Joey Lagano's Nationwide post race Interview

Photo Courtesy of NASCAR.com

This weekend, Nationwides Media Team twittered from the race in Nashville so make you you follow them since they will be at it again in Phoenix. They got quite a few twitpics from the weekend which can be viewed here.

See below for the official Joey Logano Nationwide Series Interview from this weekend.

Joey Logano NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion Interview – Nashville Superspeedway
Eighteen-year-old Joey Logano captured his first Nationwide Series victory of the season and the second of his career in the Pepsi 300 at Nashville Superspeedway.

Joey Logano: It’s big for me, you know it’s an awesome confidence booster for sure. You know, looking and saying hey I can do this, I am here for a reason, I can win races. That’s big, you know, just to reassure yourself that, and I’m sure this is all going to keep carrying on— you’ve got to build on this momentum and keep going.

Logano was able to hold off teammate Kyle Busch for the win.
Kyle Busch: He had a better car on the short run, we had a better long run car, and you know I want to thank Z-Line, NOS Energy Drink, Toyota, all the guys on this team they did a great job. It’s just a shame we weren’t able to get out there and win this thing. You know, it’s kind of frustrating but we finished second today.

Logano had a good feeling about the race from the start of the weekend.
Logano: You know the car was good right off the bat, we qualified great, we practiced great and you know it started going and Kyle got by us—the car just kept getting tighter and tighter on the long runs and Dave just kept adjusting it and adjusting it and we were really good on the short runs and then we kept tightening up as we kept going so. As you look at Kyle back there at the end of the race and you get that clean air back on my nose and I know he was tight so that kind of made it worse for him and it was good enough to hold him off. It’s cool to have Joe Gibbs race a one-two finish. That’s a big deal for all the guys at the shop too.

Third place-finisher Brad Keselowski was asked why he was happier than Busch, who finished a spot ahead of him.
Brad Keselowski: Highlight that as the question of the year. Do you have enough time for me today to answer that? Obviously you know he’s running two series so when you come to the Nationwide level as a driver like himself that’s you know as successful as he is, sometimes when you’re not winning you’re not happy.

The Nationwide Series will return this week to the Phoenix International Raceway. Look for the audio interview following the Basha’s Supermarkets 200 April 17.

Nationwide Series to use Twitter in Nashville!

Nationwide is giving you the chance to interact with your favorite driver through Twitter. A Twitter Media team will be on site next weekend at the Pepsi 300 at Nashville Superspeedway April 10th and 11th. They will provide real-time, behind-the-scenes access and want to know if our readers have any special requests. Is there a particular photo of your favorite Nationwide driver that you would like? Let us know and they will try to get it for you!

We love Twitter and have met hundreds of great NASCAR fans through it. If you haven't had the chance to become part of the Twitter universe, it is a great outlet to connect with other NASCAR fans and NASCAR teams throughout the country. Over the past few weeks, there have been multiple NASCAR twitter guides to surface on the net. Our 4 favorites are:
The Final Lap with Kerry Murphy's guide to twitter
NASCAR in my own words guide to racing
Answer this, twitter me this
Restrictor Plated "I'm a NASCAR fan and I'm new to Twitter"

Here is the Nationwide press release we received today. Again, let us know by midnight, April 9th if you have any special requests.

Nationwide To Use Twitter, Twitpic for real-time race access
Media Team takes requests for pics from Nashville NASCAR Nationwide Series Race

The Nationwide Media Team for the NASCAR Nationwide Series will be using Twitter (http://twitter.com/Nationwide) and Twitpic (http://www.twitpic.com/photos/nationwide) to provide real-time, behind-the-scenes access to the NASCAR Nationwide Series Pepsi 300 at Nashville Superspeedway April 10 and 11.

They will post updates and capture photos from the pre-race press conference, at a driver Easter Egg Toss, in the garage area and pretty much anywhere else interesting stuff is taking place.

Additionally, they are taking special requests you may have for pictures from pit row, the press conference, a particular driver, etc. They may not be able to fulfill all the requests, but they will certainly try.

You can follow the Nationwide Media Team’s whereabouts on the track those two days on Twitter/Nationwide. The pictures will be posted at http://www.twitpic.com/photos/nationwide

Greg Biffle Interview from Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Greg Biffle NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion Interview – Las Vegas Motor Speedway
The following is a transcript of the Q&A with Greg Biffle following his victory Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway provided by Nationwide Insurance, title sponsor of the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Greg Biffle had an interesting afternoon in Las Vegas during the third 2009 Nationwide series race, the Sam’s Town 300. First he had a cold, was caught speeding before running out of gas and then fought for the lead with two laps to go against Carl Edwards.

Greg Biffle: You know he was uh he had a pretty good run on me coming off turn two and uh I tried to keep him behind me but he snuck inside me about half way down the backstretch and so then I just figured I’d run the top down the three and four because I knew um my car would run across the top but I felt like I could beat him being on the top side so I arced a way out and kept it flat and then uh pulled down a little on his door in the middle of the corner. There not a lot of run when you’re too wide anyway but he got loose underneath me and then I moved up to the edge of the black because I wasn’t sure if he was gonna get in the side of me. Uh I don’t know how loose he was uh I just heard him coming out of the gas.

Biffle cruised through the final lap to grab his 19th career Nationwide series victory. Edwards says that he did not cut Biffle any slack just because they were teammates.

