Trucks: Braun on pole at ORP

Colin Braun backed up his fast speed in practice by winning the pole for Friday night's AAA Insurance 200 at O'Reilly Raceway Park. His pole speed was 109.965 mph.

Our View The top five hold no surprises with Mike Skinner, Stacy Compton, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Matt Crafton rounding out the list. It is incredibly hard to pass on this track, so these are your favorites.

Complete Results

Week 27 Unified Power Rankings

Jenson Button and Tony Stewart kept their positions atop the Unified Power Rankings. Button's number one spot is unchanged because Formula 1 had the week off, but Stewart only enhanced his second-place position with a solid fifth-place finish at New Hampshire—his fifth consecutive result of seventh or better. These two drivers have redefined the concept of place-and-hold.

Mark Webber also jumped up the grid, improving his rank from 10th to third. How is that possible with the series going idle? The Power Ranking formula looks at the last 90 days for a snapshot of how drivers are performing right now, and that means that Webber's 12th-place finish in the ING Australian Grand Prix is no longer held against him. Since that race, he has posted five top-fives in seven races—including three runner-up results.

Dario Franchitti also climbed the charts from eighth to fourth on the strength of his solid second-place run on the short track in Richmond. In his last four Indy short track starts, that's his worst result after winning the other three. Chip Ganassi fans should be quite proud of the organization; last week they finished 1-2, and Scott Dixon—the winner of the SunTrust Indy Challenge—settled in right behind Franchitti in fifth.

It was a great weekend for Brad Keselowski. He competed in the Nationwide and Cup series and earned accolades in both. A third-place finish in the Camping World RV Sales 200 was his fifth consecutive top-five, which easily makes him the best Nationwide Regular in the game. He also finished sixth in Cup competition and while that may have been aided by rain, the points pay the same to fantasy owners.

Ron Hornaday Jr. is slowly making his way back up the grid. With back-to-back victories at Milwaukee and Memphis, he's improved 10 positions and lands 32nd on our chart. That may not seem like much, but only two weeks ago he was in danger of falling out of the top 50. Better still, he is in striking distance of the highest ranked Camping World Truck Series driver—Matt Crafton. In the last three months, Crafton has finished worse than seventh only once, and consistency is often more important than raw strength in fantasy games.

Unified Power Rankings
Top 50

Rank	Driver	Points	Last week	+/-
1	Jenson Button	106.71	1	0
2	Tony Stewart	99.62	2	0
3	Mark Webber	93.14	10	7
4	Dario Franchitti	92.63	8	4
5	Scott Dixon	88.13	12	7
6	Kurt Busch	86.75	13	7
7	Brad Keselowski	86.39	14	7
8	Rubens Barrichello	86.29	9	1
9	Jimmie Johnson	86.25	7	-2
10	Erik Darnell	84.83	16	6
11	Joey Logano	83.36	27	16
12	Helio Castroneves	82.57	3	-9
13	Ryan Briscoe	82.50	4	-9
14	Greg Biffle	82.50	22	8
15	Kyle Busch	82.44	18	3
16	Jeff Gordon	82.25	17	1
17	Mark Martin	82.15	5	-12
18	Jason Leffler	81.77	6	-12
19	Danica Patrick	81.75	15	-4
20	Sebastian Vettel	81.43	32	12
21	Carl Edwards	80.96	21	0
22	Ryan Newman	80.13	11	-11
23	Matt Kenseth	79.25	25	2
24	Juan Montoya	78.17	26	2
25	Dan Wheldon	78.00	24	-1
26	Denny Hamlin	77.08	19	-7
27	Matt Crafton	76.86	20	-7
28	Kasey Kahne	74.92	31	3
29	Timo Glock	74.43	23	-6
30	Nico Rosberg	73.29	30	0
31	Stephen Leicht	73.00		NR
32	Ron Hornaday Jr	72.38	40	8
33	Jeff Burton	70.88	28	-5
34	Steve Wallace	70.33	37	3
35	David Reutimann	70.29	33	-2
36	Brian Vickers	69.18	42	6
37	Felipe Massa	68.86	63	26
38	Marco Andretti	68.38	34	-4
39	Justin Allgaier	68.00	36	-3
40	Jason Keller	67.92	38	-2
41	Tayler Malsam	67.71	41	0
42	Tony Kanaan	67.63	35	-7
43	Fernando Alonso	67.00	29	-14
44	Sam Hornish Jr	67.00	52	8
45	Kimi Raikkonen	66.71	57	12
46	Johnny Sauter	66.57	59	13
47	Jamie McMurray	66.50	44	-3
48	Colin Braun	65.71	76	28
49	Tomas Scheckter	65.40		NR
50	Dale Earnhardt Jr	65.13	39	-11

