Racing Roundup June 6 - June 8

Dixon wins shootout in Texas

Fort Worth, TX (Sports Network) - Scott Dixon captured Saturday night's Bombardier Learjet 550 at the Texas Motor Speedway. The No.9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver crossed the finish line under caution ahead of Helio Castroneves.

The victory was Dixon's third of the season and 13th of his IndyCar career.

Ryan Briscoe, Dan Wheldon and Tony Kanaan completed the top-five.

With 62 laps left in the race the sixth caution flag flew for debris. The top- eight drivers took their last stops during the caution period. Vitor Meira, on a different strategy, inherited the lead by not stopping. He led Dixon, Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Wheldon to the restart with 52 laps left.

Meira held onto his lead on the restart. Meanwhile, Hunter-Reay quickly passed Andretti and Dixon to take over second. Andretti would fall all the way to fifth. Dixon and Castroneves followed Hunter-Reay for third and fourth, respectively.

With just 28 laps of racing left, the margin for Meira passed two seconds. Andretti fought his way back and on lap 203 passed Dixon for second. Hunter- Reay and Briscoe rounded out the top-five.

Andretti inherited first when Meira made his way to pit road for his final stop with 21 laps to go.

With 15 laps remaining the caution flag flew for a Enrique Bernoldi crash.

After a long cleanup the race went back to green with nine to go. The race- winning pass came with six to go when Dixon got around Andretti.

The drama continued on the next lap when Hunter-Reay, on the inside lane, slid up the track and sent Andretti into the wall. Andretti and Hunter-Reay finished 19th and 20th, respectively.

There was too much debris from the crash to allow for another restart and it gave Dixon a comfortable drive into Victory Lane.

Dixon, the Indianapolis 500 winner, led the field to the green flag for 228 laps of racing.

Dixon didn't lead for long as Castroneves got past him for the lead on the first lap. Castroneves and Bruno Junqueira traded the first position back-and- forth early the race.

Castroneves was leading Dixon, Hunter-Reay, Hideki Mutoh, and Danica Patrick when Justin Wilson brought out the third caution flag on lap 39. The leaders made their way down pit road under the caution.

Junqueira, on a different pit strategy, inherited the first position by not stopping. Dixon, Castroneves, Hunter-Reay and Patrick followed behind the new leader to the restart.

The top-three drivers made things interesting on the restart as they went three-wide. Junqueira fell back as Castroneves took over the top spot. Hunter- Reay, Mutoh, Dixon and Ed Carpenter settled behind Castroneves. Oriol Servia brought the caution flag out a few laps later. Junqueira took his pit stop under the caution period.

After another caution flag, Castroneves held off a charging Hunter-Reay when the race went back to green on lap 61. Hunter-Reay dropped back as Dixon and Marco Andretti passed by him. Castroneves held onto the inside lane as Dixon pulled up beside him to battle for first. On lap 72 Andretti made it three- wide with a push on the outside. Castroneves won the battle as Dixon and Andretti battled behind him.

Castroneves lost his lead when he got caught up lap traffic, allowing Andretti to use the outside lane to take over first. A few laps later, a cycle of green flag stops got underway. Ryan Briscoe led a few laps before he made his pit stop. Castroneves was caught speeding on pit road and had to serve a drive through penalty.

When the stops were complete, Andretti led Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Hunter-Reay and Carpenter. The next lead change came on lap 117 when Dixon got past Andretti.

With 100 laps remaining, the top-five read: Dixon, Andretti, Kanaan, Hunter- Reay and Wheldon.

The top-five stayed relatively in tact after another round of green flag stops. The only change had Hunter-Reay and Wheldon gaining a spot with Kanaan falling to fifth after a slow stop.

That's when the excitement started with first Meira and then Andretti taking the lead. But neither driver could hold off the points leader and it in the end he won for the third time to expand his lead to 35 points over Castroneves (284-249).

The next race the series is set for Sunday, June 22nd at the Iowa Speedway.

Keselowski wins in Nashville

Lebanon, TN (Sports Network) - Brad Keselowski won Saturday night's Federated Auto Parts 300 at the Nashville Superspeedway. The No.88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet crossed the finish line 1.980 seconds ahead of David Stremme.

The victory was the first of Keselowski's Nationwide Series career.

Keselowski was fifth with 29 laps to go, but with fresher tires and more fuel than the leaders, he knifed his way through the field. There were just five laps remaining when he got inside Clint Bowyer for the lead and he was never headed over the final laps.

"This is awesome, you know I came a long way to get here and I owe a lot of people," said Keselowski. "Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) kept me in the car when I had bad weeks and now I had a good week to show him he was right."

Joey Logano brought the field to the green flag for 225 laps of racing. He led the first lap by three lengths and kept on going. Logano led a five-car breakaway that included Keselowski, Bowyer and Kyle Busch. They built a two- second lead on Carl Edwards, the sixth place car, by lap eight. But the inevitable caution flag brought them back to the pack.

The top-five, led by Logano, stayed in line following the restart and again left the rest of the field in the dust.

Logano still led Keselowski, Mike Bliss, Bowyer and Busch as they crossed the 55-lap mark. The No.20 Toyota had a 1.281-second lead. He gave up the lead for green-flag pit stops on lap 61, but regained the top spot after the field had cycled through their stops.

Marcos Ambrose brought out the second caution flag when he and Steven Wallace got together on lap 78. This time differing pit strategies, from fuel only to four tires, mixed up the running order.

Five cars, led by Keselowski, stayed out. Logano came off pit lane fifth quickest and 10th overall. Unfortunately, Logano's dream race ended on lap 88 when he got spun by Greg Biffle who was trying to avoid Busch who had slid up the track. The accident destroyed Logano's front end including the radiator and he spent a lot of the evening in the garage watching his team make repairs.

"I got tapped from behind and there was nothing I could do," said Logano. "It's pretty frustrating."

