Herring Finishes 11^th in Sport Clips Toyota at Iowa Speedway on Saturday Night

August 7, Newton, IA--- The Finish: Drew Herring drove the Sport Clips Toyota to a career-best fifth-place qualifying spot Saturday night at Iowa Speedway, but struggled with a tight handling race car in the race, finishing 11^th in his fourth NASCAR Nationwide Series event of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing.

The Race Recap: Saturday started off great for Herring and the No. 20 Sport Clips team.  Herring qualified fifth for the US Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway, besting his previous career-best qualifying effort of 13^th. When the green flag dropped for the event, Herring found himself running solidly in the top-10.  On the first round of pit stops, the No. 20 team elected to take four tires when most of the field took only two.  That caused Herring to lose valuable track position and forced the No. 20 team to battle back from the 20^th position.  Herring had an extremely tight racecar most of the day as Crew Chief Adam Stevens and the team made major adjustments to get the car handling better.  By lap 170, Herring finally found himself back in the top-10, running as high as seventh.  However, despite the major adjustments, the tight condition continued for the remainder of the event.  Herring was able to come home with a solid 11^th-place finish when the checkered flag flew.

Drew's Quotes: “To come out of here with an 11^th-place finish isn’t bad, but it’s not what we should have had tonight with the Sport Clips Toyota.  We had a great car in practice and qualifying. After qualifying, I really thought we would have something for them tonight.  But when the race started, the car just got tight and it kept getting worse.  On the second run of the night, the car was so tight that I could hardly even drive it.  Luckily, the cautions came out and we were able to stay on the lead lap, but we just couldn’t get the car to loosen up enough. Adam made a ton of big changes and it helped, but it never got to the point that it needed to be.  I know after the race Adam and I talked and we just aren’t sure what happened to the car.  We all felt pretty good after qualifying, but I don’t know what happened.  I’m not sure if something happened to the car or what.  They’ll look it over at the shop and they’ll figure it out.

“The worst part is that I was hoping to have a better run for Sport Clips.  They’ve been very supportive of my time here with Joe Gibbs Racing and they deserved to run better than that.  So I’m really upset that we couldn’t get them a better run.  I was also hoping to get a better finish considering the way we’ve run the last two weeks.  We were fast at Nashville and Indy, but we just didn’t have it this weekend. Hopefully, we’ll get another shot to work together later this year and we can get a couple of more solid runs. 

“It’s been a blast working with Adam and all of the guys on the team.  Joe Gibbs Racing, Sport Clips and everyone involved with this organization are just class acts.  I’ve never had so much fun racing in my entire career, even when I was winning championships back in my Late Model days.  This has been a blast and hopefully we’ll be able to get a few more races in later this year.”

What’s Next:  Joey Logano will return to the seat of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota next weekend at Watkins Glen International.

McDowell and Pizza Ranch Team Run Gauntlet of Emotions in Notching Top-10 Finish at Iowa Speedway

August 7, Newton, IA--- The Finish: While the final results of the US Cellular 250 will show that Michael McDowell and the No. 18 Pizza Ranch Toyota started ninth and finished ninth, the night was anything but routine for the Joe Gibbs Racing team.  McDowell fought back from being two laps down to drive from 18^th to ninth over the race’s final 30 laps and grab his third top-10 finish of the season.

The Race Recap: Michael and the Pizza Ranch team started the day off by qualifying the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the ninth position for Saturday evening’s event at Iowa Speedway.  When the green flag flew, McDowell began charging to the front.  By lap five, McDowell already found himself in the top-five, taking a spot from JGR teammate Drew Herring.  Following a round of pit stops, McDowell grabbed the lead on lap 51 and held the point, holding off Carl Edwards for 17 laps before relinquishing the spot.  McDowell raced inside the top-10 for most of the event before having to come down pit road under green flag conditions on lap 166 with a bad vibration caused by a loose wheel. The resulting green-flag stop put McDowell and the No. 18 Pizza Ranch Toyota two laps down.  The team was able to take the wave around to get one lap back and then received the “lucky dog” on a subsequent caution, putting him back on the lead lap with just 30 laps to go.  McDowell restarted 18^th and was able to race all the way to ninth when the checkers flew, giving him his third top-10 finish of the season.  The No. 18 JGR team still leads the NASCAR Nationwide Series Owner’s standings by 25 points over the No. 32 of Turner Motorsports.

