup side,” Logano said. “We’ve got that chemistry there that we know what we’ve got to do . . .

“I know he’s thinking the same thing as me. He knows I’m going to make to make something happen here, and I got him there at the line. It’s super exciting to win ‘em that way, because you don’t know you’ve got it until you’re at the line.”

Busch knew that, as the leader off Turn 4 being pushed by Logano, his chances of winning the race were minimal.

“When you’re in tandem like that, there’s not much that the front car can do,” Busch said. “I probably could have blocked Joey up the track a little bit more and then turned down to the bottom to try to get him away from me.

“The rear car has so much momentum ready to go. As soon as you pull out of line, it seems like you’re able to move forward on (the leading) car.”

Whitt was pushing Stenhouse after a restart on Lap 121, but that tandem couldn’t pull up beside Logano and Busch as they raced for the finish line. As a consequence, Logano had the time and the room to make the winning move.

“I was staring in the mirror, because I didn’t want to have that other group (Stenhouse and Whitt) beat us to the line,” Logano said. “That was going to be the real kicker. I wanted to make sure I had enough room behind me to do this.

“He (Stenhouse) was about three car-lengths back, maybe four. You know how much you’re going to slow down when you make the move, so you’ve got to do it late enough. I did it and I was like, ‘Oh, my God — too early!’

“And then I looked up in the mirror and (said), ”Oh, maybe I’ll be all right,’ and then we won the race.”

Patrick finished 13th, but after the checkered flag, she exacted revenge on Sam Hornish Jr. for crowding her into the wall as they approached the finish line, knocking Hornish into the outside wall in Turn 1.

Hornish said he was unable to turn his No. 12 Dodge because of a flat tire.

“The 2 (Sadler) was pushing me, which I appreciate, but at that time I didn’t need it,” Hornish said. “I was trying to get out from in front of him, but the car wouldn’t turn anymore.

“Then, after the race was over, we got rear-ended by the 7 car (Patrick). I don’t know what she had in her head, but she decided to right-rear us, wreck the car after the race was over.”

Patrick didn’t elaborate about punting Hornish in Turn 1, but after the race she talked about the incident that was the catalyst for the retaliation.

“I don’t know what happened,” Patrick said. “Sam came up to me after the race and apologized, so I’m not sure what was wrong with his car, but he came across the track at the front of the start/finish line.”

After the incident, there’s little doubt that there’s a difference of opinion between Patrick and Hornish about what constitutes an apology.

The race was red-flagged for a nine-car wreck that interrupted the first attempt at a green-white-checkered-flag finish on Lap 117. McClure got the worst of the collision, taking a jarring hit against the SAFER barrier on the inside of the backstretch approaching Turn 3.

McClure was awake and talking to safety workers after the crash but was airlifted to the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital for further evaluation and treatment of unspecified injuries.

After a stoppage of 19 minutes, the race resumed with the second attempt at a green-white-checker finish.

The wild wreck on Lap 117 was emblematic of an action-filled race.

Contact from Kurt Busch’s No. 1 Chevrolet sent Brian Scott’s No. 11 Toyota spinning on Lap 29, triggering a wreck that also involved Josh Richards, Morgan Shepherd and Jason Bowles.

Busch was charging from the back of the field after serving a penalty for dragging a fuel can from his pit stall under caution for Johanna Long’s blown engine on Lap 22.

Under yellow for the Lap 29 wreck, Austin Dillon ran into the back of John Wes Townley’s No. 24 Toyota, which was blocking Dillon’s egress from the pit box.

Dillon’s car, however, sustained only cosmetic damage, and the reigning Camping World Truck Series champion soon worked his way back to the front of the field. But Dillon was a victim of the Lap 117 melee that started when Michael Annett tried to make a run up the middle and collided with Kevin Harvick’s Chevy. Dillon finished 17th and is third in the standings, 30 points behind Stenhouse.

Earnhardt had led 19 laps before a multicar wreck on the frontstretch slowed the action for the third time, moments after the field had completed Lap 62. Brad Sweet spun off the front bumper of Mike Wallace’s Chevrolet and slammed nose-first into the outside wall.

Josh Richards’ spin on Lap 81 caused the fourth caution, providing the opportunity for fuel stops inside the window to the finish.