While Logano's hope for a first win was dashed, for leader Keselowski it was still very much alive. And for Busch, a speeding penalty left him in 17th place.

Keselowski, Cale Gale, Kelly Bires, Bowyer and Bliss were the top-five after 100 laps.

Biffle got loose on lap 105 causing the next caution flag and sent all the leaders down pit lane. Again pit road strategies were split with the top-five cars staying out led by Bowyer. David Ragan, Mike Wallace and Keselowski were the first drivers off pit road.

Despite all the differing strategies, every driver still needed to pit at least one more time before they could reach the end of the race.

Bowyer, David Reutimann and Stremme were leading the way at the halfway point. Busch was fourth. But Keselowski was the fastest car on the track and he ran down Busch on lap 135 for fourth place.

Then on lap 145 Cale Gale spun out, hitting the outside wall and set up the final pit stops of the night.

After the stop it was Bowyer, Biffle (two tires only), Stremme, Reutimann and Busch. Keselowski was seventh. Both Stremme and Reutimann, who had taken four tires, got around Biffle for second and third, respectively.

Meanwhile, the race kept being interrupted by caution flags.

Reutimann got around Stremme for second place and Busch got past Biffle for fourth with 58 laps remaining. Biffle continued to drop, behind Ragan and Keselowski. Then with 52 laps to go Busch had a tire going down and he was forced to pit.

Up front, Reutimann slid underneath Bowyer for the lead with 50 laps to go. Apparently, the No.99 wasn't worried about saving fuel.

More caution flags and this time, with 40 laps to go, Keselowski led a group that pitted for tires and fuel. The top-seven cars stayed out.

Reutimann and Bowyer were still leading the way as they went back to green with 38 laps to go. Keselowski, with plenty of fuel, was flying. He passed Bliss and then Scott Wimmer for fifth with still 29 laps remaining. Keselowski got underneath Ragan with 21 laps to go, but was four seconds behind Reutimann.

It would all come down to fuel mileage or a caution flag. Keselowski was up to third with 12 laps to go when he got the caution flag he needed to get close to Reutimann.

They would restart with eight laps remaining. Keselowski would have plenty of fuel and newer tires while the two cars in front of him were still in fuel conservation mode and old tires.

On the restart, both Bowyer and Keselowski got under Reutimann. They broke away and it was a two-man race with six laps to go. Keselowski got side-by- side on the backstretch and powered past Bowyer for the lead. He was five laps from his first Nationwide Series victory.

The youngster made no mistakes and Keselowski's first win was in the books.

"This is what I've been dreaming about my whole life," said Keselowski.

The series moves to the Kentucky Speedway next Saturday night.

Kubica collects first win in Montreal

Montreal, Canada (Sports Network) - Poland's Robert Kubica captured Sunday's Grand Prix of Canada Formula One race. The victory was Kubica's first in the F1 series. The No.4 BMW Sauber crossed the finish line 16.495 seconds ahead of teammate Nick Heidfeld.

"Fantastic race, fantastic for my team, fantastic for me and for my country," said Kubica following the race.

With 30 laps remaining in the race it was clear the battle was between teammates Kubica and Heidfeld. Kubica, needing one more stop, needed to extend his lead to about 22 seconds so he could pit and come back on the track ahead of Heidfeld, who was good to the finish.

Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso's day ended when he had problems in the hairpin on lap 44. He joined points leader Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen, who had an incident earlier, in the garage.

The 23-year-old Kubica impressively increased his margin by at least a second each lap leading up to his final stop. And when he did come down pit road with 21 laps to go he held a very comfortable 25.1-second lead. Kubica had a clean stop that last only 7.5 seconds and came back on the track with a 4.1-second gap over Heidfeld.

"I was pushing very hard. I knew I had to make around a 21-second gap," said Kubica. "I managed to do about 24 seconds, so it was a very good race."

It was just a matter of Kubica holding onto the lead and finishing the race without any problems.

With 20 laps to go, Kubica led Heidfeld, Coulthard, Massa and Heikki Kovalainen. Massa and Kovalainen made their last stop with 16 to go. Barrichello and Glock inherited fourth and fifth, respectively.

The No.4 BMW Sauber driver extended his margin to 8.3 seconds with 15 laps left. The only battle going on in the top-five was for the fourth and fifth positions.

It was all but over up front, as Kubica held a 14.4-second lead with five laps to go.

Kubica cruised to the finish line without any problems.

The race got off to a clean start as Hamilton maintained the first position and led the 20-car field around the 2.710-mile, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve road course. Kubica, Raikkonen, Alonso and Nico Rosberg followed behind the leader.

The top-five remained relatively the same early on as the No.22 McLaren Mercedes pulled away to over a three-second margin. Hamilton continued to stretch his gap over Kubica.

Hamilton's lead was erased on lap 18 when the safety car was deployed due to an Adrian Sutil crash on lap 15. When the pits opened the leaders came down pit road for their first stops of the day.

The key moment of the race happened as the drivers exited the pits. Ferrari driver Raikkonen stopped his car at the end of pit road with the red light being shown. Meanwhile, Hamilton was leaving pit road but didn't see Raikkonen stopped and crashed into back of him. Rosberg, following Hamilton out of the pits, made it a three-car crash when he bumped into the back of Hamilton. The crash ended all three driver's day and opened up the race for some drivers who usually don't get a chance to shine.

Once all the drama unfolded it was Heidfeld leading Rubens Barrichello, Kazuki Nakajima, Mark Webber, and Coulthard. The top-nine drivers had yet to make a pit stop. Kubica, who did stop, was running 10th.

On lap 29 Heidfeld and Webber made their first pit stops. Heidfeld took enough fuel to go the entire distance, he wouldn't have to stop again. Even after a long stop, he came out of the pits in front of Kubica for the seventh spot. But Kubica was lighter and faster and got past Heidfeld going into turn one on lap 31. The top-six drivers still had yet to pit.

When they all pitted it left Kubica in a race against his teammate. Kubica drove brilliantly extending his lead until he had a big enough margin to make his final stop and keep the lead.

From there Kubica was perfect and cruised to his first win and the first win for the BMW-Sauber team.

David Coulthard, Timo Glock and Felipe Massa completed the top-five. Kubica now leads the point standings with 42 points. Hamilton and Massa are tied for second with 38 points.

The next race in the series is set for Sunday, June 22nd at the Circuit De Nevers.

Kahne overcomes pit road problem to win Pocono 500

Long Pond, PA (Sports Network) - Kasey Kahne made one more stop than everyone else, but his Dodge was so fast that he easily made up for it and won Sunday afternoon's Pocono 500 Sprint Cup race at the Pocono Raceway. The No.9 Gillett Evernham Dodge took the checkered flag 3.702 seconds ahead of Brian Vickers.

The victory was Kahne's second of the regular season and ninth of his "Cup" career.

The key to winning the race was how Kahne calmly rebounded when his team stumbled on an early pit stop.

"It was a great afternoon, this car ran so well, there was nothing close when we ran out front," said Kahne.

Kahne won the pole, but Jimmie Johnson took the lead coming out of Turn 2 and led them across the start/finish line for the first time. Johnson led the first 16 laps before Kahne mounted a successful attack for the lead and five bonus points. But the pole winner didn't stop there, he built the lead to more than three seconds after 25 laps.

A debris caution flag erased Kahne's big lead and following pit stops the No.9 Dodge was in second place behind Scott Riggs, who had pitted just before the caution flag. But Kahne had the faster car and after fighting off Johnson, he slipped underneath Riggs to regain the lead on lap 35.

By lap 39 Kahne's lead was rebuilt to two seconds but this time a Kurt Busch spin brought out the caution flag to slow the action.

Varying pit stop strategies shuffled the field. Johnson took just two tires and came out first of those who pitted, while Kahne took four tires and came out 13th. Martin Truex Jr. didn't stop at all and inherited the lead.

It took Johnson just one turn to get around Truex Jr. for the lead. Kahne was flying again too. He was 10th after the first green-flag lap. He was up to eighth when Kyle Busch and Jamie McMurray collided to bring out another caution flag.

Vickers stayed out this time to inherit the race lead with Johnson in second place. But Kahne's crew was confused as to whether they were making a two-tire or four-tire stop and did neither. Officials were forced to bring Kahne back for a second stop when some of the lug nuts were left off the left-front tire. He restarted in 39th place, but he never panicked.

"I called a two-tire and we had already knocked a couple of lugs off the left front," said crew chief Kenny Francis.

A small shower in Turn 2 forced NASCAR to dry the track and they brought everyone down pit lane for a short red flag period. When they got back to racing, Johnson, who had passed Vickers, began to expand his lead. It quickly became a one-second lead, but another caution flag jumbled the order once again. Johnson worked his way back through the field and was second behind Denny Hamlin at lap 90.

Meanwhile, Kahne was knifing his way through the field. By lap 75 he was up to 20th and at lap 89 he cracked the top-10.

"The driver dug us out of a big hole," said Francis.

Hamlin was enjoying the fresh air out front and built his lead over Johnson to almost three seconds as the field reached the 100-lap mark.

Green-flag pit stops had just begun on lap 104 when Michael Waltrip slapped the outside wall to bring out a caution flag. The timing left Elliott Sadler, Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte and Martin Truex Jr. who had just finished their stops in the lead. Behind them were Dale Earnhardt Jr. Greg Biffle, Kahne, Carl Edwards and Hamlin.

Stewart slipped under Sadler for the lead as they went back to green and Biffle was also moving up, into third place. Kahne was also showing off his horsepower as he charged around Earnhardt Jr. for fifth place on lap 113. Hamlin, who had won twice at Pocono in just four career starts, also slipped past "Junior."

Stewart, meanwhile, had built a lead of two seconds as Biffle was side-by-side with Sadler for second place. Eighty laps to go and Biffle, Kahne and Hamlin were now looking to cut into the No.20 Toyota's lead.

After the next round of stops it was Johnson (did not pit), Jeff Gordon (did not pit), Kahne and Stewart on the restart. By lap 129 Kahne was the leader as the new tires did their job. Stewart and Biffle also got around Johnson just before Franchitti went on an off-road excursion.

It was too early for any of the leaders to pit and the race went back to green on lap 132 with the order still Kahne, Biffle, Stewart, Johnson and Hamlin.

Johnson had to pit on lap 136, took four tires and fuel and fell to 36th. Crew chief Chad Knaus was hoping that he would only have to pit once more while everyone else would still needed to stop twice more. For the strategy to work, any caution flags would have to come at the correct times.

Up front, Kahne's lead on Biffle was over five seconds at the 150-lap mark. On the next lap he pitted and 15.8 seconds later he was gone with four new tires. Green flag stops cycled through with Kahne regaining the lead on lap 165 and his lead was almost 10 seconds over Hamlin.

But Hamlin wasn't looking forward at Kahne, he was busy dealing with Edwards. The No.99 passed Hamlin with 29 laps to go, but he too was still 10 seconds behind Kahne.

Kahne stopped on lap 175 and off he went. Where would he come out?

The No.9 Dodge came out ahead of Johnson, but behind Vickers who was one of the last to stop on the previous cycle. Then Kyle Busch spun out for the second time and it jumbled the standings again.

They would restart with 19 laps to go and Vickers leading "Junior" and Kahne to the green flag. Kahne had the newest tires of the top-three cars. Kahne got "Junior" with 18 laps to go and Hamlin got around him two laps later. Kahne slid underneath Vickers with 16 laps to go, but Hamlin was still stalking him.

If Hamlin could get around Vickers quickly, he might give Kahne a run for his money. But Vickers held him off and it gave Kahne the room he needed. Kahne's lead was two seconds with 10 laps to go and he cruised to the checkered flag unchallenged.

Hamlin, Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Burton completed the top-five.

The next event is scheduled for Sunday, June 15th at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, MI.

Kyle Busch wrecks twice, has unhappy end to trifecta weekend

LONG POND, Pa. (AP) -Kyle Busch's historic trifecta skidded to a last-place ending.

The Sprint Cup series points leader finished 43rd Sunday at the Pocono 500, set back by a wreck 47 laps into the race. Busch didn't appear to see Jamie McMurray behind him on his right when Busch veered right and into McMurray. Busch then hit the wall, forcing him into the garage for major repairs.

Busch returned to the track down 87 laps, but he skidded again with 22 laps to go and spun into the infield.

So ended a weekend that started with much hoopla about Busch's successful quest to become the first driver to race in all three of NASCAR's national series at three different tracks.

His cross-country tripleheader started out well Friday night when, after qualifying at Pocono, he flew to Texas and finished second in a Truck Series race.

But things slowly turned south from there for the Joe Gibbs Racing star.

Busch wrecked his car at practice back at Pocono on Saturday, forcing him to go to a backup. That night, after flying to Tennessee for the second stop of his three-day tripleheader, Bush finished 20th, three laps down, in a Nationwide Series race.

Then Sunday, Busch said the mirror broke on the backup car while his crew tried to adjust it before the race, leaving him blind out of his right rear quarter panel. It appeared that Busch's spotter tried to warn his driver over the radio about McMurray before Busch veered right, though Busch said in the garage that he didn't get the message.

``So I couldn't clear myself,'' Busch said. ``The spotter didn't see say anything so I apologize to McMurray for wrecking their day.''

Busch's older brother, Kurt, also had some trouble Sunday when he skidded out of the first turn into the infield, kicking up grass on the fender of his No. 2 Dodge. But Kurt Busch rallied to finish eighth.

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PASSING PATCH: As expected, the 3,800-foot stretch of new asphalt between Turns 2 and 3 turned out to be popular territory for drivers. Clint Bowyer and Juan Pablo Montoya learned about the downside to the patch the hard way.

Bowyer's No. 7 Chevy spun out of the third turn 81 laps in, and Montoya bumped into him with no options to get around. Bowyer slammed into the inside wall, while the rear of Montoya's car caught fire.

It was a dramatic scene as Montoya's No. 42 Dodge veered down pit road with flames shooting from the rear. He finally brought the car to rest in front of a fire truck and jumped out unhurt.

Helmet off with his head down, Montoya looked dejected as he trudged safely away while firefighters extinguished the blaze. Later in the garage, Montoya said his crew told him over the radio that his car was on fire.

``I looked and saw smoke and said `It's not a big deal.' It kept rolling pretty easy and I said, 'You've got to get out,''' Montoya said. ``So I just jumped out as fast I could out of there.''

Montoya said it was ``near impossible'' to get through traffic all afternoon.

Bowyer, who began the day eighth in the Sprint Cup standings, said ``I just went in under someone and lost it. That stripe that they did down there of patch work created one line in there, and it's hard to pass.''

Montoya finished 38th, one ahead of Bowyer.

Dario Franchitti, in his return to the Sprint Cup series since breaking his ankle at Talladega in April, was involved in two wrecks, the first of which he appeared to swipe David Gilliland around the turn. Franchitti said he had been jockeying for position around the patch.

Track owner Joseph Mattioli had the new asphalt installed after he found baseline cracks in the road last August.

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DEJA VU: Sam Hornish Jr. pulled off his own trifecta Sunday - three wrecks, the last of which sent him out of the race with 70 laps to go.

Two of the accidents involved Patrick Carpentier, 11 laps apart leading to back-to-back caution flags.

The first bump came 58 laps in when both cars spun out down low, with Hornish's Dodge skidding sideways into the infield, before Carpentier's Dodge later appeared to come loose out of the same turn and bumped into Hornish.

The third wreck involved Franchitti around the first turn, which sent Hornish out for good.

``Pretty bad day for us for sure. We got involved in a couple altercations early and that right there was my fault,'' Hornish said. ``Not a very good weekend for us for sure.''

A frustrated Franchitti was much less forgiving of his former IndyCar Series rival. Both drivers are former Indianapolis 500 and IRL champions.

``The Hornish incident, I don't know. I went in there pretty deep and I got into the apex and he just drilled us,'' said Franchitti, who finished 41st, one ahead of Hornish. ``Whether his brakes failed or his brain failed, I don't know but he seems to be wrecking a lot of race cars.''

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JUNIOR'S BIG WIN: Dale Earnhardt Jr. came in fifth at the Pocono, though he did get a first-place finish for the flagship No. 88 Chevrolet he fields in the Nationwide Series. When the moment finally came, he didn't even get to see it.

The satellite feed at Pocono Raceway crashed with 10 laps remaining in Saturday night's race in Nashville, and Earnhardt had to monitor Brad Keselowski's first career victory over the Internet.

``I'd have liked to have been there,'' Earnhardt Jr. said before Sunday's race. ``We've been waiting for that for a long, long time.''

Earnhardt hired Keselowski last season and paired him with crew chief Tony Eury Sr. Then Earnhardt partnered with Rick Hendrick to bolster his organization. The team was rewarded when Mark Martin gave it its first win in the No. 5 car at Las Vegas earlier this season.

But the No. 88 is Earnhardt's baby, and he'd been waiting for that car to make it to Victory Lane. Now that its made its maiden trip, Earnhardt thinks the team is a championship contender.

Keselowski is fifth in points, 192 out of the lead.

``It makes us a legitimate contender for the championship this year,'' said Earnhardt Jr., who finished fourth at Pocono. ``From an owner's standpoint, it puts us in the winner's circle (money) program. There are a lot of different things that it will change for our program and help our program. It really gives us a stronger footing in the series and our ability to be there and compete for a few more years.''

Tracking the Trucks : Sam's Town 400K
Beth Lunkenheimer

In a Nutshell: Ron Hornaday, Jr. took the checkered flag 0.283 seconds ahead of Kyle Busch to with the Sam’s Town 400 Friday night. The driver of the No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet held onto the lead through a green-white-checker finish to score his first career Texas Motor Speedway victory. Johnny Benson, Jack Sprague and Todd Bodine rounded out the Top 5.

Who Should Have Won: Ron Hornaday, Jr. Hornaday, Jr’s No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet was strong straight off of the truck. Despite high cross winds during both practice sessions, Hornaday, Jr. led the first practice session and ran third quickest in the second session. Hornaday, Jr. qualified his truck third and led the most laps—140 of 175—on his way to the win.

Questions You Should Be Asking After the Race:

1. How did Scott Speed fare with no track time?

Prior to the drop of the green flag, Scott Speed had no track time at Texas Motor Speedway. Speed was at Pocono Raceway for ARCA / REMAX series qualifying Saturday afternoon and flew in to make the race. Bill Davis Racing development driver Michael Annett practiced the No. 22 and qualified 16th.

Because Speed missed qualifying and the driver’s meeting, he was forced to start at the rear of the field. By lap 76, Speed had worked his No. 22 Red Bull Racing Toyota into the Top 10. Later, on lap 129, Speed’s luck changed when his truck got loose, made heavy contact with the No. 14 of Rick Crawford and started speeding directly at the pit road wall but he managed to steer his truck away from the wall just seconds before making contact with it. Rick Ren, crew chief for Ron Hornaday, Jr, credited Speed for the terrific save.

“Somebody could have really gotten hurt on pit road. I gotta give my hats off to him,” commented Ren.

Somehow, Speed managed to remain on the lead lap and started working his way back through the field. With just three laps remaining, Speed found himself on the inside of a three wide battle with Mike Skinner and Marc Mitchell. The No. 22 got loose, and Speed ran hard into the outside wall to set up the fifth consecutive green-white-checker finish at Texas Motor Speedway; Speed went on to finish 26th.

Before getting loose in two separate incidents, Speed was out to impress. Having dropped to the rear of the field, the driver of the No. 22 found himself with Kyle Busch and quickly worked his way through the field. Had he not found himself spinning and bouncing off of the wall, Speed could have had a very impressive finish and even competed for the win. Look for Scott Speed to run competitively for the remainder of the season.

2. How did T.J. Bell run in place of Andy Lally?

Andy Lally, driver of the No. 7 TRG Motorsports Chevrolet, wasn’t able to be at Texas Motor Speedway Friday night because he was at Watkins Glen racing in the Grand Am Sports Car Series.

In his place, 27-year-old T.J. Bell took the wheel. Bell ran 15th quickest during the first practice but dropped off significantly to 27th in the second practice. T.J. Bell started the No. 7 TRG Motorsports Chevrolet in the 26th position and didn’t get very far before engine failures knocked him out of the race just 39 laps in; he went on to finish 31st.

T.J. Bell’s night was definitely one he’d like to forget. Bell’s engine troubles marked the third DNF for the No. 7 in just nine races. It’s not likely Andy Lally would have done any better in the truck. Since the problems were engine related and not related to any racing incidents, Lally would likely have found himself out early; Lally finished 11th at Watkins Glen.

Truck Rookie Report
2008 Rookie of the Year Candidates:
Colin Braun (No. 6)
Andy Lally (No. 7)
Donny Lia (No. 71)
Justin Marks (No. 9)
Marc Mitchell (No. 15)
Phillip McGilton (No. 22—replaced by Scott Speed at Kansas)
Brian Scott (No. 16)

No. of Rookies in the Race: 6
No. of Rookies to Finish in the Top 10: 0

Rookie Of The Race: Marc Mitchell, finished 12th

Worth Noting / Points Shuffle:

The Sam’s Town 400 was the 21st Craftsman Truck Series race run at Texas Motor Speedway. Only two active drivers—Terry Cook and Rick Crawford—have started every race at the 1.5-mile track.

JTG Racing shut the doors of their Craftsman Truck Series team last week because the team wasn’t “making progress as fast as they wanted.” Scott Lagasse, who drove for team owner Tad Geshchickter, scored his best finish of 19th at Auto Club Speedway in California early this season; he was sitting 28th in the points standings.

Ron Hornaday, Jr.‘s win propelled him up two spots to lead the standings once again. Matt Crafton remains in second, 45 points back. Johnny Benson moved up two spots to third. Todd Bodine and Jack Sprague, who moved up one spot, round out the Top 5.

Rick Crawford dropped five spots and sits tied for fifth with Jack Sprague. Mike Skinner remains in seventh, an even 100 points out of the lead. Chad McCumbee moved up two spots and sits in eighth with Terry Cook just 12 points behind him in ninth. David Starr dropped two spots and rounds out the Top 10.

Quotable:

“You have no idea what was going through my mind. I’m going for a championship … He [Kyle Busch] had nothing to lose at this race but to try to win all three races in three different starts. But that shows what kind of driver Kyle is. He raced me clean.” Race Winner Ron Hornaday, Jr.

“What a piece of crap. It just wasn’t [set up] for me here. Congratulations to [Ron, Jr.] Hornaday. I had a bad restart.” Kyle Busch, finished 2nd

Up Next:

The Craftsman Truck Series heads north to Michigan International Speedway for the Cool City Customs 200 next Saturday afternoon. Last season, Travis Kvapil beat Mike Skinner by less than half a second to score his first of four wins in 2007. Coverage begins at 3:00 PM EST on SPEED; the race can also be heard on your local MRN affiliate.

frontstretch.com

Nationwide Series Breakdown: Federated Auto Parts 300
Bryan Davis Keith

In a Nutshell: Saturday’s race was dubbed the “Opportunity 300,” the first of numerous stand-alone events for the Nationwide Series this summer, and a number of drivers took advantage making runs at their first career wins. Though Joey Logano was untouchable in the early going, and David Stremme ran up front all race long, it was Brad Keselowski in the No. 88 who scored his first career NASCAR victory. Stremme, David Reutimann and Clint Bowyer all stayed out on the track trying to stretch their fuel to the end, but a late race caution allowed Keselowski, who took four tires later in the race, to run down the leaders and score JR Motorsports’ second series victory this season.

Keselowski was able to celebrate in victory lane with much of his family, as brother Brian was also in town after attempting to qualify for Saturday’s event (he spun on his qualifying lap and DNQ’d). Kyle Busch finished three laps down in 20th after dealing with a flat tire, another disappointing leg in his weekend tripleheader. Clint Bowyer’s strong third place finish allowed him to retain the series’ points lead, which now stands at 166 points over second-place David Reutimann.

Who Should Have Won: While Brad Keselowski’s team was well due for their first win, the regulars of the Nationwide Series performed as a field extremely well on Saturday, and one from their camp definitely deserved the victory. Besides Keselowski, who was by far the fastest car at the end of the race, numerous other series regulars ran extremely well. Joey Logano won the pole and led 64 laps. David Stremme ran with Bowyer and Reutimann to race’s end, bumping Bowyer out of his way at the end to score a runner-up finish. Mike Wallace finished sixth, his best run of the season with his new Germain Racing team. Lastly, development drivers enjoyed a strong outing, with Kelly Bires, Landon Cassill and Chase Miller finishing eighth, ninth, and 11th. The Nationwide Series field shone brightly on a Saturday night where the track truly was theirs, and they as a whole deserved the guitar that Brad Keselowski brought home.

Worth Noting:

Mark Green has markedly improved the performance of ML Motorsports’ No. 70 effort since he took the helm, and that improvement continued to show on Saturday. Attempting their first race as a team since Richmond, Green and his No. 70 crew qualified in the Top 20, stayed on the lead lap the entire race, and scored a 14th place finish for the night. This part-time team has already posted impressive results this season, including qualifying fourth at Richmond and finishing fifth at Talladega…have to wonder what some sponsor dollars could do for this group.

David Stremme has become a fixture in this column, and with Keselowski now off the victory snide, all eyes have to turn to the No. 64 team and Stremme as the Nationwide Series next first-time winner. Stremme has taken RWI’s upstart team and turned them into a contender week in and week out, and has also improved in confidence as a driver himself. This weekend, while running third, Stremme put a bumper to series’ points leader Clint Bowyer on the last lap of the race to score a runner-up finish, his sixth Top 10 in the last seven races, and moved up two spots to eighth in the driver’s standings. Steven Wallace was a contender in RWI equipment at Kentucky last year…look for Stremme to be among the favorites there next week.

Mike Wallace and his No. 7 team said that they stumbled upon something at the Charlotte test that improved their cars as a whole, and if the last two weeks have been any indication – it was a big something they found. Wallace and his Germain team ran in the Top 10 nearly all race on Saturday, scoring a season best sixth place finish and each week are looking more like the team that has dominated the Craftsman Truck Series. This improvement couldn’t come at a better time for Mike Wallace…Daytona is just a few weeks away.

This certainly isn’t a positive, but the arrogance of Sprint Cup regulars taking part in the Nationwide Series has been rampantly demonstrated over the last month and needs to be addressed. At Darlington, Kyle Busch chewed out Brad Keselowski because Kyle tried to drive full speed on the Turn one apron. At Charlotte, Denny Hamlin whined that Brad Keselowski wouldn’t roll over and play dead for him, a Cup regular. At Dover, Kyle Busch referred to Jason Leffler as a teammate who couldn’t handle being number two. And Nashville was no exception. Greg Biffle whined that Nationwide regulars had the nerve to put him in the middle of three wide. Clint Bowyer was even worse, chastising David Stremme. “There is a reason he is back in the Nationwide Series” said Bowyer. Why? Because Stremme had the nerve to “bump the points leader.” It’s bad enough that Cup regulars are still raiding the series week in and week out of its trophies and purse money, but to see the stars of stock car racing sound like male Danica Patricks because their fellow drivers on the playground are actually racing them is sickening. Can’t handle the heat of the Nationwide Series? Get out.

Better Luck Next Time:

Baker-Curb Motorsports has struggled this season, and their performance at Nashville was not what they were hoping for at their home track. Brad Coleman, whose No. 27 carried the race title sponsor’s colors this weekend, qualified extremely well, but found himself falling back immediately following the green flag. A blown tire sent Coleman into the wall hard and early, and he ended up with a 35th place finish. Coleman now sits a disappointing 17th in the points standings. Meanwhile, the team’s second, unsponsored car managed to finish 18th, but was a moving chicane all race long with Burney Lamar behind the wheel. On the plus side, this was the first race in a while that the No. 37 actually ran the distance.

Braun Racing saw both of its cars find trouble again this weekend, with Kyle Busch and Jason Leffler both finding themselves victims of multiple tire failures. Busch struggled home to finish three laps down in 20th, Leffler six laps down in 26th. Leffler, once among the strongest of the Nationwide Series regulars, has fallen to tenth in points and losing ground to a consistent Jason Keller in the standings. This weekend also marked the third in a row where the Braun Racing team found itself with at least one mangled race car to fix.

Underdog Performer of the Race:

Earlier in the week, there was a question mark as to whether Kevin Lepage and his No. 61 team would even be at the race track. The team, which has run without sponsorship all season, landed some sponsor money from Nashville-based Core Solvents, and managed to keep their streak of attempted races in the series alive. After qualifying 36th, Lepage and his team found themselves behind the wall early, but this hardship didn’t prevent the team from returning to the track nearly 20 laps down and running the race to the checkered flag. Lepage finished in 29th, 23 laps down, but maintained his Top 20 position in the driver’s standings. The No. 61 team has been the model that underfunded teams in the Nationwide Series should be following, and it was a pleasure to see them find the money they needed to contest Nashville. Here’s hoping they make it to Kentucky.

Quotables:

“I don’t know if it’s a monkey off my back. I don’t know that I’ve been here that long. It’s not like I came into this sport winning. I feel like I paid some dues. I did some stuff with lower level teams. When you’re doing that with lower level teams and you’re breaking down every week and you’re blowing up or whatever it is that happens, you always question yourself, ‘Why am I doing this?’ and then when you catch that break like I did to drive for Dale [Earnhardt ] Jr. and the U.S. Navy Chevrolet and that kind of validates or vindicates you. Then I’ve got a team that keeps getting better every week and I keep getting better every week to go with it. I felt like this was just a matter of time.” – Brad Keselowski on his first career Nationwide Series win

“The good thing is, our bad luck is still leaving us in the Top-10. That’s a lot better than having bad luck and not finishing.” – Kelly Bires on his eighth place finish

“I just wanted to tell him his driver did an awesome job.” – Bobby Hamilton Jr. after a verbal confrontation with Landon Cassill’s crew chief

Up Next: The Nationwide Series heads to Kentucky this Saturday night for the Meijer 300. Coverage from the Bluegrass State begins at 8 PM on ESPN2 and 8:30 PM on MRN.

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Matt McLaughlin's Thinkin' Out Loud: Pocono 500
Matt McLaughlin

The Key Moment: It took Kasey Kahne a few laps after the final restart to get around the No. 88 and 83 cars, but once he got back to the lead, there was no catching him.

In a Nutshell: Since passing was all but impossible on the track, crew chiefs had to engineer various strategies to get their boys to the front in the pits.

Dramatic Moment: The two fastest cars, those of Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin, did get to battle briefly for the lead.

With passing so difficult, Kahne’s run from 38th to the lead after a pit road mishap was the highlight of the race.

What They’ll Be Talking About Around the Water Cooler This Week

What in blazes (pun intended) were the safety crew members thinking as they ambled over to the burning No. 42 car (with its driver still aboard) as if they were heading for a post-race clambake? Truthfully, the track crews at Pocono have rarely cloaked themselves in glory. Even back in the early ’80s, Tim Richmond had to pull Dale Earnhardt from his overturned race car after a nasty wreck at the speedway. OK, we were told that those two indifferent individuals were responsible for the driver — not the car — but the driver was still in the car as they stood there. What, exactly does their job entail then? Giving the driver a hug and a kiss to make him feel better once he gets out of the car under his own power?

OK, I get it and I’m sure most of you get it. With this new mutt of a car, the driver up front with clean air on his nose has the advantage. It’s difficult for a driver with a fast car to cleanly pass a slower car ahead of him, and it’s ruining racing. When is someone at NASCAR going to figure this out?

Did it look like the No. 9 car of Kasey Kahne and the two Red Bull cars were still dog-trotting a lot more than the rest of the cars? Didn’t NASCAR order the teams to limit this?

ESPN tried a brave new concept in race broadcasting Saturday night, as they joined the Texas IRL race already in progress. They had live audio of the race, which was on lap 49, while the video showed the pre-race program. Overall, it was about the stupidest thing I’ve ever witnessed. See you in seven weeks, ESPN.

It sure was nice to see some side by side racing even early in an event, with drivers using the draft to blow by their competitors while some excitement at a race track stirred up again. Unfortunately, this all happened Saturday night in the IRL race at Texas — not at Pocono in Sunday’s Cup race. With that type of competition rising, NASCAR’s corporate complacency ill behooves the organization. After all, a couple decades ago nobody ever thought stock car racing would eclipse open wheel racing to become this country’s top rated racing series.

Note to Kyle Busch: You might want to concentrate on your day job. The whole Triple Crown thing didn’t work out too well for Kyle Busch or Big Brown. While the two have a lot in common — particularly the horse’s hindquarters and Busch’s personality — there are also some key differences. Fans don’t boo Big Brown and while the horse suffered a hoof injury, Busch suffers from hoof in mouth disease.

Kyle Busch attempted three races in three different cities in one weekend, with little to show for it. He went 0 for 3 on Victory Lane and left Pocono with two damaged Sprint Cup cars on the weekend.

Did it seem the former open wheel racing stars at Pocono seemed to run into each other a lot on Sunday? Dario Franchitti, who is still healing, didn’t need to get beat around any more; that’s tossing a man into the river who don’t need to be swimming.

It’s kind of a sad commentary on the slow start that Tony Stewart has gotten off to this season when he has to host his own race to finally win an event. Seriously, though, the Prelude to a Dream raised over one million dollars for the planned Victory Junction Camp in Kansas City, and any event that raises that sort of money for such a worthy cause should be applauded. (But I couldn’t help but wonder about that big bowtie on the front of Stewart’s race-winning car. The folks at Toyota had to be delighted…)

Twins separated at birth? Larry McReynolds and Charlie Brown. Maybe FOX tells McReynolds they want him to play the cornpone bit for all its worth, because Larry’s diction and demeanor seemed to move from the third grade level to the middle school level in one week. And who knew? The drivers knew to start racing on Sunday when the green flag dropped — even without somebody screaming “Boogity, boogity, boogity” at them.

The pre-race piece on Bobby Allison, respectful without becoming maudlin, was the highlight of the broadcast. But the first time somebody tries selling me a Race Buddy T-shirt, plush toy, or drinking vessel, I’m leaving for the summer.

With the big three Detroit automakers shuttering truck factories and emphasizing cars rather than trucks, will any of them support the Truck Series next year? Only Toyota still seems to be pushing big trucks, though Tundra sales are tumbling too. With no title sponsor for the series, will the trucks even be back next year? In an era of four dollar a gallon gas, trucks are suddenly not very PC.

Once again, I am forced to go out of character and ask a personal favor. Please extend your prayers or good thoughts to my nephew Shane, who was seriously injured in a single vehicle late night motorcycle accident on Saturday night. He faces a long uphill battle to recover. As most of you know, I am a devoted motorcyclist myself. His dad (who’s ridden for decades) and I taught Shane to ride at a very young age on an old XR75 I found at Carlisle, but he had limited street riding experience. The kid decided with gas at four dollars a gallon and a teenager’s salary he couldn’t afford to drive his truck anymore, so he got a bike. That’s not a unique story lately. I urge any of you who decide to start motorcycling or return to the saddle after a long layoff to take an AMA approved Rider Safety course and to select a mount that reflects your experience level to start out on. Unfortunately, Shane was on one of those lay-down Japanese rockets that dealers and individuals are all too happy to sell to a kid with a permit. He’s a good kid who made some bad decisions; and ultimately, responsibility is his. But to whichever salesperson sold the kid that bike, if you want what’s left you can have it cheap — but first you and I are going to have a very unpleasant talk that might wind up with you in intensive care as well.

The Hindenburg Award For Foul Fortune

Cracked mirrors are supposed to be seven year’s bad luck, and his missing right side mirror sent Kyle Busch to a last place finish. A second spinout late in the race just put icing on the cake, as did a practice crash that sent Busch to the rear of the field at the start.

Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart both saw decent finishes go out the window when they got caught speeding on pit road late in the event.

Carl Edwards clearly had a strong car, but had to pit again under caution with an equalized tire. He recovered to finish ninth, but never had a chance to gun for the win.

The “Seven Come Fore Eleven” Award For Fine Fortune

A botched last second call on pit road forced Kasey Kahne back to the pits and dropped him to 38th place… but he still rallied back to win.

Jeff Burton had to overcome a pit road incident with David Ragan (and his own ill-considered if rare retaliation afterwards) along with a late race shoving match with Earnhardt to post a Top 5 finish.

Denny Hamlin knocked in his left front fender in the pits (see: Michael McDowell) and the required repairs dropped him well back into the pack; but he recovered well, coming back to finish third by race’s end.

Kurt Busch decided to damage his car the old fashioned way, out on the track instead of on pit lane. After the No. 2 car went bounding through the grass like a wounded gazelle, the front splitter was all but torn off; but his crew managed to McGyver a hasty fix that let Busch finish seventh.

Worth Noting

* The Top 10 drivers at Pocono piloted a pair of Dodges, two Toyotas, two Fords, and four Chevys.

* The top finishing ROTY candidate at Pocono was Michael McDowell in 27th.

* Kasey Kahne has won two of the last four Cup points races, but finished outside the Top 20 in the other two.

* Brian Vickers (second) scored his second Top 5 result of 2008 and his best career finish since he won the fall race at Talladega in 2006.

* Denny Hamlin (third) scored his first Top 5 finish since Talladega.

* Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (fourth) has Top 5 finishes in three of the last four races and Top 10 results in ten of this year’s fourteen Cup points events. And the crowd goes wild!

* Jeff Burton (fifth) hasn’t finished worse than 12th since the Daytona 500.

* Jimmie Johnson (sixth) had his best finish since he won at Phoenix.

* Honest to God, Kurt Busch (eighth) had his first Top 10 finish since the Daytona 500.

* Carl Edwards (ninth) managed his fifth consecutive Top 10 finish.

* Bobby Labonte (11th) matched his best finish of the 2008 season. Labonte also finished 11th at Charlotte and Daytona.

* Jeff Gordon’s 14th place finish snapped a string of four consecutive Top 10s, though a few of those were mulligans.

* A.J. Allmendinger’s 12th place finish was the best of his emergent Cup career to date.

* Tony Stewart (35th) has just two Top 10 finishes in the last seven Cup races; in his last three starts, he’s averaging a sobering 23rd place result.

* Kyle Busch finished dead last for the first time in his career since Michigan in 2005.

What’s the Points?

Second place Jeff Burton took a huge bite out of points leader Kyle Busch’s advantage on Sunday, closing to within 21 points of the Irritator. Earnhardt Jr. remains third in the standings and is now a more reasonable 145 points behind Busch, who he doubtless hopes will keep trying to rack up Frequent Flyer miles. Carl Edwards remains fourth in the standings, but is a more distant 228 points out of the top spot.

Denny Hamlin had the best day in the points, advancing four spots from ninth to fifth. Winning races still has some nice perks for a driver, and Kahne advanced three spots to ninth in the standings. Jimmie Johnson moved up a spot to sixth.

An unforced error dropped Clint Bowyer three spots to 11th in the standings. Greg Biffle and Jeff Gordon each dropped two spots and are now seventh and eighth, respectively. Tony Stewart fell a spot to 12th. More importantly, he’s now only seven points ahead of 13th place David Ragan and ten points ahead of 14th place Ryan Newman. Yes, typically Stewart gets stronger in the summer, but one has to wonder if the distractions about his future are dooming his chances at making the Chase this year — just as they did for Earnhardt last year.

Outside the Top 12, Matt Kenseth moved up a spot to 15th, bypassing Martin Truex, Jr. in the process.

Overall Rating (On a scale of one to six beer cans, with one being a stinker and a six pack an instant classic) While it was more a chess match than a race, at least this week’s race wasn’t as bad as Dover last week. We’ll give it two cold bottles of the Sly Fox’s Helles Golden Lager microbrew.

Next Up: It’s off to Michigan on Father’s Day for what will probably be one boring mother of a race. If you prefer pit strategy to side by side racing on the track, it looks like this summer might be the time of your life.

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