Previous Unified Power Rankings:

Week 26
Week 25
Week 24
Week 23
Week 22
Week 21
Week 20

Trucks: Lineup set by points

Qualification for the Camping World Truck Series in Milwaukee has been canceled and the lineup will be set by owner points.

Our View: This puts Brian Ickler on the pole in the No. 51 Billy Ballew truck. Kyle Busch has this truck running strong and Ickler could earn his first win in it.

The leader in the driver's points standings is Matt Crafton; he'll roll off the grid second.

Complete Lineup

More Camping World Truck Series Newsbreakers

Trucks: Michigan results, with avg. finish

It doesn't matter what series is on the track; if Jack Roush is fielding a car or truck, its driver is a favorite to win. Roushketeer Colin Braun dogged Kyle Busch during the final green flag segment and forced him into a mistake. With 25 laps remaining, the No. 51 tried to go low beneath a lapped car and Braun pounced on the outside. Once in the lead, the victory was never in question.

After pacing the field for 62 laps, Busch was forced to settle for second, but his protégé made him proud. Brian Ickler sat on the pole and we predicted he would fall back through the pack. He had plenty of opportunities to prove us correct when he nearly crashed early and often. As the race settled down, Ickler maintained and finished third.

Matt Crafton finished fourth and padded his point lead. This was his sixth consecutive top-10 finish in the Camping World Truck Series, which has made him a place-and-hold driver.

Results, with average finish

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Laps Led	Status	Avg Fin
1	12	Colin Braun	100	26	Running	3.50
2	4	Kyle Busch	100	62	Running	3.25
3	1	Brian Ickler	100		Running	3.00
4	2	Matt Crafton	100		Running	16.63
5	7	Mike Skinner	100		Running	7.29
6	14	Tayler Malsam	100		Running	6.00
7	5	Ron Hornaday Jr	100	1	Running	14.33
8	18	Timothy Peters	100		Running	22.67
9	11	Dennis Setzer	100		Running	10.30
10	21	Terry Cook	100		Running	9.70
11	20	David Starr	100		Running	16.70
12	10	Rick Crawford	100		Running	13.00
13	3	Todd Bodine	100	6	Running	7.40
14	13	Jason White	99		Running	23.00
15	30	Chris Fontaine	99		Running	15.00
16	6	Johnny Sauter	98		Running	16.00
17	32	Norm Benning	95		Running	17.00
18	19	T J Bell	83		Running	19.33
19	16	Stacy Compton	70		Running	14.50
20	24	J J Yeley	68		Overheating	16.50
21	8	J R Fitzpatrick	63		Accident	21.00
22	25	Ryan Hackett	51	3	Accident	22.00
23	25	Wayne Edwards	32		Fuel Pump	28.00
24	15	Chad McCumbee	27		Accident	17.50
25	26	Chris Jones	21		Quit	29.50
26	23	Ryan Matthews	19		Quit	21.00
27	36	Trevor Boys	18		Quit	27.00
28	31	Andy Ponstein	17		Quit	28.00
29	33	Brandon Knupp	15		Quit	29.00
30	28	Brent Raymer	13		Quit	30.00
31	22	Mario Gosselin	12	1	Quit	30.00
32	27	Nick Tucker	9		Quit	31.50
33	9	James Buescher	8		Accident	33.00
34	17	Brian Scott	8		Accident	29.50
35	34	Sean Murphy	6		Quit	26.50
36	29	John Jackson	4		Quit	36.00

More Camping World Truck Series Newsbreakers

Trucks: Ickler on Michigan pole

Rookie Brian Ickler will lead point leader Matt Crafton and the remainder of the green for the Michigan 200, according to a tweet from @NASCAR_Trucks.