Clint Bowyer surged past Richard Childress Racing teammate Jeff Burton through the tri-oval on the final lap at Talladega Superspeedway to win Sunday’s Good Sam Club 500.

Bowyer, who will leave RCR for Michael Waltrip Racing next season, beat Burton to the finish line by .018 seconds to record his first victory of the season and the fifth of his career. The win was the 100th in the Sprint Cup Series for team owner Richard Childress.

On a two-lap run to the finish that followed the ninth caution of the race, Bowyer, the defending winner of the race, pushed Burton to a lead of more than 20 car lengths over the pack that was chasing them. That gave Bowyer the luxury of a slingshot move past Burton in the tri-oval. Bowyer nosed ahead 1,200 feet from the finish line and held on—barely.

“Whenever you leave here not wrecked, you ought to be happy, but at the same time, I’m heartbroke we didn’t win the race,” said Burton, who recorded his first top five in more than a year. “Having said all of that, I don’t know what I would have done different.

“Honestly, I thought he made his move too early. I kind of gave him the bottom, because you tend to be able to pull them back to you better when you’re on their right rear quarter panel. He made his move really early, I thought. I thought I’d be able to pull back to him, but he had a lot of momentum when he made the move.”

Bowyer realized he was taking his shot early but decided to seize the moment when Burton gave him the inside line.

“He kind of moved up off of (Turn) 4, and I knew it was too early to go, but it was going to be a drag race, and it would give us both a shot at it,” Bowyer said. “He worked so well with me all day long. You hate that it comes down to that, but it is what it is, and you owe it to your team and your sponsors to go out and win the race.

“Unfortunately, it came down to that situation, but—trust me—I was prepared to push him to the win, no matter what the cost was, if we’d have had people breathing down our necks. It just wasn’t meant to be for him. He’s been a great teammate, and I’ve learned a lot from him—but he’s already won a lot of races (21), and I’ve only won five.”

Dave Blaney, pushed by Brad Keselowski, ran third, with Keselowski taking the flag in fourth in a race that saw only five drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup finish in the top 24. Keselowski gained three positions to third in the Chase standings.

Red Bull Racing teammates Brian Vickers and Kasey Kahne finished fifth and six, followed by Chase drivers Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin. Michael Waltrip Racing teammates Michael Waltrip and Martin Truex Jr. completed the top 10.

Carl Edwards came home 11th and extended his lead in the Chase to 14 points over second-place Matt Kenseth, who finished 18th.

A six-car wreck on Lap 104 did major damage to the Chase chances of Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. As the lead pack of cars sped through the tri-oval, a push from Marcos Ambrose turned Richard Petty Motorsports teammate AJ Allmendinger, triggering a crash that crumpled the hood of Harvick’s Chevrolet and knocked in the driver’s side of Busch’s Toyota.

Harvick lost two laps during multiple pit stops to repair his car, and Busch spent 11 laps in the garage before bringing his hobbled car back on the track on Lap 118. Later black-flagged because his car leaking oil, Harvick finished 32nd, nine laps down and fell to fifth in the standings, 26 points behind Edwards.

Busch was credited with 33rd, 13 laps down, and is sixth in the Chase standings, 40 points back.

Polesitter Mark Martin finished 20th to lead a disappointing train of Hendrick drivers who continued their disappearing act from the title race this year. Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran 25th, and five-time champion Jimmie Johnson came home 26th—one spot ahead of teammate Jeff Gordon—to drop 50 points behind Edwards with four races left in the Chase.

Two early incidents broke up potent drafting combinations. On Lap 67, Joey Logano spun off Turn 4 in close quarters with Trevor Bayne, who was trying to get to pit road. Before Logano could complete another lap, his left front tire exploded, destroying the left front fender of his Toyota.

That left Busch, who had been drafting with Logano, to pair up with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Hamlin, a prospect considered so unlikely before the race that the organization hadn’t established radio channels that would allow Busch, Hamlin and their spotters and crew chiefs to communicate freely.

Stewart lost his partner, teammate Ryan Newman, when Newman spun off Stewart’s bumper in the tri-oval. With heavy front-end damage, Newman lost a lap on pit road as his team repaired the car and two more laps on the racetrack before taking his car to the garage after 97 laps.

