Surprising Hornish tops Phoenix practice 1

Sam Hornish Jr. edged Kasey Kahne by four-hundredths of a second to land atop the speed chart in the first Cup practice session. His fastest lap was 133.884 mph.

Our View Hornish took a lot of criticism for last week's incident with points' leader Jimmie Johnson. The best way to silence the critics is by going fast, but if this holds up and Hornish actually qualifies in the front of the field, his competitor's will have to feel a little uneasy.

So far in 2009, Hornish has been crash-prone.

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Official tweets from the track

Crash-prone Edwards, Hornish already sustain damage at 'Dega

Barely eight minutes into practice, Sam Hornish Jr. and Carl Edwards slammed into one another in an accordion-style accident that was apparently started when Jeff Gordon was forced out of his drafting line.

Our View If you were listening to this morning's fantasy segment on SiriusXM radio, you would have head me predict that Sam Hornish Jr. and Carl Edwards would crash in the Amp Energy 500. It's not race time yet, but both drivers sustained crash damage in less than 10 laps.

Clint Bowyer was also spun off the track in the aftermath.

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Hornish crashes in Martinsville practice 1

Sam Hornish Jr. crashed barely 15 minutes into the first practice session for the Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway after apparently experiencing brake issues.

Our View With a best Martinsville finish of 28th at this track, Hornish wasn't on many fantasy owners radar screen to begin with.

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Biffle, Hornish will have to go to the back

Greg Biffle and Sam Hornish Jr. will have to go to the back of the grid, according to NASCAR.com, because their backup cars did not turn any laps in practice or qualification.

Our View: Just another casualty of the qualification rain-out. Starting position is not overly important at Daytona, however.

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Biffle, Hornish to backups at Daytona

Following a crash in Happy Hour, both Greg Biffle and Sam Hornish Jr. will have to roll out backup cars.

Our View: Biffle might have the highest hurdle to clear; his backup is a brand new car that will have only two qualification laps under its hood before the race begins.

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IRL: SunTrust Indy Challenge Results, with avg. finish

It was a good day for Chip Ganassi. His racers ran away from the field and finished first and second at Richmond International Raceway. The victory was Scott Dixon's 19th career win in IRL competition, which ties him with Sam Hornish Jr. for the most in the series. With Ganassi and Roger Penske dominating the Indy Racing League for the moment, it's a fair bet that he will sit alone at the top before long.

Dario Franchitti led most of the race, but was beaten in the pits on the final stop. In dirty air on a 0.750-mile track, he was never able to get around Dixon and recorded his worst IRL short track finish in his last four attempts—he won the three previous.

Danica Patrick continues to be one of the hottest drivers in the series. With a fifth-place finish at Richmond, she recorded her seventh consecutive top-10, of which five were also top-fives. She's been great on the ovals, but the series now turns its attention to a string of road and street courses. There is some hope; the last time the IRL was on a twisty track was at Long Beach and Patrick kicked off her streak with a fourth there after starting deep in the field in 22nd.

Results, with average finish

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Status	Avg Fin
1	2	Scott Dixon	300	Running	6.86
2	1	Dario Franchitti	300	Running	4.00
3	5	Graham Rahal	300	Running	10.50
4	8	Hideki Mutoh	300	Running	8.50
5	10	Danica Patrick	300	Running	8.40
6	17	Tony Kanaan	299	Running	8.29
7	16	Marco Andretti	299	Running	8.00
8	6	Raphael Matos	299	Running	8.00
9	12	Robert Doornbos	299	Running	9.00
10	13	Dan Wheldon	299	Running	5.71
11	9	Tomas Scheckter	299	Running	9.71
12	7	E J Viso	299	Running	11.00
13	14	Ed Carpenter	299	Running	11.67
14	15	Justin Wilson	298	Running	10.50
15	18	Ryan Hunter-Reay	298	Running	15.50
16	19	Mario Moraes	297	Running	16.50
17	3	Helio Castroneves	245	Accident	7.88
18	11	Mike Conway	135	Accident	18.00
19	4	Ryan Briscoe	26	Accident	18.33
20	20	Jaques Lazier	0	Accident	18.33

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To the back at Michigan

Three cars will drop to the back before the start of the LifeLock 400. The No. 87 of Joe Nemechek, No. 77 of Sam Hornish Jr. and No. 24 of Jeff Gordon all changed engines, according to a tweet from @NASCARSays, NASCAR's official feed.

