March 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Jeff Byrd 500 national anthem

Popular country music star, actor, and songwriter Billy Ray Cyrus will sing the national anthem at the Jeff Byrd 500 presented by Food City.

The popular Jeff Byrd 500 presented by Food City takes place March 20, 2011.

It is the fourth race in the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup series, following the Kobalt Tools 400 on March 6, which was won by Carl Edwards.

Jimmie Johnson is the defending race winner.

Past singers of the national anthem at the Food City 500 incude 4TROOPS (2010), Ashton Shepherd (2009), Danielle Peck (2008), and Billy Currington (2007).

Cyrus is no stranger to singing the national anthem. Here he sings the national anthem at Lucas Oil Stadium, before the NFL contest between the Indianapolis Colts and the Houston Texans on 11/01/2010.

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March 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Kobalt 400 results

Here are the results of the NASCAR Kobalt 400 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The top 10 finishers were:

1. Carl Edwards (2nd time winner, including the 2008 race)
2. Tony Stewart
3. Juan Pablo Montoya
4. Marcos Ambrose
5. Ryan Newman
6. Martin Truex, Jr.
7. Denny Hamlin
8. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
9. Kurt Busch
10. Brian Vickers

Carl Edwards who drove a Ford won a purse of $401,541.

Other notables:

16. Jimmie Johnson (defending race champion)
38. Kyle Busch

The NASCAR Sprint Cup points leaders after the Las Vegas Kobalt 400 are as follows (with today’s finish in parentheses).

1 – Tony Stewart (2)
2 – Kurt Busch (9)
3 – Carl Edwards (1)
4 – Juan Pablo Montoya (3)
5 – Ryan Newman (5)
6 – Paul Menard (12)
7 – Martin Truex, Jr. (6)
8 – Denny Hamlin (7)
9 – A.J. Allmendinger (19)
10 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (8)

Just outside of the top 10 are Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, and Kyle Busch.

*****

Here are the qualifying results for the Kobalt Tools 400, scheduled to take place March 6, 2011. Qualifying took place on Friday, March 6, 2011. Forty four entered to qualify for 43 spots in the race; Brian Keselowski didn’t make the cut.

Top 10 Starting positions

Pole position – #17 Matt Kenseth wins the pole (28.589 seconds; 188.884 mph). Kenseth is a 2-time winner at Las Vegas (2003 and 2004).

2 – #9 Marcose Ambrose

3 – #99 Carl Edwards (2008 winner)

4 – #16 Greg Biffle

5 – #18 Kyle Busch (2009 winner)

6 – #20 Joey Logano

7 – #43 A.J. Allmendinger

8 – #39 Ryan Newman

9 – #56 Martin Truex, Jr.

10 – #5 Mark Martin (1998 winner)

Other positions

14 – #48 Jimmie Johnson (4-time winner: 2005-2007; 2010)

21 – #31 Jeff Burton (2-time winner: 1999, 2000)

The Sam’s Town 300, the Las Vegas Nationwide Series race, takes place Saturday, March 5, with a start time of 3:00 pm ET. It will be televised on ABC, with radio broadcast on PRN starting at 2:30.

Kristen Hertzenberg, who plays the starring role of Christine Daae in Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular at The Venetian in Las Vegas, Nevada, will sing the National Anthem at the Las Vegas Kobalt Tools 400.

Also filed under: Kobalt Tools 400, Kobalt Tools 500, Las Vegas 400

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