Our View: If he can hang onto a top-10 finish, he will be a good value, but don't expect miracles. Ickler has only four previous Camping World Truck Series starts and one top-10. Notably, that was a fifth in his first Truck start at Kansas this April.

His teammate Kyle Busch starts one row back in fourth, and he remains a better value.

More Camping World Truck Series Newsbreakers

Trucks: Crafton tops Michigan practice 1

Matt Crafton topped the first practice session for the Michigan Camping World Truck Series race, according to @NASCAR_Trucks. Rookie Brian Ickler was second quick.

Our View: Crafton is the current points' leader in this series, and this is a great way to start defending his lead.

More Camping World Truck Series Newsbreakers

Week 24 Unified Power Rankings

Yawn. Jenson Button won again in the Turkish Grand Prix, which is his sixth victory in seven races and picking a winner in that series is now officially a no brainer. Until Button stumbles—and at this point, it seems unlikely he's going to do so all season—place him on your roster and hold him there.

For the first time this year, however, his wingman Rubens Barrichello had a bad finish. A pair of spins in the Turkish GP caused him to finish outside the points for the first time this season and he plummeted seven spots in the Unified Power Rankings from second to ninth.

That allowed a pair of winners to climb the grid. Tony Stewart had to overcome rolling out a backup car and his shotgun to the field start, but after practice, he was confident he had the ponies under the hood to get the job done. Stewart used a little strategy and a lot of power to hold off Carl Edwards and earn his first victory as an owner driver. He's now second on this chart.

One of the keys to Stewart's success in the Pocono 500 was a strong pit stop, and that is also how Helio Castroneves got in front of Ryan Briscoe late in the going at Texas Motor Speedway. Once in the lead of the Bombardier Learjet 550k, he was untouched and scored his second victory in the last three races. Castroneves sits third.

Jason Leffler continues to be the strongest Nationwide Regular in NASCAR's second series. With most of the top spots typically going to Cup drivers, last week's Federated Auto Parts 300 in Nashville was an opportunity race. Only two Claim Jumpers made the long commute, so even though Kyle Busch won the race and Edwards finished third, Leffler was able to pick off a fifth-place finish and climb two spots on the Unified Power Rankings grid from eighth to sixth.

Success in any fantasy racing league is reliant on finding dark horses. In the Camping World Truck Series, check out Jason White, who has been 14th or better in his last four races. And on the strength of his eighth-place finish at Texas last week and a fourth at Dover the previous week, he jumped an amazing 28 spots last week and 10 spots the prior week to land in the top 50—50th to be exact. Matt Crafton is the highest ranked Truck driver. He sits 19th on the grid.

Unified Power Rankings
Top 50

Rank	Driver	Points	Last week	+/-
1	Jenson Button	110.57	1	0
2	Tony Stewart	97.33	3	1
3	Helio Castroneves	95.80	4	1
4	Jimmie Johnson	90.82	6	2
5	Ryan Briscoe	90.67	7	2
6	Jason Leffler	87.90	8	2
7	Dario Franchitti	87.67	9	2
8	Ryan Newman	87.20	11	3
9	Rubens Barrichello	87.14	2	-7
10	Mark Martin	87.00	10	0
11	Mark Webber	85.29	15	4
12	Scott Dixon	84.50	16	4
13	Kurt Busch	83.55	5	-8
14	Danica Patrick	83.33	13	-1
15	Brad Keselowski	83.20	14	-1
16	Jeff Gordon	80.55	17	1
17	Kyle Busch	79.46	18	1
18	Carl Edwards	79.24	21	3
19	Matt Crafton	79.00	27	8
20	Matt Kenseth	78.69	20	0
21	Jeff Burton	78.63	22	1
22	Timo Glock	78.43	19	-3
23	Denny Hamlin	78.18	12	-11
24	Dan Wheldon	78.17	23	-1
25	Joey Logano	77.15	24	-1
26	Greg Biffle	76.93	28	2
27	Juan Montoya	75.64	31	4
28	Fernando Alonso	74.00	25	-3
29	Kasey Kahne	73.27	26	-3
30	Nico Rosberg	72.57	33	3
31	Sebastian Vettel	72.00	36	5
32	David Reutimann	70.85	43	11
33	Marco Andretti	70.00	44	11
34	Tony Kanaan	69.83	35	1
35	Jason Keller	69.30	30	-5
36	Steve Wallace	69.10	38	2
37	Marcos Ambrose	68.36	54	17
38	Justin Allgaier	67.60	39	1
39	Dale Earnhardt Jr	67.07	32	-7
40	Jarno Trulli	66.29	53	13
41	Johnny Benson Jr	66.00	47	6
42	Ron Hornaday Jr	65.80	29	-13
43	Brian Vickers	65.40	34	-9
44	Clint Bowyer	65.36	40	-4
45	Rick Crawford	65.20	62	17
46	Jamie McMurray	64.91	45	-1
47	Sam Hornish Jr	64.73	63	16
48	Martin Truex Jr	63.82	42	-6
49	Kevin Harvick	63.00	37	-12
50	Jason White	62.80	78	28