Coincidentally, Stewart then teamed with Logano, who was driving the No. 20 Home Depot car that carried Stewart to Cup championships in 2002 and 2005. Logano pushed Stewart to the lead on Lap 101, before the pileup in Turn 1 on Lap 104 ended the brief partnership between Hamlin and Busch and changed the complexion of the race and the Chase.

“We believe the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule will once again provide fans with what they’ve come to expect every season – the world’s most exciting and competitive form of motorsports,” said Brian France, NASCAR chairman and CEO. “Next year’s schedule has a few adjustments that we think will be good for the fans and good for the overall flow of the season. One thing will remain constant, however, and that’s the intense competition we see week in and week out from our drivers and race teams.”

One of those adjustments takes place during NASCAR’s playoffs – the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup – and could affect the strategy during the championship run. Talladega Superspeedway’s Chase event moves up two weeks to Oct. 7, becoming the fourth race in the Chase. Often labeled as the wild-card track in the Chase, Talladega’s grueling test is now staged during the first half of the Chase.

Talladega swaps its Chase date with Kansas Speedway (Oct. 21) to accommodate Kansas’ repave, scheduled for after the track’s spring event. As such, Kansas’ spring date has also been moved. Kansas now will be the eighth race of the season on April 22. Talladega’s spring event moves to May 6, and Dover International Speedway’s spring event returns to its traditional spot on June 3.

As previously announced, the season-opening Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway will start one week later with the running of the preseason “non-points” Shootout at Daytona on Feb. 18. The 54th annual Daytona 500 will run on Feb. 26.

The race dates for Phoenix International Raceway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway have likewise been moved a week later, to March 4 and March 11, respectively.

Two other featured adjustments to the 2012 schedule:

Texas Motor Speedway’s spring date will be moved to April 14, to accommodate the traditional open week for the Easter holiday.

Daytona’s summer event and Kentucky Speedway’s race will swap weekends in 2012, as the July 4th holiday falls mid-week next year. Kentucky’s race will be June 30; Daytona will run on July 7.

As in past years, FOX will broadcast the first 13 races of next year’s schedule. TNT will follow, broadcasting the next six. ESPN/ABC will broadcast the final 17 events. Race start times will be announced at a later date.

NASCAR will also release the 2012 schedules for the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at a later date.

2012 NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES SCHEDULE

History

The concept for this blog started many years before in launched. I kicked the idea around for several years, but could never come up with a niche for my blog. Should I cover NASCAR news?  How will that be unique compared to all other NASCAR coverage?

Eventually, I settled on the idea that I would feature a synopsis and analysis of the media coverage of NASCAR. But, that idea quickly evolved into what the Lead Lap has become today: a mix of news, rumors, and opinions.

I wanted to create a blog that featured current NASCAR news interjected with my thoughts and opinions. I also wanted to bring in other types of stories that were tangentally related to NASCAR — for example the economic conditions and their affect on NASCAR, and the companies involved in NASCAR.

In one year’s time, I think I have acheived those goals. I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading this blog as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Future

In the future, I hope to continue to grow this blog, and maybe eventually expand to a full-blown website. I’m still kicking around ideas for what the website would feature and how it would fit in with other sites like Jayski and SceneDaily.

A redesign may also be coming. I’m hoping to give the Lead Lap a better look and feel.

Stats

Looking back at the last year, I’ve put together some stats I would like to share. In April 2007, the Lead Lap generated 41 views — most of those coming from my girlfriend. Since then, the Lead Lap has grown to an average of 832 views per month, with a high of 1,500 views in July of 2007.

When this blog was launched, the hottest NASCAR story was the speculation surrounding Tony Stewart’s 2009 plans. As a matter of fact, my first posting was on this very subject. At that time, it was unclear whether or not Stewart would be released from his contract.

Coincidentally, the Lead Lap’s top post by page views was the official announcement that Tony Stewart would be driving the Old Spice, Office Depot Chevy for Stewart Haas Racing. The number 2 post? Army sponsoring Ryan Newman and SHR.

Last week’s story on fans injured during Carl Edwards Talladega wreck was the most viewed non-SHR story. But, the Car and Driver hoax article story is right behind it, and is still closing the gap.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone who has visited, and continues to visit, this blog and those of you who share your insights and opinions via comments. I do my best to respond to each one, and will continue to do so. Last but certainly not least, I would like to thank my girlfriend who helped me get this blog off the ground and, even though she is not a NASCAR fan, still continues to check it out daily. Thanks.

