Catchfence

Who: Scott Speed (99 Red Bull Toyota, Michael Waltrip Racing)
What: Kansas Lottery 300 (Nationwide)
When: Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009
Where: Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kan.
Result: Scott Speed (start 11, finish 8)

+ SPEED’S STREAK HITS THE HEARTLAND

To give Scott Speed’s stellar Nationwide Series season some perspective, not even current points leader Kyle Busch reeled off six consecutive top-10 finishes in his first 11 starts. Nor did series greats Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Tommy Houston, Jack Ingram, Randy LaJoie, Mark Martin, Larry Pearson or Speed’s Sprint Cup teammate, 2003 Nationwide champion Brian Vickers.

The 26-year-old Speed put another solid number on the board Saturday at Kansas Speedway, finishing eighth in the Kansas Lottery 300. The last time Speed ended up outside the top 10 was seven races ago when he finished 11th on May 23 at
Charlotte.

Speed qualified 11th, and as he’s done all season ran near — or in — the top five until a pit road speeding penalty on lap 77 sent the No. 99 Red Bull Toyota to the tail end of the longest line. He returned to the pits to top off the tank, restarted 16th and began his climb back to the top 10.

By lap 100, he was 14th. Twenty laps later, he was 11th, then ninth, seventh and sixth. Two pit stops in the second half of the race just missed tightening up the car coming off the corners, and Speed was eighth when the checkered flag waved.

“We had a good car all weekend,” Speed said. “We missed a few things and should have had a top-three finish. We made good decisions and aim to continue to bring home a solid finish next week in Toyota’s backyard.”

Speed’s next Nationwide stop will come this weekend at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. — not far from Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. in Torrance and Toyota Racing Development in Costa Mesa. He’ll then close out his season in the Nov. 21 finale at Homestead.

+ UP NEXT

Copart 300, Saturday, Oct. 10, Auto Club Speedway

- Red Bull Racing Team, Press Release