Our View: Gordon says he has a car fast enough to get to the front. Penske Racing South is also stout, so Hornish should be ok as well.

Michigan qualifying order

Jayski.com has published this week's qualifying order. David Ragan will be the first driver on track and Sam Hornish Jr. is scheduled at 35th.

Our View: The track shouldn't change much between the first and 35th driver, but no one want to the be the first guy out.

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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.

2009 Shootout Results

Sam Hornish Jr. is making a career out of advancing into the All-Star race. Can another transferee win?

Jamie McMurray finished second and advanced. Joey Logano received the fan vote to advance into the All-Star race.


Results

Finish	Start	Driver
1	8	Sam Hornish Jr.
2	30	Jamie McMurray
3	3	David Stremme
4	13	David Reutimann
5	19	Joey Logano
6	6	Martin Truex Jr
7	10	A J Allmendinger
8	7	David Ragan
9	32	Robby Gordon
10	14	Marcos Ambrose
11	4	Dave Blaney
12	11	Juan Montoya
13	23	Casey Mears
14	28	Michael Waltrip
15	22	David Gilliland
16	16	Bill Elliott
17	24	Paul Menard
18	34	Reed Sorenson
19	20	Scott Speed
20	21	Joe Nemechek
21	9	Max Papis
22	33	J J Yeley
23	15	Dexter Bean
24	35	Tony Raines
25	5	Scott Riggs
26	12	Mike Wallace
27	26	Todd Bodine
28	17	Derrike Cope
29	25	Mike Garvey
30	29	David Starr
31	18	Norm Benning
32	1	Kirk Shelmerdine
33	27	Elliott Sadler
34	31	Brian Vickers
35	2	Carl Long

All-Star Results

RPM teammates struggle to keep Kahne company

Only Kasey Kahne is locked into the All-Star race by virtue of winning it last year, which leaves Elliott Sadler, Reed Sorenson and A.J. Allmendinger hoping to win the Sprint Showdown or get voted in by the fans, according to SceneDaily.com.

Our View: Until last year, we would have said that none of these drivers would be a very good value, but Kahne won after the fan voted him into the big show and Sam Hornish Jr. finished seventh after racing his way into last year's field.

5-Yr Average Finish, All-Star Race

Jimmie Johnson enters the All-Star race with a four-year streak of top-fives, which has to make him one of the favorites again this week.

Ryan Newman has not been quite as strong, but he's just consistent with five straight results of 12th or better.

Driver	Avg Finish	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004
Elliott Sadler	5.00				2	8
Jimmie Johnson	5.80	4	2	1	5	17
Ryan Newman	6.60	6	8	5	12	2
Matt Kenseth	6.60	3	7	11	11	1
Sam Hornish Jr	7.00	7
Mark Martin	7.60	9	3	15	1	10
Jeff Gordon	7.80	15	11	3	4	6
Dale Earnhardt Jr	8.20	8	9	9	10	5
Tony Stewart	8.40	5	5	12	17	3
Brian Vickers	9.33		13		3	12
Carl Edwards	9.67	10		4	15
Scott Riggs	10.00			10
Kasey Kahne	10.40	1	14	14	16	7
Kevin Harvick	10.80	11	1	2	18	22
Jeff Burton	12.00	20	4
Jeremy Mayfield	12.50			17	8
Bobby Labonte	12.60	12	21	6	9	15
Greg Biffle	12.60	2	15	13	14	19
Juan Montoya	14.00	14
Michael Waltrip	14.33			19	20	4
Casey Mears	15.50	13	18
Martin Truex Jr	16.00	16	10		22
A J Allmendinger	17.00	17
Kurt Busch	17.60	22	19	20	7	20
Sterling Marlin	18.00					18
Clint Bowyer	18.00	18
Jamie McMurray	18.50	19		18
Denny Hamlin	20.00	23	17
Kyle Busch	20.00	24	20	16
Robby Gordon	21.00					21
Joe Nemechek	22.00				21	23

Southern 500 Starting Grid

Starting position is critical to running well at Darlington and a race has been won from the front row there 33 percent of the time. Matt Kenseth blistered the asphalt with a new track record, but the biggest news is that he bettered his average start by more than 20 positions.

