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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Speed Finding The Right Groove
Scott Speed had his best non-restrictor-plate finish Sunday...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted February 22, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Scott Speed finished top twenty in both NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races so far this season. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Red Bull Racing's Scott Speed has always been someone who's made headlines with his personality. Now he's starting to make them with his driving ability, too.

Speed, the 27-year-old Manteca, Calif. native, shocked the normally staid NASCAR world after winning his first Camping World Truck Series race in 2008. In his post-race interview, Speed credited the victory to a pedicure that included painting his toenails blue.

Last year, however, Speed's rookie campaign in the fiercely competitive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was nothing to laugh about. In fact, it was downright humbling: Speed ended the year 35th in points, with only one top-10 finish, a fifth-place run at Talladega. And it was doubly bad when you consider Speed's teammate Brian Vickers qualified for the Chase for the Sprint and won a race to boot. Speed's struggles were a major disappointment to himself and the team.

So far this year, though, Speed's fortunes have improved dramatically, to say the least. In the Daytona 500, Speed led 12 laps and finished a respectable 19th; Sunday at Auto Club Speedway in Southern California, he finished 11th in the Auto Club 500, coming home one spot ahead of teammate Vickers. It was Speed's best non-restrictor plate finish in 42 career Sprint Cup starts.

Needless to say, it made for a satisfying afternoon.

“If you take the whole weekend … we really did close to 100 percent,” Speed said.

Speed nearly stole a victory at ACS when he stayed out during a caution that began on Lap 194 after rain began to fall at the track. Perhaps remembering how fellow Toyota drivers David Reutimann and Joey Logano each won rain-shortened races in 2009, Speed inherited the lead while the leaders pitted.

But the rains quickly subsided and Speed was forced to pit for tires and gasoline, thus ending the dream he and crew chief Jimmy Elledge had of stealing a victory. “I swear, we almost pulled a Joey Logano there. … I would have laughed my ass off if we would have won that race under rain,” Speed said. “We put ourselves in the best position every single time the rain was coming.”

In the final 50 laps, Speed went from 19th to as high as 10th, before finishing in 11th place and earning back-to-back top-20 finishes for the first time in his Sprint Cup career.

“We started the race — we started 13th — we started the race way too tight. We were gambling for the track to kind of do what it did last time. Which is fine — we took an educated guess at it. We missed and we were able to regroup. We loosened the back up and the speed came back and we started flying again.”

The results left Speed excited. “Awesome weekend. I can’t say enough,” he said. “I didn’t think we would run as good as we did. We legitimately ran in the top 10 for the last half of the race … once we got track position. For this being the beginning of my second year here pretty much — I’m really, really happy.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of "Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED," and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

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