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California drivers show relatively well in NASCAR's trip to Texas
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NASCAR's three series visited Texas over the weekend. Though it was a Busch brothers sweep, several California drivers were in the mix in all three series.
Matt Crafton (Tulare) won the pole for the Camping World Truck Series race. Ron Hornaday Jr. (Bakersfield) had issues with Kyle Busch's driving, but ultimately Busch drove to the win.
In the Nationwide Series, Matt Kenseth brought the field to the green, but Jason Leffler (Long Beach) spent much of the day at the front of the field for a third place finish behind Casey Mears (Bakersfield), who was a last minute substitute in the No. 29. Jeff Burton had to pass on the Saturday race after taking a big hit in Cup practice. Kevin Harvick (Bakersfield), RCR teammate to Mears and Burton, drove his own KHI No. 33 to a sixth place finish. Kyle Busch went two for two, winning the Nationwide race and sporting the black cowboy hat.
Sunday's race started with Jeff Gordon (Vallejo) bringing the field to the green flag and quickly took an unexpected turn. Jimmie Johnson (El Cajon) made contact with Sam Hornish Jr. and the inside wall on lap three. He limped his wounded car back to the garage as cheers erupted from the stands. The Lowe's team, along with other Hendrick teams, spent more than an hour getting the car trackworthy again for a 38th place finish that cut his points lead by more than half.
Gordon was not able to capitalize on his start from the pole or Johnson's misfortune due to a wreck that ended Carl Edwards' day and left Juan Pablo Montoya to log laps for a 37th place finish. Gordon spun, had to get new tires, and finished 13th.
The Busch brothers dominated all day, but it came down to a fuel mileage race. Despite his best efforts to save fuel, Kyle Busch ran out with three laps to go, leaving the win to brother, Kurt. Harvick was positioned to take second but ran out of fuel coming to the line and finished fifth.
Other California Cup drivers finished as follows: AJ Almendinger (Los Gatos) - tenth; Scott Speed (Manteca) - 18th; Mears - 21st; Robby Gordon (Orange) - 27th; and David Gilliland (Riverside, driving for JGR) - 28th.
For more information on Southern California Motorsports, check out:
Jimmie Johnson meets Hornish to create Franken-Chevy
Camping World West Champion Jason Bowles to race Nationwide at Phoenix
Janelle Jalbert is a fan of a variety of racing formats and equally enjoys the history of the sport. Janelle grew up in an auto mechanic’s family and swears that there is carb spray running through her veins. She can be reached via email for both comments and story ideas. You can follow Janelle as the Southern California Motorsports Examiner on Twitter as @SoCalMotorsport.
Janelle also serves as the NASCAR Truck Series Examiner. Feel free to join the discussion about the hard racing in the CWTS at the NASCAR Truck Series Examiner fan page on Facebook
Kyle Busch started the weekend going five for five in Texas
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