Blake Bobbitt was hit by a piece of sheet metal that flew into the grandstands where she and her father were seated after Carl Edwards hit the catchfence and sent debris flying into the stands after making contact with Brad Keselowski and being sent airborne by contact with Ryan Newman.

Bobbitt suffered a broken jaw. She was stabilized, and taken to the infield care center. Shortly thereafter, she was transported to the a local hospital where she underwent reconstructive surgery and inserted two plates into her jaw.

Edwards called the hospital to check on her status, and make sure she was okay.

She is expected to make a full recovery, and is expected to be released from the hospital sometime today.

I, for one, am glad to hear that.

Blake Bobbitt was hit by a piece of sheet metal that flew into the grandstands where she and her father were seated after Carl Edwards hit the catchfence and sent debris flying into the stands after making contact with Brad Keselowski and being sent airborne by contact with Ryan Newman.

Bobbitt suffered a broken jaw. She was stabilized, and taken to the infield care center. Shortly thereafter, she was transported to the a local hospital where she underwent reconstructive surgery and inserted two plates into her jaw.

Edwards called the hospital to check on her status, and make sure she was okay.

She is expected to make a full recovery, and is expected to be released from the hospital sometime today.

I, for one, am glad to hear that.

By now, we’ve all heard the quotes. Edwards said:

Brad [Keselowski] did a great job. Congrats to him on the win, but [NASCAR] put us in this box and I guess we’ll race like this until we kill somebody. And then they’ll change it.

He also said:

I was very fortunate we hit the wall in a way that it didn’t crush my roll cage down on my neck because that would have been a lot worse. NASCAR just puts us in this box. I’m glad the car didn’t go up in the grandstands and hurt somebody.

Keselowski talked about the yellow line rule, saying:

The yellow line is there to prevent us from running underneath each other and prevent us from being crazy. But the bottom line is, that’s who we are. We are all crazy race car drivers and we are going to run into each other. The yellow line could be six feet high or six feet low and we would still run into each other. That’s what we do. It’s a give-and-take sport and as races go on, it’s a challenge of who is going to lift and who is not, and it’s testing each other every moment.

We all remember what happened last year when Regan Smith went below the yellow line, so there was no way Keselowski was going to make the same mistake.

And while I completely agree that it is a tragedy when fans get injured, I’m not sure that the yellow line rule should be changed.

Don’t get me wrong, I do think that yellow line rule triggered the accident. I also think it leads to more aggressive blocking. But, if NASCAR decided to get rid of the rule, drivers would go below it to pass, and other drivers would go below it to block.

Taking Sunday’s wreck into consideration, do you think that if Keselowski dipped below the yellow line (assuming there was no penatly for doing so) that Edwards would not have practically driven him into the grass to win? I’m willing to bet he would have.

If the two had made contact at the same place, at the same time and in the same way, below the yellow line, who’s to say Edwards’ car would not have made it to the catchfence?

Sunday’s wreck was a freak accident that was the result of many different circumstances. Keselowski got a huge run on Edwards and put a good double move on him. Edwards didn’t realize how far alongside him Keselowski got.

When he spun, Edwards’ rear tires came off the ground, but were on their way down when Ryan Newman hit him, sending him airborne. If Newman was not there, Edwards would have just spun out and it would have been the end of the story.

Again, it’s tragic that fans got hurt. But, in the grand scheme of things, it could have been worse. Edwards’ car could have made it to the stands if the fence had not held. But, it didn’t because the safety device did its job.

I’m all for making changes to improve safety, but let’s not change the rules in a knee-jerk fashion just because of a freak accident. After all, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And the yellow line rule ain’t broke.

The injuries were not life-threatening. One woman suffered a laceration on her face and possibly had a broken jaw when she was hit with debris.  Another woman was suffering from chest pains.

Edwards said:

I guess we’ll do this until somebody gets killed and then we’ll change it. But that’s the way it is. … I saw some fencing at one point and that made me a little bit nervous. I don’t know if I could live with myself if I ended up in the grandstands.

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.

Kvapil was being fitted in the seat, so that a swap could be performed quickly, if needed.

The team should have plenty of time to swap drivers under caution without going a lap down because Talladega Superspeedway is a big track.