Team Interstate racing wrap-up for May 26-27, 2012:

Kyle Busch drove the No. 18 M&M's Red, White and Blue Toyota to a third-place finish Sunday in Charlotte. The special paint scheme saluted our armed forces heroes for Memorial Day. Copyright 2012 Autostock Images

Team Interstate‘s Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch have revealed a theme of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup season: Consistency pays dividends.

Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Toyota Camry, led Team Interstate by finishing second in the Coca-Cola 600 race Sunday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was Hamlin’s seventh top-10 finish in 14 career Sprint Cup starts at Charlotte and his seventh top-10 result of 2012. Busch, driving the No. 18 M&Ms/Interstate Batteries® Toyota, finished third, while Joey Logano finished 23rd in the No. 20 Toyota Camry.

Team Interstate's Denny Hamlin (11) leads Kasey Kahne during the Coca-Cola 600. Kahne would win the race, while Hamlin finished second. Copyright 2012 Autostock Images.

Busch’s finish was his fourth top-five in the last four races and his fifth consecutive top-10.

“It was a really good race for us – the M&M’s Camry was awesome,” Busch said. “We definitely fought our battles there throughout it, and 600 miles is a long day. Dave Rogers (crew chief) did a great job, and these guys did a good job giving me a good car tonight. We just missed it on a couple runs there and got ourselves a little bit too far behind.

“We’re keeping our string of good, strong finishes going and that’s what’s important right now, to get ourselves locked in the Chase.”

Kasey Kahne won the Coca-Cola 600 to score his 13th career Sprint Cup victory and his first of the season.

With round 12 of 36 complete, Hamlin leads the Team Interstate trio in the championship point standings. He is third with 437 points, 16 behind series leader Greg Biffle. Busch stands eighth with 391 points, 62 out of first. Logano is 16th with 314 points, 139 away from the top spot.

Nationwide Series: Hamlin Scores Runner-up Finish; Joey a Big Hit

When you see Joey Logano wearing this suit, don't cross him. Copyright 2012 Autostock Images

Team Interstate’s Denny Hamlin finished second in Saturday’s History 300 Nationwide Series race in Charlotte as Brad Keselowski managed to conserve enough fuel to win. Teammate Joey Logano finished sixth after starting from the pole, and Brian Scott finished 31st after a late-race accident.

The talk of the paddock, however, was Logano’s killer firesuit. His sponsor, GameStop, featured the new video game Hitman: Absolution on the No. 20 car, and Logano’s firesuit reflected the lead character.

“I’ve got to say that it’s probably one of the coolest suits I’ve ever seen and I got a lot of great comments on it,” Logano said.

Motocross: Millsaps Held Out After Injury

Team Interstate’s Davi Millsaps, who finished second in the points in the 2012 Supercross season, sat out Saturday’s 2012 Freestone National in Wortham, Texas. He suffered deep bruising in his abdominal area after a practice crash on Thursday.

Teammate Kyle Regal got off to a stellar start in the first heat Saturday, leading the field for several turns before sliding out on the freshly watered surface. He re-mounted and was racing inside the Top 10 when he pulled into the mechanics area with possible wheel issues. He rejoined the race but couldn’t make up the time and finished 25th. His eighth-place finish in the second heat helped him finish 15th overall for the day.

Next week: NASCAR takes on the “Monster Mile” in Dover, Del., and Motocross heads to Thunder Valley in Lakewood, Colo. NHRA drag racing returns with the Toyota Supernationals in Englishtown, N.J.

Related articles

• The Coca-Cola 600 (joegibbsracing.com)
• Four in a Row: Kyle Busch Wins Richmond (blogbattery.com)
• Kyle Busch Gets Top 5 in All-Star Race (blogbattery.com)

By James Pecht (86 Posts)

James Pecht writes about franchising, battery technology, tips, racing and company culture for Interstate Batteries.