IRL: Wheldon paces Texas' first practice

Dan Wheldon posted the fastest practice time in Texas' first session, with a lap of 215.783 mph. Danica Patrick was second best at 214.884.

Our View: That is hauling the mail. By comparison, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won last spring's pole with a speed of 190.907 in the heavier NASCAR Sprint Cup cars. Patrick has been incredibly strong on oval tracks, so her chance of extending the top-five streak to five is real.

Complete Practice Times

IRL: Patrick unscathed by rumors

Danica Patrick is not allowing persistent rumors of her joining NASCAR to interfere with he focus on the track, according to the Associated Press.

Our View: Patrick is riding a four-race streak of top-fives—including a third in the Indy 500—which means she is in a great position to negotiate.

IRL: Scheckter in for eight more

Tomas Scheckter will compete with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing for eight more races, including this week at Texas Motor Speedway, according to IndyCar.com.

Our View: In two races this year, Scheckter has been consistent but not overly strong. He finished 12th in the Indy 500 and was 13th last week at Milwaukee. Fantasy owners can expect similar results at Texas.

Trucks: Texas lineup, with avg. start / finish

Making only his second start at Texas Motor Speedway and his first since 2005, Johnny Sauter won the pole for Friday night's WinStar World Casino 400k at a speed of 178.485 mph. He beat Ron Hornaday Jr. be a mere 0.09 seconds and that driver is looking to overcome an early-race crash last week at Dover International Speedway.

This race is a companion event with the Indy Racing League, and as such there are no Truckstopper Cup regulars. The accompanying bad news is only 33 trucks showed up—which is three less than a full field—and the slowest driver in the field is nearly six seconds slower than the pole sitter. Nick Tucker will almost certainly start and park his Silverado, but under green flag conditions, he would likely be lapped within six circuits.

Lineup

Start	Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
1	Johnny Sauter	11.00	33.00	1
2	Ron Hornaday Jr	10.67	9.50	12
3	Matt Crafton	12.38	20.31	16
4	Brian Ickler
5	Dennis Setzer	10.86	11.57	21
6	Rick Crawford	11.64	10.59	22
7	Chad McCumbee	12.80	13.80	5
8	Ricky Carmichael
9	Todd Bodine	8.11	13.22	9
10	Timothy Peters	26.00	24.50	2
11	Mike Skinner	5.50	3.70	10
12	Aric Almirola	25.75	14.25	4
13	David Starr	13.33	13.33	21
14	Colin Braun	13.50	14.50	2
15	Johnny Benson Jr	12.78	8.33	9
16	T J Bell	26.00	20.00	5
17	Brian Scott	14.33	24.00	3
18	Jason White	26.40	31.40	5
19	Stacy Compton	13.67	16.50	6
20	James Buescher
21	Mario Gosselin
22	Terry Cook	15.36	14.55	22
23	J J Yeley
24	Tayler Malsam
25	Ryan Matthews	27.00	23.50	2
26	Marc Mitchell	12.00	23.00	1
27	Butch Miller	23.60	26.80	5
28	Ryan Hackett
29	John Jackson
30	Norm Benning	28.00	32.00	1
31	Brandon Knupp	34.00	35.00	1
32	Wayne Edwards	31.00	31.00	5
33	Nick Tucker	33.00	34.00	1

Week 23 Unified Power Rankings

With Formula 1 taking last week off, the two strongest drivers in auto sports remain at the top of our grid. Jenson Button and teammate Rubens Barrichello continue to be nearly unassailable with their strong showings on the international stage.

NASCAR driver Tony Stewart keeps hovering around the front of the field and last week's second-place finish in the Autism Speaks 400 kept him solidly in third on this grid. If Button and Barrichello stumble in this week's Turkish Grand Prix, "Smoke" could take the lead in the Unified Power Rankings just as he's done in the NASCAR point system. He hasn't been perfect, but then again with seven top-five finishes in his last nine attempts in Cup and Nationwide competition combined, he's about as close as you're going to get.

Dario Franchitti was last week's top Indy Racing League driver on our grid and he actually improved two positions from 11th overall to ninth on the strength of his third-place finish in the ABC Supply Co. / A.J. Foyt 225 at the Milwaukee Mile—and yet, he's no longer the king of his crowd.

The IRL honor goes to Helio Castroneves, who settles into fourth on the overall grid despite an 11th in that same race. He didn't actually leap frog Franchitti, however; Castroneves was not included in last week's grid because he had not yet run four races in 2009. His victory in the Indy 500 and a second in the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway was enough to place Castroneves fourth on the overall grid.