Previous Unified Power Rankings:

Week 23
Week 22
Week 21
Week 20

Trucks: Texas results, with avg. finish

Todd Bodine made history at Texas Motor Speedway Friday night. He became the first driver to win five races on the same track in the Camping World Truck Series. This was his 10th victory on the 1.5-mile tracks and it came at a good time. Bodine has struggled through four consecutive results of 18th or worse. Two of these disappointments were caused by crash damage, however, and it was only a matter of time before he got back in the swing. Prior to his four poor results, he was riding a nine-race streak of top-fives.

Matt Crafton was not happy with his second-place finish and compared it to "kissing his sister." He might feel different about that on Saturday morning when he realizes that he took the point lead after Ron Hornaday Jr. 19th with an oil pressure problem.

Results, with average finish

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Status	Avg Fin
1	9	Todd Bodine	167	Running	7.40
2	3	Matt Crafton	167	Running	11.76
3	14	Colin Braun	167	Running	10.00
4	15	Johnny Benson Jr	167	Running	11.90
5	6	Rick Crawford	167	Running	11.35
6	1	Johnny Sauter	167	Running	8.50
7	13	David Starr	167	Running	13.05
8	18	Jason White	167	Running	23.33
9	24	Tayler Malsam	167	Running	9.00
10	11	Mike Skinner	166	Running	5.91
11	8	Ricky Carmichael	166	Running	11.00
12	10	Timothy Peters	166	Running	21.33
13	7	Chad McCumbee	166	Running	12.83
14	16	T J Bell	166	Running	24.00
15	17	Brian Scott	165	Running	14.50
16	12	Aric Almirola	165	Running	23.80
17	5	Dennis Setzer	164	Running	11.14
18	20	James Buescher	164	Running	18.00
19	2	Ron Hornaday Jr	163	Running	11.31
20	22	Terry Cook	162	Running	15.57
21	19	Stacy Compton	161	Out of Gas	14.71
22	4	Brian Ickler	161	Running	22.00
23	23	J J Yeley	111	Vibration	23.00
24	32	Wayne Edwards	26	Ignition	29.83
25	25	Ryan Matthews	22	Vibration	26.33
26	27	Butch Miller	22	Overheating	24.00
27	28	Ryan Hackett	18	Transmission	27.00
28	29	John Jackson	14	Ignition	28.00
29	21	Mario Gosselin	13	Rear End	29.00
30	33	Nick Tucker	12	Too Slow	31.50
31	26	Marc Mitchell	11	Quit	21.50
32	31	Brandon Knupp	9	Quit	33.00
33	30	Norm Benning	3	Quit	30.50

More Camping World Truck Series Newsbreakers

Trucks: Crafton takes point lead

It has been a brutal couple of races for Ron Hornaday Jr. He crashed last week and lost oil pressure late at Texas this week, which caused him to slip out of the points lead. Matt Crafton finished second Friday night, and that allowed him to take the lead in the series.

Our View: Notably, Tony Stewart used a second-place finish last week to take the NASCAR Cup series lead. Winning a championship is as much about consistency as strength, which is something fantasy owners want to keep in mind.

More Camping World Truck Series Newsbreakers

Trucks: Bodine's gets fifth Texas win

Matt Crafton was chasing Todd Bodine down at Texas, but he couldn't quite close the distance. Running low on fuel, Bodine made it all the way to the checkers and won his fifth race on this track and his 10th on a 1.5-mile course.

