Full Throttle

Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards were the class of the field in Saturday’s Busch Silver Celebration 250 at GIR. They both “got the lead out” to use an old phrase describing going fast, whether it be fast afoot or fast on the track.

For HWSBO, and other movers and shakers of the Busch Series it was a sucessful first test of the Series getting “the lead out” as in unleaded fuel. I felt sure at least one burnt valve or fatal case of engine knock would appear. It didn’t, so congrats to all of NASCAR’s shade tree mechanics.

Hamlin easily had the field covered leading the first 111 laps and 169 overall, but an ill-fated decision to only take on fuel with 13 laps left handed the victory to home state rival Carl Edwards.

“This means so much to win right here in front of all these people I know,” said Edwards, from Columbia, Mo., about a two-hour drive from Gateway. “I’ve never been that excited to win a race.”

Clint Bowyer finished second, followed by Hamlin, Reed Sorenson, Kevin Harvick, Scott Wimmer, David Green, Kyle Busch, St. Louis driver Kenny Wallace and Kevin Grubb.

Say what you will about Kenny Wallace, and he has many detractors, his performance has been consistently good if not outstanding all year in the Busch Series. His 10^th spot in the standings is deceiving. Minus the whackers he would sit in 3^rd and 161 points from “leader” Paul Menard.

It’s easily his best Busch season since 1994 when he had 3 wins (Bristol, Richmond and Martinsville), 11 top fives, and 15 top tens and ironically enough, finished the year in third behind Champion David Green.

Gateway International Raceway, Busch Series, Sports, NASCAR, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle