2011 WinStar World Casino 350K

The 2011 WinStar World Casino 350K was a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event held on November 4, 2011 at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Contested over 148 laps of the 1.5 miles (2.4 km) oval, it was the second-last race of the season, and was won by Kevin Harvick in a green-white-checker finish.

2011 WinStar World Casino 350K
Race details[1]
Race 24 of 25 in the 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season
Simple line diagram of Texas Motor Speedway track layout
Simple line diagram of Texas Motor Speedway track layout
Date November 4, 2011; 12 years ago (2011-11-04)
Location Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas
Course Permanent racing facility
1.5 mi (2.4 km)
Distance 147 laps, 220.5 mi (350 km)
Weather Temperatures reaching up to 63 °F (17 °C); wind speeds up to 7 miles per hour (11 km/h)[2]
Average speed 121.275 mph (195.173 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Turner Scott Motorsports
Most laps led
Driver Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick Incorporated
Laps 61
Winner
No. 2 Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick Incorporated
Television in the United States
Network Speed

The race became notable for an incident on its fourteenth lap, where Kyle Busch deliberately spun out series regular (and championship contender) Ron Hornaday on a resulting caution after Hornaday caused Busch's truck to slide into a wall. Its aftermath affected the championship contentions of both drivers (in the Sprint Cup Series and the Camping World Truck Series respectively), and NASCAR's response to the incident also led to the first ever parking of a driver across all three races of a race weekend involving all of the association's national series since the original establishment of the Truck Series in 1995.

Report edit

James Buescher won the pole position for the race, setting a lap speed of 181.062 mph (291.391 km/h). Austin Dillon, Blake Feese, Kyle Busch and Ricky Carmichael started from the top five; Tim Andrews, Norm Benning and Derek White failed to qualify for the event.[3]

In the race, Kevin Harvick won his fourth event of the season; Austin Dillon finished second. James Buescher ran out of fuel on a green-white-checkered finish and dropped from third to 19th. The victory saw Harvick's No. 2 Chevrolet team clinch the series' Owners Championship.[4]

Ron Hornaday and Kyle Busch conflict edit

On Lap 13, Kyle Busch and Ron Hornaday, who was in third in points 15 behind, were battling for second side by side when they approached a lapped truck in Johnny Chapman. Both Busch and Hornaday tried to go around the outside of Chapman while still side by side but Hornaday ended up getting loose and made contact with Busch and both trucks slid up into the wall in turn 2 bringing out the caution. This made Busch angry and Busch went to retaliate Hornaday by trying to turn him with Busch's spotter telling Busch to calm down and to get off of Hornaday. Unfortunately, it was too late as Busch deliberately turned Hornaday into the outside wall under caution, ending Hornaday's title hopes. NASCAR black-flagged Busch, parking him from the event.[4] The next morning, NASCAR announced that Busch would remain parked for the remainder of the weekend, including the 2011 O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge and the 2011 AAA Texas 500.[5] NASCAR took this action under rules that allow it to park a driver in order to ensure the "orderly conduct of the event," an action which is not appealable.[6] Denny Hamlin and Michael McDowell stepped up to replace Busch in both the Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup series races.[5] It was the first time since the Truck Series was launched in 1995 that NASCAR had parked a driver across all three national series, and only the third cross-series sanction in NASCAR's 64-year history.[6] NASCAR's action mathematically eliminated Busch from contention for the Sprint Cup, though any realistic chance of him winning it ended earlier in the Chase.[7]

Later that day, Busch issued an apology to his fans, sponsors and teammates, saying that the Texas incident was "certainly a step backward."[8]

On November 7, NASCAR fined Busch $50,000 for "actions detrimental to stock car racing." While the sanctioning body lifted the parking directive, it placed Busch on probation for the rest of the year, saying that he would be suspended indefinitely if he committed another action "detrimental to stock car racing or to NASCAR" or "disrupts the orderly conduct of an event".[9]