Jeff Gordon has the best average start among Saturday's starters with a 6.76, and he padded that with his outside pole run.

Starting Grid

Start	Driver	Avg. Start at Track
1	Matt Kenseth	21.38
2	Jeff Gordon	6.76
3	Ryan Newman	9.00
4	Sam Hornish Jr	13.50
5	Joey Logano
6	Jeff Burton	21.30
7	Kasey Kahne	10.00
8	Kurt Busch	11.23
9	Carl Edwards	15.00
10	Marcos Ambrose
11	Greg Biffle	8.22
12	Mark Martin	13.07
13	Casey Mears	19.56
14	Kyle Busch	18.20
15	David Ragan	18.00
16	Martin Truex Jr	25.50
17	Clint Bowyer	14.75
18	Tony Stewart	17.18
19	Elliott Sadler	11.41
20	Jamie McMurray	16.00
21	David Reutimann	21.67
22	Max Papis
23	Denny Hamlin	14.00
24	Kevin Harvick	16.23
25	Juan Montoya	28.33
26	Dale Earnhardt Jr	15.87
27	Bobby Labonte	15.69
28	Robby Gordon	30.86
29	Regan Smith	22.50
30	David Gilliland	33.67
31	Brad Keselowski
32	Joe Nemechek	25.48
33	Dave Blaney	22.54
34	David Stremme	22.67
35	Brian Vickers	20.86
36	Michael Waltrip	23.19
37	Scott Riggs	23.50
38	A J Allmendinger	28.00
39	Tony Raines	38.00
40	Paul Menard	34.67
41	Reed Sorenson	28.00
42	Jimmie Johnson	12.00
43	Sterling Marlin	15.74

Happy Hour stripes

Here is a partial list of the cars that received stripes in Darlington's Happy Hour:

In Happy Hour:

Sam Hornish Jr. scraped the wall and spun
David Stremme slammed the wall; into backup
Denny Hamlin got a light stripe
Max Papis striped his car
Greg Biffle striped his car
A.J. Allmendinger striped his car
Scott Speed got another stripe
Reed Sorenson changed an engine
Bobby Labonte striped his car
Marcos Ambrose big stripe (backup?)

Practice 1 stripes

Here is a partial list of the cars that received stripes in Darlington's first practice session:

In Practice 1:
Kurt Busch scrapped the wall and spun.
Tony Stewart striped his car
Jeremy Mayfield striped his car
Brad Keselowski striped his car
Scott Speed crashed his primary and then striped the backup
Dave Blaney spun
David Reutimann crashed and rolled out a backup
Kasey Kahne striped his car
Sam Hornish Jr. striped his car

Harvick, Mears swap pays dividends

The crew swap between Kevin Harvick and Casey Mears is already paying dividends, according to NASCAR.com.

Our View: You couldn't tell by Harvick's result, but he had one of his best runs of the year at Richmond before contact with Sam Hornish Jr. cut his tire and sent him hard into the wall. Mears was doing fine before the swap with several finishes in the teens, but he recorded his first top-10 of the season with a ninth in the Crown Royal 400.

Spinning key to Richmond success

Apparently one key to success at Richmond in the Crown Royal 400 was spinning, according to NASCAR.com. Jeff Burton, Mark Martin, Jamie McMurray and Marcos Ambrose each scored top-15 finishes after spinning in separate events.

Our View: Add to that list sixth-place Sam Hornish Jr., who didn't spin himself, but was responsible for wrecking Ambrose and Kevin Harvick, and a clear pattern developed from Richmond. The new car is incredibly durable, which is going to make handicapping short tracks a lot easier.

Hornish posts career best finish

Sam Hornish Jr. earned a career-best finish of sixth in the Crown Royal 400 at Richmond. His previous best was notched only two weeks ago at Phoenix.

Our View: It wasn't a clean run, but NASCAR pays points for finishes and not style. Along the way, Hornish crashed Kevin Harvick and Marcos Ambrose while both of those drivers were running in the top 15.