Carl Edwards: For a win we all race really hard, uh Greg would race me extremely hard and I did the same with him and you know you just want to race as hard as you and try not to cause a problem because you know right now we’re 1 and 2 and we coulda been backed in the wall and that woulda been really bad so uh I guess in a way you race your teammate maybe a little bit differently more than that you’re able to swallow it if he beats you a little more you know what I mean it’s not that you don’t race him differently it’s just that you can accept it if he beats you.
It was a wild race with 12 cautions and two red flags from multi-car may legs. Top drivers spun also spun wrecking all by themselves.

Brian Vickers talks about why so many drivers lost control of their Nationwide series machines.

Brian Vickers: These cars you’re sitting your trying to run wide open uh around this track uh with these car with no power no horse power not a ton of down force and uh you know it’s all about momentum. You know and you gotta keep it free, gotta keep it on the right rear and you gotta keep it turning’ to run wide open and uh I think everyone was just pushing’ that to the limit and uh a couple guys didn’t hold on to it and and you saw a lot of crashes.

Brendan Gaughan is one point ahead of Bush while this is Biffle’s first Nationwide series victory since California in 2006.

Biffle: You know you race 15, 20, 18 races a year. It’s hard to catch up to those guys that you know. Whether they run 15 to 18 races, if they’re better than you it makes it difficult to close in on them, you know and there have been some teams that have been a little bit better than us. You know we’re starting to close that gap a little bit.

The Nationwide Series will take a couple weeks off before heading to Bristol, TN.

To see the video race review of the Las Vegas race, go to www.nationwide.com/series and click On Your Side Race Review. To hear the audio, go to www.nationwide.com/series and click On Your Side Race Review and follow to "Listen to post-race interview."

Kyle Busch Interview

Kyle Busch NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion Interview -- Auto Club Speedway Saturday night in Fontana

The following is a Interview with Kyle Busch following his victory Saturday at the Auto Club Speedway Saturday night in Fontana provided by Nationwide Insurance, title sponsor of the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

With his victory in the Stater Bros. 300 Nationwide Series race at Auto Club Speedway Saturday night in Fontana, CA, Kyle Busch became the first driver in NASCAR history to win two series races in the same day. Earlier Saturday, Busch took the checkered flag in the Camping World Truck Series Race.
Kyle Busch: Both races weren’t easy, they were both tough. I would say that the Nationwide Series race was a little harder, there at the end especially cause Carl and Kevin and all the guys there they wanted to battle real hard at the end for the win and so, it always sucks really really bad when you lead the most laps and you have a dominant car and then you finish second so, I was not about to let that happen today. I tried my darndest to make sure that wasn’t gonna be the case, so we made that come true and we were in Victory Lane so. Both races were tough, certainly not easy, never is in this game.

Lined up between Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick on the final restart with 16 laps to go, Busch had a close call before finally cruising into Victory Lane.
Busch: I let it drift up the hill just a little bit and I got Carl loose. I never got into him just got him air loose, and fortunately I squeaked through there and Harvick and I battled down the backstretch and I got to turn three and I knew that if I didn’t put it on the top and put it on kill and get the move done there then it was gonna be hard to do, cause for some reason these guys get better at the end of races and our stuff always stays the same and so we knew that it was gonna be a battle there. Fortunately, you know, Harvick didn’t outdo us there at the end and we were able to win.

Harvick finished just one second behind Busch.
Kevin Harvick: I thought if I could get by Kyle and get clean air there on that restart, we might have something for him if we get in front of him but just a little bit too free and wasn’t quite able to quite clear him going into three.

To see a the video race review of Fontana, go to http://www.nationwide.com/series/home.jsp?WT.svl=B6a

Camping World 300 Nationwide Lineup

Before we go to bed for another exciting day at the track filled with loveeeeeee....here is tomorrow lineup for the Camping World 200 Race in Daytona. Please dont forget to look at Toyota's Michael Annett...we think he may have what it takes amongst all these Sprint Cup drivers...What are your thoughts on Sprint Cuppers driving in the Nationwide series...seems to be stirring some thoughts..and we love it!!!

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and JR Motorsports to be featured in Nationwide Insurance 2009 marketing campaign

NASCAR Nationwide Series sponsor introduces 'Nationwide Insurance Dash 4 Cash' and NASCAR Nationwide Series ESPN 'Driver Pick 'Em' game at media day

Charlotte, NC — Nationwide Insurance announced today at NASCAR Nationwide Series media day that NASCAR racing superstar, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his company JR Motorsports will be featured in a new marketing campaign that will begin in February.
The company also introduced other activities related to the sponsorship, including the Nationwide Insurance Dash 4 Cash, which involves an increased winner's purse at four NASCAR Nationwide Series races, and the NASCAR Nationwide Series ESPN 'Driver Pick Em' game presented by Nationwide Insurance, a weekly interactive competition for cash prizes that will be available on ESPN.com
The campaign is a departure from previous Nationwide ads featuring celebrities. Despite the obvious opportunity for a racing pun, the ad does not include the company's famous Life Comes at You Fast line and is not intended to be humorous. It's framed as a customer testimonial, and true story from a family with one of the richest traditions in NASCAR.
An interactive site with more information on this can be found here

As a marketer, I love Nationwide campaigns! Geico freaks me out and tries too hard. Allstate really had this NASCAR area covered with their funny Kasey Kahne commercials . Initially, I thought that Nationwide really has their work cut out for them but this can be easily achieved with Dale Jr. You haters can say what you want but there really isnt a better face for sponsorship than him. Fame, talent and hot as haiti-ness aside, Dale has the persona that is a sponsors dream. His likeability and trustworthy manner dominates not only the strong obvious support of the Junior nation but will more than likely brand Nationwide to um Nationwide numbers. Must make mention of this silent battle of advertising swop a roo with Kasey and Junebug....first Budweiser now competing insurance agencies? hmmm....

Back in the good ole days......