Our View: This snapped a four-race streak of results 18th or worse this season and it may be time to start thinking about the No. 30 for your roster once more.

More Camping World Truck Series Newsbreakers

Trucks: Dover Results

It's always great to see a first time winner. Brian Scott rolled the dice and stayed out on old rubber while those around him cut their tires and slammed the wall. Dennis Setzer also stayed out on old tires, but could not quite make the pass for the lead.

Two of the drivers snake bit by a blown tire were Kyle Busch and Colin Braun, who were running first and second at the time and who slapped the wall within seconds of one another. Braun would not recover and he retired 16 laps from the end of the race. Busch charged from 15th to ninth, but was unable to crack the top-five again.

It was a rough day for the point leader Ron Hornaday Jr. After starting from the pole, he cut a tire early and did major damage to his truck. The No. 33 crew made a valiant effort to get back on track, but Hornaday retired with crash damage after completing only 43 laps. About the only good news is that he managed to retain the point lead by a mere 27 markers over Mike Skinner and 29 points over Matt Crafton.

Results, with Avg. finish

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Laps Led	Status	Avg Fin
1	3	Brian Scott	200	14	Running	16.50
2	25	Dennis Setzer	200		Running	13.20
3	14	David Starr	200	3	Running	8.50
4	13	Jason White	200		Running	23.00
5	4	Johnny Sauter	200		Running	5.00
6	23	Matt Crafton	200		Running	16.44
7	5	Chad McCumbee	200		Running	13.75
8	11	Mike Skinner	200	5	Running	9.67
9	10	Kyle Busch	200	133	Running	11.80
10	6	Terry Cook	200		Running	12.50
11	16	J R Fitzpatrick	200		Running	11.00
12	20	Tayler Malsam	200		Running	12.00
13	12	Stacy Compton	200		Running	11.00
14	26	Chris Fontaine	200	5	Running	14.00
15	36	Tim Bainey Jr	200	1	Running	15.00
16	22	Max Papis	199		Running	16.00
17	19	Timothy Peters	198		Running	12.33
18	8	Todd Bodine	197		Running	17.80
19	18	Rick Crawford	197		Running	10.00
20	7	Johnny Benson Jr	195	23	Engine	14.80
21	24	Scott Wimmer	192		Running	21.00
22	2	Colin Braun	184	4	Accident	15.00
23	15	T J Bell	171		Running	21.67
24	17	James Buescher	160		Running	24.00
25	9	Brian Ickler	65		Accident	25.00
26	1	Ron Hornaday Jr	43	12	Accident	8.20
27	27	Dexter Bean	38		Handling	27.00
28	29	Andy Ponstein	31		Alternator	28.00
29	21	Ryan Hackett	26		Engine	29.00
30	33	Norm Benning	26		Vibration	30.00
31	28	Johnny Chapman	23		Overheating	32.50
32	35	Wayne Edwards	18		Oil	29.33
33	31	Kevin Lepage	15		Brakes	26.67
34	34	Brandon Knupp	12		Transmission	34.00
35	32	Brent Raymer	10		Vibration	35.00
36	30	Mario Gosselin	7		Accident	36.00

Truck: Hornaday wins at Lowe's

Ron Hornaday used new tires late in the Lowe's race and held off Kyle Busch to win a crash-marred Camping World Truck Series race. It was his 40th Truck victory.

Our View: Notable others included Ryan Newman, which we predicted before the start of the race, and Matt Crafton in third.

Truck: Lowe's, 5-yr avg. finish

Lowe's is made up of some interesting finishes from part time drivers, which is why A.J. Allmendinger and Carl Edwards sit atop the five-year average finish chart for the Craftsman Truck Series. Why is this important? Because Ryan Newman looks to add his name to this list.

Among drivers entered this weekend, Kyle Busch has the best average finish of 5.25 during the last two years and that is highlighted by back-to-back victories in 2005 and 2006.

Matt Crafton might be your best value this week, however. He's never finished outside the top-10 in all six races run on this track.