Race results edit

Pos Grid No. Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Points
1 10 2 Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick Incorporated Chevrolet 148 01
2 2 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 148 43
3 8 21 Ty Dillon Kevin Harvick Incorporated Chevrolet 148 41
4 7 8 Nelson Piquet Jr. # Kevin Harvick Incorporated Chevrolet 148 40
5 11 88 Matt Crafton ThorSport Racing Chevrolet 148 39
6 14 22 Joey Coulter # Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 148 38
7 12 13 Johnny Sauter ThorSport Racing Chevrolet 148 38
8 5 4 Ricky Carmichael Turner Motorsports Chevrolet 148 36
9 17 7 Miguel Paludo # Red Horse Racing Toyota 148 35
10 6 6 Justin Lofton Eddie Sharp Racing Chevrolet 148 35
11 15 17 Timothy Peters Red Horse Racing Toyota 148 33
12 23 23 Jason White Joe Denette Motorsports Chevrolet 148 32
13 19 5 Todd Bodine Randy Moss Motorsports Toyota 148 31
14 24 9 Max Papis Germain Racing Toyota 148 30
15 26 39 Ryan Sieg RSS Racing Chevrolet 148 29
16 33 66 Ross Chastain Turn One Racing Chevrolet 148 28
17 18 60 Cole Whitt # Turn One Racing Chevrolet 146 27
18 20 20 Johanna Long # Panhandle Motorsports Toyota 146 26
19 1 31 James Buescher Turner Motorsports Chevrolet 146 26
20 36 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb JJC Racing Dodge 144 01
21 25 93 B. J. McLeod RSS Racing Chevrolet 144 23
22 27 68 Clay Greenfield Alger Motorsports Dodge 143 22
23 16 81 David Starr SS-Green Light Racing Toyota 140 21
24 28 73 Rick Crawford Tagsby Racing Chevrolet 101 20
25 29 55 Jake Crum MAKE Motorsports Chevrolet 96 01
26 40 26 Jack Smith MB Motorsports Ford 96 18
27 3 32 Blake Feese Turner Motorsports Chevrolet 54 17
28 13 29 Parker Kligerman # Brad Keselowski Racing Dodge 54 16
29 22 07 Johnny Chapman SS-Green Light Racing Toyota 45 01
30 32 74 Mike Harmon Mike Harmon Racing Chevrolet 27 01
31 21 62 Brendan Gaughan Germain Racing Toyota 20 13
32 31 0 T. J. Bell JJC Racing Ford 19 01
33 4 18 Kyle Busch Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota 14 01
34 9 33 Ron Hornaday Jr. Kevin Harvick Incorporated Chevrolet 13 10
35 35 87 Chris Jones LCS Motorsports Chevrolet 10 02
36 30 38 Mike Garvey RSS Racing Chevrolet 5 02
# Rookie of the Year candidate / 1 Not eligible for series points / 2 Late entry
Source:[1]

Standings after the race edit

Pos Driver Points
1 Austin Dillon 854
2 Johnny Sauter 834
3 James Buescher 826
4 Ron Hornaday Jr. 806
5 Timothy Peters 796
6 Todd Bodine 775
7 Matt Crafton 759
8 Joey Coulter 757
9 Cole Whitt 742
10 Nelson Piquet Jr. 712

References edit

  1. ^ a b "2011 WinStar World Casino 350k". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 29, 2013.
  2. ^ Weather information for the 2011 WinStar World Casino 350K at The Old Farmers' Almanac
  3. ^ "Buescher takes pole for Texas truck race". Fox News. November 3, 2011. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
  4. ^ a b "Harvick wins at Texas after Hornaday knocked out". USA Today. McLean, VA: Gannett Company. November 4, 2011. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
  5. ^ a b "Kyle Busch parked for weekend". ESPN. November 6, 2011. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
  6. ^ a b Rodman, Dave (November 5, 2011). "Busch out at Texas". NASCAR.com. Turner Sports. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
  7. ^ Martin, Bruce (November 15, 2011). "Is Kyle Busch the biggest troublemaker in NASCAR history?". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
  8. ^ Ryan, Nate (November 5, 2011). "Kyle Busch apologizes after being parked for Texas weekend". USA Today. McLean, VA: Gannett Company. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
  9. ^ "NASCAR fines Kyle Busch $50,000, warns of indefinite suspension". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. November 7, 2011. Retrieved April 17, 2014.