Michael's Quotes: "I’m pretty happy with the way that we ran tonight.  We didn’t get the finish that we deserved out there, but you’ll have nights like that.  This Pizza Ranch Toyota was really good out there.  I think had things worked out right, we would have been able to be up there in the top-three and we could have given those Roush Fords a run for their money.  But I’m really excited about the way we came back from some pretty unfortunate circumstances and got a top-10 finish out of all of it.  No one gave up, (crew chief) Jason (Ratcliff) and all of the guys kept a level head and we got back in contention.  We just didn’t have the time at the end of the race to get up there farther.  But the Pizza Ranch Toyota was fast. This was a good car, just disappointed we didn’t get a chance to get the finish we should have.

“We just had a loose wheel there past halfway.  Things like that happen.  It wasn’t done on purpose or anything.  You will have things like that happen in these races.  The impressive part is that no one got down, no one hung their heads and we just started focusing on getting back in this thing right after that happened.  We knew if we could get the wave around and get a lucky dog, we would have a shot to get right back in it and that is exactly what happened.  Unfortunately, that just all happened a little too late in the race.  We had 30 laps to make the most out of it when we got back on the lead lap.  I got on the radio and said ‘let’s do this’ and we just started picking up spot after spot.  We were able to get up to ninth there by the checkers.  It wasn’t a bad day for the Pizza Ranch Toyota.

“I’ve got to thank Pizza Ranch for all of their support this year.  This was the last race of the year for them as a sponsor and they’ve been great to work with. I really wish we could have won a race for them, but their support has given me a shot to race in great equipment and it’s been an awesome opportunity.  Hopefully, we’ve brought them a lot of added exposure.  We’ve got another race in a couple of weeks, so hopefully we can get this Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 team another win before the year is out.”

What’s Next:  The No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota will return to the track next weekend with Kyle Busch behind the wheel at Watkins Glen International.  McDowell will return to the No. 18 the week after in Montreal.

Dodge Motorsports Notes & Quotes - Hornish Jr. Quote - Iowa Speedway

August 6, Newton, IA--- SAM HORNISH JR. (No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger R/T) Finished 24th
"It was just a disappointing night. We had a really good car for the first 150 laps. We ran over a piece of debris and cut down the right front tire and in trying to get into the pits, we broke a brake line. So we spent the rest of the race trying to get all four brakes back, but we never seemed to get there. It's unfortunate that the night ended like it did, but the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger was pretty fast and we were able to lead a few laps early on. I really need to get this monkey off my back. It seems that no matter what happens, we always have some kind of issue. I'm very proud of the whole Discount Tire team and the car that they gave me. I just wish we could have gotten more out of tonight. "

Stenhouse Jr. Sweeps Iowa in Wild, Crazy Roush Fenway 1-2 Finish
Roush Fenway claims 12^th win of 2011 season; Increases Nationwide Points lead

August 6, Newton, IA--- Roush Fenway Racing posted the wildest one-two finish in team history Saturday night at Iowa Speedway, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. posting his second career NASCAR win; sweeping both races at Iowa this season. The win is Roush Fenway’s 12^th NASCAR win in 2011 and their eighth in the Nationwide Series this season.

“This was just an awesome job from this No. 6 team,” said Stenhouse Jr. “They work harder than anyone out there; all the guys at the shop and everyone at Roush Yates engines. I have to thank the good Lord above; he’s helped us through so much. I have to thank Nationwide Insurance for giving us the opportunity to come out here and put on a show for all these awesome fans. I just wish we had Blackwell Angus Beef and Cargill on this car tonight.”

Stenhouse and Roush Fenway teammate Carl Edwards engaged in a heated battle throughout the course of the race, with Stenhouse using a dramatic three-wide move to slice his No. 6 Ford Mustang through lapped traffic, eventually passing Edwards and taking the lead with 22 laps remaining.

Stenhouse looked as if he would cruise to the win, but the drama was far from over. A late mechanical issue forced him to slow at the finish line on the final lap. Edwards was unable to maneuver through the thick smoke and around the No. 6 car, violently slamming into the back of Stenhouse just short of the finish line, with the two crossing the line sideways, first and second, with severely damaged cars.   

“I don’t think anyone’s finished one-two with two torn up race cars like that, so congrats to Jack (Roush),” said Edwards. “I hoped he would be out of the way when I got there and I would drive around him. I have to thank Fastenal for being a part of this. It was a huge day. It’s fun to come here and race in front of this crowd and a great race for Ricky even with his problem there at the end.”

All three Roush Fenway Ford Mustangs led in the race, with Edwards leading a race-high 109 laps. Stenhouse led 25 laps and Trevor Bayne, who started second - was strong early; leading seven laps. Bayne was running top-five when he was forced to pit with a loose wheel. Bayne finished 25^th in the race.

With the victory, Stenhouse increased his Nationwide Series points lead to 12 points. Stenhouse and Edwards finished both Iowa races first and second this season.

Roush Fenway and the Nationwide Series return to action next weekend at Watkins Glen.

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