Nationwide Pepsi Odds To Win
Kyle Busch 2 to 1
Carl Edwards 3 to 1
Clint Bowyer 5 to 1
Denny Hamlin 13 to 2
David Reutimann 13 to 2
Scott Wimmer 8 to 1
Jason Leffler 8 to 1
Stephen Leicht 12 to 1
Mike Bliss 21 to 1
Brad Keselowski 24 to 1
Johnny Sauter 28 to 1
Jason Keller 38 to 1
Entry List Pepsi 300
0 Dwayne Leik
01 Kertus Davis
1 Johnny Sauter
2 Clint Bowyer
4 Robert Richardson
05 Brett Rowe
5 Landon Cassill
6 David Ragan
7 Mike Wallace
9 Chase Miller
11 Jason Keller
16 Colin Braun
20 Kyle Busch
21 Stephen Leicht
22 Mike Bliss
24 Eric McClure
25 Bobby Hamilton Jr
27 Brad Coleman
28 Brian Keselowski
29 Scott Wimmer
32 Denny Hamlin
33 Cale Gale
36 Kenny Wallace
37 Brad Baker
38 Jason Leffler
40 Bryan Clauson
41 Kyle Krisiloff
47 Kelly Bires
52 Derrike Cope
55 Brad Teague
57 Jerick Johnson
59 Marcos Ambrose
60 Carl Edwards
61 Kevin Lepage
64 Chase Austin
66 Steve Wallace
70 Mark Green
81 D.J. Kennington
84 Mike Harmon
88 Brad Keselowski
89 Morgan Shepherd
90 Johnny Chapman
91 Larry Gunselman
95 Willie Allen
99 David Reutimann
MOTOR RACING / GEARING UP
Some Sprint Cup drivers will take part in Pepsi 300
What's happening in motor sports heading into this weekend, including an off-week for premier series sending some over to the second-tier Nationwide Series race.
1 The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is off this weekend for Easter, but some of its drivers will compete in a Nationwide Series race in Tennessee.
NASCAR's second-tier series holds the Pepsi 300 on Saturday at the 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway, where Cup driver Carl Edwards of Roush Fenway Racing is the defending winner.
Another Cup driver, Kevin Harvick, holds the early points lead in the Nationwide Series over Clint Bowyer, his teammate at Richard Childress racing. But Harvick isn't scheduled to drive Saturday.
2 Hall of Fame Racing, a single-car Cup team that fields the No. 96 Toyota driven by J.J. Yeley, named Steve Boyer as the car's crew chief, succeeding Brandon Thomas.
The team hoped for a strong start after hiring Yeley this season to succeed Tony Raines. But Yeley is struggling after five races; he's 31st in points and has yet to finish a race in the top 10.
Jeff Moorad and Tom Garfinkel, who own the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team, bought control of Hall of Fame Racing last year from former NFL quarterbacks Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman.
3 Fresh from winning the "Dancing With the Stars" competition on TV, Helio Castroneves says he's ready to win this third Indianapolis 500 and his first IndyCar Series title.
The Brazilian driver for Team Penske also applauded the recent merger of the Indy Racing League with the Champ Car World Series but said the reunion wouldn't boost the popularity of open-wheel racing overnight.
"It's not going to happen this year," he said during a visit to Los Angeles this week to promote the new season of "Dancing." "But I see the light at the end of the tunnel and it's not a train."
The ebullient Castroneves, 32, won the dancing show with partner Julianne Hough based on viewers' votes.
He marvels at the attention he still receives from strangers who watched the show and said he just focused on "doing each [dance] as though it was going to be the last."
Is he interested in an entertainment career after his racing days are over? "After -- that's too away for me," he said.
4 Irwindale Speedway opens its 10th season Saturday night with a new name, Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, and a multi-race program.
Late-model stock cars and trucks head the lineup at the half-mile track, which former NASCAR champion Darrell Waltrip and others have called one of the best short-track facilities in American motor sports.
General admission is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and $5 for children ages 6-12, with children 5 and under free. Parking is $5.
5 The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will continue through at least 2015 after the Long Beach City Council renewed the city's contract with the race's operator, the Grand Prix Assn. of Long Beach.
This year's race, on April 20, will be the last involving the Champ Car World Series, which is being absorbed into the Indy Racing League. But the IRL plans to add the race to its schedule starting in 2009.
The race is held on a 1.97-mile temporary street course that includes Shoreline Drive, and it is preceded by three days of racing and practice involving several other series, as well as a celebrity race.
latimes.com
Wimmer a winner in Nashville
Sat 22nd, March 2008
Lebanon, TN (Sports Network) - Scott Wimmer's fuel lasted just long enough to reach the checkered flag and capture Saturday's Pepsi 300 at the Nashville Superspeedway. The No.29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet crossed the finish line 0.578 seconds ahead of Clint Bowyer.
The victory was Wimmer's first in 58 races and sixth of his Nationwide career. His last victory was in July 2003 at Pikes Peak.
"I can't believe its been that long," said Wimmer. "These guys did a great job, they really build great race cars every week."
Wimmer made the winning pass with 20 laps to go while both he and Bowyer were trying to conserve fuel. From there it was just a matter of keeping the engine running all the way to the checkered flag. It did and Wimmer won by half-a- second.
Pole winner, Kyle Busch, wasn't just satisfied with leading the first lap, he kept on going leading the first 61 laps. His lead over Bowyer was two second after 40 laps and he kept that gap until the first round of yellow-flag pit stops began at lap 62. It was there that the No.2 team outperformed the No.20 team, putting Bowyer in front of Busch as the race restarted on lap 64.
But it took Busch only about a lap and a half to slide underneath Bowyer to retake the top spot. Then Bowyer returned the favor on lap 72, showing he was more than ready to meet the challenge.
The two continued to joust with each other while still managing to build a three-second lead on third-place driver Wimmer. But by lap 110, Busch built a lead over Bowyer of more than one second. He had also lapped all but the top-19 cars.
The leaders began green flag pit stops on lap 122. Busch came in on lap 124 holding a two-second lead on Bowyer.
By lap 150, there were just a dozen cars left on the lead lap. A caution flag eliminated his lead and then Busch spun out on lap 162, without any help from anyone else.
"Just a stupid mistake on the driver's part," said Busch.
So Bowyer inherited the lead, but Wimmer was hanging right with him every step of the way. Forty laps to go and Bowyer built his lead on Wimmer to almost one second. But the question was whether the leaders could reach the checkered flag without another pit stop. They were all "close" on fuel.
Twenty laps to go, no caution flags, and all the crew chiefs were still worried about reaching the finish without stopping. Wimmer closed to less half-a-second of Bowyer as they hit lap 204. On the next lap he slid underneath Bowyer grabbing the lead.
A dozen laps to go and Wimmer's lead was half-a-second. The laps dwindled down and Wimmer maintained his gap on Bowyer. They saw the white flag and still the No.29 Chevy engine was running. He saw the checkered flag under full power - the fuel had lasted just long enough for his first win in five years.
"He had the best car that last run," said Bowyer.
Bowyer's second-place finish leaves him as the points leader, 11 points ahead of Carl Edwards, who finished third. Brad Keselowski and Kelly Bires completed the top-five.
The next race is scheduled for Saturday, April 5th at the Texas Motor Speedway.