August 20, 2007
KENSETH TAKES SECOND IN BUSCH RACE; RAIN POSTPONES NEXTEL CUP AND NHRA EVENTS
Matt Kenseth finished second in his No. 17 Fusion at the Carfax 250 Busch Series race at Michigan International Speedway. Kenseth moves up one spot to 11th in the standings.
Joe Foster and Scott Maxwell were the top-finishing Ford drivers in the Grand Prix of Trois-Rivieres in the KONI Challenge, finishing fifth in their No. 55 Mustang FR500C. The duo is second in the championship standings, trailing leaders Jep Thornton and Jeff Segal by 27 points.
Sunday’s 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway was postponed due to rain. NASCAR has rescheduled the event for noon on Monday. Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Fusion, will start the race from the second position.
John Force, driver of the Castrol GTX Mustang, upset No. 2 qualifier Jack Beckman in first round eliminations Sunday before rain halted racing at the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway. Only three Funny Car races were completed before the rain set in. The rest of the first round is scheduled to resume at 10 a.m. Monday.
DEARBORN, Mich., August 19
Matt Kenseth finished second in Saturday’s NASCAR Busch Series race while the duo of Joe Foster and Scott Maxwell also enjoyed a top-five finish for their Mustang in the KONI Challenge. Rain dampened the rest of the weekend, postponing the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race and the NHRA event.
Kenseth led three different times for a total of 29 laps and was battling in the top two spots for the majority of the race.
“We had a good car, we made pretty good adjustments,” said Kenseth. “We got off a little bit there at the end, and really we just got beat out of the pits, and that was kind of the difference. It was a good day for us, came home second. Wish we could’ve been up there battling with ’em, but we had a good car.”
Kenseth’s teammate Greg Biffle also had a strong day, winning the pole and finishing the race in fifth place.
“Certainly, we wanted to be better than that,” said Biffle. “We weren’t that strong all day; they had us beat right from the start by just a little bit, and that was tough. But, we just kept working on it and just laid down a little bit there at the end and a couple of guys got us, but ended up with a top-five, so can’t complain about that.”
Biffle also qualified well for the NEXTEL Cup race and will start in the second position. The race, which was postponed because of rain, has been rescheduled for a noon start on Monday, with television coverage on ESPN2.
In the KONI Challenge, seven Mustang FR500Cs finished in the top-16 spots with Joe Foster and Scott Maxwell leading the way for Ford drivers with a fifth-place finish. The duo is second in the championship standings, trailing leaders Jep Thornton and Jeff Segal by 27 points.
The Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals were also postponed because of rain, but three first round Funny Car races got in before the rain halted the action. John Force, who upset No. 2 qualifier Jack Beckman in the first round, and his teammates, Ashley Force and Robert Hight, will have to wait until 10 a.m. Monday morning to continue the competition.
“It is what it is,” John Force said of the postponement. “You never want rain, but you can’t do anything about it. The clouds came in and it cooled off and our ‘ol hot rod stepped up. I wish it had held off long enough for Robert and Ashley to run. You don’t know what to expect (from the weather).”
Later this week, the NEXTEL Cup, Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series competitors will head south to compete in Bristol, Tennessee, while the Rolex Series will be at Infineon Raceway for the Armed Forces Grand-Am 250.
Posted to Auto Racing (General) by Motorsports Journal « Go Back
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