Mark Martin was the biggest mover in the top 10—or at least, he's in the top 10 now, after jumping eight spots from 18th with a 10th-place finish at Dover International Speedway. The biggest loser was Camping World Truck Series Ron Hornaday Jr., who dropped 19 positions from 10th to 29th after crashing early last week. He has a chance to snap back this week, however, since he starts from the outside pole for Friday night's companion race at Texas Motor Speedway with the IRL.

Hornaday's hardship can't compare to Tony Kanaan. His early-race crash at Milwaukee caused him to drop 21 positions from 14th to 35th.

Unified Power Rankings

Rank	Driver	Points	Last week	+/-
1	Jenson Button	110.67	1	0
2	Rubens Barrichello	99.83	2	0
3	Tony Stewart	96.00	3	0
4	Helio Castroneves	92.25	NR
5	Kurt Busch	91.91	5	0
6	Jimmie Johnson	90.45	7	1
7	Ryan Briscoe	87.80	12	5
8	Jason Leffler	87.56	4	-4
9	Dario Franchitti	86.80	11	2
10	Mark Martin	85.00	18	8
11	Ryan Newman	84.60	6	-5
12	Denny Hamlin	84.27	9	-3
13	Danica Patrick	82.60	15	2
14	Brad Keselowski	82.14	21	7
15	Mark Webber	82.00	13	-2
16	Scott Dixon	81.20	28	12
17	Jeff Gordon	81.09	8	-9
18	Kyle Busch	79.63	19	1
19	Timo Glock	79.50	20	1
20	Matt Kenseth	79.44	27	7
21	Carl Edwards	78.30	22	1
22	Jeff Burton	78.00	17	-5
23	Dan Wheldon	77.20	16	-7
24	Joey Logano	76.55	25	1
25	Fernando Alonso	76.17	24	-1
26	Kasey Kahne	75.27	26	0
27	Matt Crafton	74.60	29	2
28	Greg Biffle	73.29	23	-5
29	Ron Hornaday Jr	72.60	10	-19
30	Jason Keller	72.11	36	6
31	Juan Montoya	71.73	30	-1
32	Dale Earnhardt Jr	70.21	31	-1
33	Nico Rosberg	70.00	32	-1
34	Brian Vickers	68.20	33	-1
35	Tony Kanaan	68.20	14	-21
36	Sebastian Vettel	67.50	39	3
37	Kevin Harvick	67.28	41	4
38	Steve Wallace	67.11	40	2
39	Justin Allgaier	67.00	42	3
40	Clint Bowyer	66.50	43	3
41	Graham Rahal	66.40	59	18
42	Martin Truex Jr	65.82	45	3
43	David Reutimann	65.62	38	-5
44	Marco Andretti	64.80	52	8
45	Jamie McMurray	64.73	44	-1
46	Lewis Hamilton	63.67	47	1
47	Johnny Benson Jr	63.60	35	-12
48	David Ragan	63.17	55	7
49	Brian Scott	63.00	57	8
50	Paul Menard	62.63	54	4

Previous Unified Power Rankings:

Week 22
Week 21
Week 20

It's official: double-file restarts

"We've heard the fans loud and clear: 'double-file restarts -- shootout style' are coming to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series," said NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France. "This addition to the race format is good for competition and good for the fans."

Our View: If the driver of a lead lap car chooses to pit a second time, however, he will have to start behind the lap down cars. This should make the race for the lead more competitive. The change goes into effect at Pocono Raceway in the Pocono 500.

IRL: Patrick has best top-five streak

Danica Patrick heads to Texas Motor Speedway as the only IndyCar Series driver riding a streak of four consecutive top-five finishes, according to AutoRacingDaily.com.

Our View: At the start of the season, who would have thought that Patrick would be one of the best values in the Indy fantasy games. There is no reason to believe she is going to slow down anytime soon.

Pocono "go-or-go-homers"

This week's entry list features 46 cars. In the event that qualification is canceled, the following drivers would make the show: Sterling Marlin, Scott Speed, David Gilliland, Joe Nemechek, Patrick Carpentier, Dave Blaney, Mike Wallace and Regan Smith.

Our View: That means Trevor Boys, Dexter Bean and Derrike Cope would be going home—and those are also the drivers most likely to be the slowest on speed as well.

Double file restarts at Pocono?

Double file restarts at the Cup level could be coming as soon as this weekend at Pocono, according to FoxSports.com.

Our View: This is going to significantly alter lead changes at the front of the pack and it's going to benefit drivers with an aggressive streak—such as Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick—when they are near the front.

Dodge withholds support

The bankruptcy proceedings of Dodge/Chrsyler have put factory support on hold for the moment, according to NASCAR.com.

Our View: In this economy, with sponsorship at a premium, this support was extremely important. This impacts Richard Petty Motorsports' four teams and Penske's three teams. The effect won't be immediate, but without some additional support, money will eventually be tight.