Carl Edwards won the 2011 Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway after finishing 0.443 seconds ahead of runner-up Kyle Busch and collected a whole million dollar prize for his victory. Moreover, Edwards became the eighth different winner of the event in the past eight years. David Reutimann ran third, followed by Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, David Ragan, Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman completed the top 10 but only Edwards became millionaire after the event.
Matt Kenseth was the winner of FedEx 400 at Dover International Speedway, following a 2-tyre pitstop strategy and doubled his 2011 Sprint Cup victories.
It was a Southern 500 for the ages.
In a season that began with Trevor Bayne and the Wood Brothers shocking Daytona 500, Regan Smith driving for Furniture Row Racing, won the Showtime Southern 500 race at Darlington Raceway in a dramatic green-white-checkered-flag finish, 0.196 seconds ahead of Carl Edwards.
A tearful Smith could only commented in victory lane
"This is the Southern 500 - Legends win this race.- we're not supposed to win this thing."
Spring in Richmond means 2 things. The azaleas blooming at Augusta National and Kyle Busch celebrating his birthday with another dominating victory at Crown Royal 400.
5-times Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson won Aaron's 499 with a razor-thin .002-second margin of victory over Clint Bowyer in a wild four-wide finish at the 2.66-mile track.
Johnson's edged victory at Talladega is only his 2nd in the demanding track and the 54th of his Cup career. But more importantly it was Johnson's first victory of the season after 5 races in his attempt to win a 6th consecutive Sprint Cup championship.
After a 76-race long absence from Victory Lane, Matt Kenseth dominated over Clint Boyer by a whopping 8.315 seconds in Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Victory was Kenseth's 2nd at Texas and the 19th of his Cup career since an impressive start of 2009 season, when he won the Daytona 500 and the second race of the season at Fontana Speedway.
Kevin Harvick won Goody's Fast Relief 500 in Martinsville Speedwa scoring his second consecutive race after winning also Auto Club 500. The victory was Harvick's second of the season and his first at Martinsville. Harvick has 16 victories in the Cup Series.
Kevin Harvick of Richard Childress Racong returned to victories after winning Auto Club 400 at the Fontana Speesway. Victory was accomplished when he powered his No. 29 Chevrolet to the outside of Johnson's No. 48 Chevy through the last Turns 3 and 4 of the race and beat Johnson to the finish line by a margin of .144 seconds. Auto Cub 500 victory was Harvick's first of the 2011 season and 15th of his career and it came from nowhere as a thunder in the Californian desert.
Kyle Busch completed a 5/5 streak of consecutive victories in NASCAR's top three series at the .533-mile short track of Bristol Motor Speedway after dominating the Jeff Byrd 500 presented by Food City.
Last season, Busch became the first driver to win three national series races at the same track on the same weekend when he claimed victories in the Truck, Nationwide and Cup series at Bristol Motor Speedway but his streak has been arosen to 5/5 after dominating both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup 2011 races in the same track.
Nonetheless, his accomplishement could fairly name him the next Mr. Bristol and undoubtly will rise questions, about how soon another driver will find a way to keep him out of Bristol's Victory Lane or to repeat his streak.
A mistake in the pits and a penalty for dominant Tony Stewart, gave Carl Edwards finally the chance he needed to leave the frustration of the first two Sprint Cup Series races of the season behind. Edwards powered his No. 99 Ford across the finish line 1.246 seconds ahead of Stewart's No. 14 Chevrolet in Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The victory was the 19th of Edwards' career and his third in the past five races.
Jeff Gordon ended his 66-race winless streak by scoring a convincing victory at the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Race. Gordon’s first since Texas Motor Speedway in April 2009, gave him 83 career Sprint Cup wins, tying him with Cale Yarborough for fifth on NASCAR’s all-time list.
No it wasn't the champ Jimmie Johnson, either the drive for hunger Jeff Gordon or Dale Earnhardt Jr. Either it was the new Kyle or the incoming from 2010 Chase Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards. It wasn't Kevin Harvick or Tony Stewart either Kurt Busch's momentum from Gatorade Duel and Shootout.
It was Cinderella Trevor Bayne driving the magic David Pearson's No. 21 car for Wood Brothers who won the famous Daytona 500 in his first ever attempt and became the younger winner of the event. Morerover, by winning in his second start in the Sprint Cup Series, Bayne tied Jamie McMurray for quickest victory at the start of a career.