Five-year Avg. Finish

Driver	Avg Finish	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004
A J Allmendinger	2.00		2
Carl Edwards	2.00					2
Michael Waltrip	5.00					5
Kyle Busch	5.25	8	11	1	1
Shane Hmiel	6.00					6
Matt Crafton	6.80	1	7	8	9	9
Terry Cook	8.00	6	16	2	2	14
Mark Martin	8.50		4	13
Dennis Setzer	8.80	7	22	7	7	1
Landon Cassill	9.00	9
T J Bell	9.00		9
Aric Almirola	9.00			9
Ron Hornaday Jr	10.00	23	1	5	11
Ricky Craven	10.00				10
Rick Crawford	11.60	5	10	11	25	7
Chad McCumbee	11.67	2	18	15
Jimmy Spencer Sr	12.00				12
Travis Kvapil	13.00	18	13			8
Ted Musgrave Sr	13.00	22	5	4	3	31
Frank Kimmel	13.00					13
Johnny Benson Jr	13.50	11	27	12	4
Todd Bodine	13.80	12	3	3	31	20
Aaron Fike	14.00		14
Erik Darnell	14.67	4	30	10
Brendan Gaughan	15.00	3	35	14	8
Colin Braun	15.00	15
Tyler Walker	15.00		15
Steve Park	15.00			28	5	12
Andy Lally	16.00	16
Kevin Harvick	16.00		28			4
Boston Reid	16.00			16
Butch Miller	16.00				16
Tim Sauter	17.00		17
Kyle Krisiloff	17.00			17
David Starr	17.60	17	23	26	19	3
Mike Skinner	18.00	10	8	31	26	15
Ken Schrader	18.00	13	12		36	11
Jon Wood	18.00	19				17
Tracy Hines	18.00				18
Erin Crocker	18.00			18
Chase Montgomery	18.50				13	24
Robert Huffman	18.50				21	16
Bobby Hamilton Sr	19.00				28	10
Andy Houston	19.00					19
Mike Bliss	19.50		6	33
David Reutimann	19.67			6	17	36
Blake Bjorkland	20.00		20
Todd Kluever	20.00				20
Kerry Earnhardt	20.00			20
Brandon Whitt	20.50				23	18
Willie Allen	21.00		21
Bobby Hamilton Jr	21.00			21
Bill Lester	21.75		19	41	6	21
Robert Pressley	22.00				22
Joey Miller	22.00			22
Hank Parker Jr	22.00					22
Ken Weaver	23.00					23
Clay Rogers	23.50		33		14
Marc Mitchell	24.00	24
Shane Huffman	24.00		24
Kraig Kinser	24.00		29	19
Brad Keselowski	24.00				24
Bobby East	24.00			24
Kevin Hamlin	25.00		25
Tina Gordon	25.00					25
Kelly Sutton	26.33			27	15	37
Timothy Peters	26.67	25		23	32
Jack Sprague	27.00	14	34	34	27	26
Shelby Howard	27.00	20				34
Geoff Bodine	27.00					27
Stacy Compton	28.00	28
J C Stout	28.00	30	26
Mark McFarland	28.00					28
Brian Sockwell	29.00	29
Charlie Bradberry	29.00					29
Johnny Chapman	29.00			29
Scott Lagasse Jr	29.50	27		32
Sean Murphy	29.50			30	29
Chad Chaffin	29.75	21		38	30	30
John Mickel	31.00	31
Joey Clanton	31.00		31
Jason White	31.50	26	37
Justin Marks	32.00	32
Bryan Silas	32.00		32
Shane Sieg	32.00					32
David Ragan	32.50			25	40
Scott Speed	33.00	33
Tony Stewart	33.00				33
Donny Lia	34.00	34
Shigeaki Hattori	34.00				34
Brian Scott	35.00	35
Regan Smith	35.00				35
Dana White	35.00					35
Carl Long	35.00			35
Justin Hobgood	36.00		36
Marcos Ambrose	36.00			36
Derrike Cope	37.00	36				38
Jimmy Kite	37.00				37
Robert Richardson	37.00			37
Deborah Renshaw	38.00				38
Nick Tucker	38.67	37		40	39
Nicholas Tucker	38.67	37		40	39
J R Patton	39.00			39
Wayne Edwards	39.50	38			41
Mike Harmon	42.00				42