N'Wide: Busch dominates and wins Nashville

Kyle Busch finally won a race he dominated. He led 173 of 225 laps at Nashville in the Federated Auto Parts 300 before pulling into victory lane.

Our View: Love him or hate him (and after smashing the Gibson guitar in victory lane, the haters are predominant), he has the potential to earn a lot of fantasy points.

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Ku Busch on double-file restarts

HOW DOES NASCAR DRAW THE LINE OF WHAT CAN BE A GOOD PROCEDURAL CHANGE AND SOMETHING THAT MIGHT JUST BE GIMMICKY AND CONTRIVED?

"I think that everybody in the garage area, drivers, owners, crew members are in favor of double-file re-starts. I think that we’ve seen its positive results in the Camping World West Series and Camping World East Series. We saw that result in the (Sprint) All-Star race where you have guys double-file and it produces great re-starts. The concept came from everybody aboard. The fans ultimately can receive the benefit of saying that they were the ones in charge (contributed to NASCAR’s rule change) because we want to make the right decisions to create more excitement for them to watch. Where do we draw the line? I think the line has to be drawn where everybody has to agree on it and I don’t think a 500-mile race would be appropriate if we threw a caution with 20 laps to go just to bunch the field up for more excitement at the end (of the race). I think pit strategy always comes into play. I think Dover was a really exciting race even though it didn’t have a mandatory caution at the end of the race. What it did was create an element for some guys who were on two tires, some were on four (tires), some even stayed out. We’re going to see that mix even more so in this day in age when it’s so difficult to pass.
That strategy, when it comes into play, if we had a mandatory caution with 20 (laps) to go would really throw it (strategy) out the window. It’s tough to draw the line. We’re in an entertainment business, a racing business; I would like to beat the next guy by three laps if I could. That doesn’t happen this day and age. We have close, competitive racing. We rarely see a guy win a race by more than a second and that’s the competition we want to see on the track."

From a Dodge Press Release

Tony Stewart on double-file restarts
Kasey Kahne on double-file restarts

Ku Busch on Pocono points

WITH WHERE YOU ARE IN THE POINTS, ARE YOU ABLE TO TAKE SOME CHANCES THAT OTHER GUYS WHO ARE NINTH, 10TH, 11TH, 12TH WON’T BE ABLE TO?

"I think it’s irrelevant on where you are in points and who you’re re-starting next too. You always have to keep track of who is starting next to you. At a track like (Pocono) this weekend, with all the points’ runners running up front this weekend, a track like Michigan next week, you’ll have surprises from guys who are running 18th to 25th in points, like a guy such as Montoya, he’s very fast at those tracks. Then when we go to the road courses, we’re going to have our hands full with different guys running up front. You’re going to have those double-file re-starts, we’ve never had double-file re-starts at road courses, and we’ve always been single-file lines. So this weekend will be great to work the bugs out of the new system. Michigan will be another test because we’ll see more guys get a lap down at Michigan than we will at Pocono. And then, when we get to the road course, I don’t think we’ll see anybody a lap down. We’ll see them side-by-side for re-starts and that’s going to be very exciting, but it could be frustrating at times."

From a Dodge Press Release

Owens has strong top-10 finish at Pocono

Female driver Alli Owens had a strong 10th-place finish at Pocono Raceway.

Our View: This is her second top-10 in the ARCA series. She finished sixth at Talladega SuperSpeedway earlier this year and nearly cracked the top 10 on one other occasion on the tough old Rockingham Speedway. NASCAR's diversity is not terribly great in terms of women drivers, but they are on the horizon.

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Logano wins Pocono ARCA race

Joey Logano made the most of his part time ride in the ARCA series at Pocono. We figure it's ok to post this notice since both ARCARacing.com and SpeedTV.com spoiled their own race.

Our View: This was Logano's fourth start in ARCA. He's now won twice and finished second twice.

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N'Wide: Nashville lineup, with avg. start/fin

Kyle Busch stole the show by earning the pole for the Federated Auto Parts 300, but the driver in second made the most noise. In only his second Nationwide career start and hailing from just up the road in Knoxville, Tenn. Trevor Bayne held off the remainder of the competitors in a Michael Waltrip Toyota and will start from the outside pole.

They call this an opportunity race for a reason. Busch and sixth-place qualifier Carl Edwards are the only two Cup regulars in the show and that allowed some unfamiliar names to grace the top of the charts. Michael McDowell (third), Brad Coleman (fourth) and Scott Lagasse Jr. (fifth) rounded out the top five.

Look for some new faces at the front of the pack when the checkers wave as well.

Lineup, with average start/finish

Start	Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
1	Kyle Busch	17.43	9.63	8
2	Trevor Bayne		2.00	1
3	Michael McDowell	15.00	3.00	2
4	Brad Coleman	26.50	16.80	5
5	Scott Lagasse Jr	10.00	21.50	2
6	Carl Edwards	4.13	6.56	9
7	Brendan Gaughan	17.00	10.50	2
8	Mike Bliss	13.20	11.45	11
9	Stephen Leicht	16.00	9.60	5
10	Brad Keselowski	17.20	18.17	6
11	Jason Keller	14.53	13.38	16
12	Jason Leffler	15.56	15.20	10
13	Sean Caisse		13.00	1
14	John Wes Townley	18.00	16.00	2
15	Cale Gale	23.00	16.33	6
16	Steve Wallace	15.29	15.25	8
17	Willie Allen	33.00	27.50	2
18	Kevin Conway	31.00	19.50	2
19	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	23.00	12.00	2
20	Mark Green	27.50	28.44	9
21	Bobby Hamilton Jr	14.36	10.00	12
22	Burney Lamar	12.50	18.00	5
23	Johnny Chapman	39.67	32.50	4
24	Justin Allgaier	29.00	16.50	2
25	Brian Keselowski	41.00	29.00	2
26	Kertus Davis	35.25	28.33	9
27	Erik Darnell		27.00	1
28	Kenny Wallace	15.33	18.92	13
29	Robert Richardson	32.00	37.75	4
30	Eric McClure	31.57	34.88	8
31	Michael Annett	19.00	22.00	2
32	Kelly Bires	8.00	17.40	5
33	Scott Wimmer	10.50	16.91	11
34	Casey Atwood	16.33	23.50	4
35	Shelby Howard	14.00	35.00	2
36	Brad Baker	22.83	29.71	7
37	Brandon Whitt	30.00	39.00	2
38	Marc Davis		38.00	1
39	Kevin Lepage	25.20	28.17	6
40	Tony Raines	20.25	21.33	9
41	Mike Harmon	37.50	38.89	9
42	Danny O'Quinn Jr	21.60	23.17	6
43	Morgan Shepherd	36.00	38.00	7
DNQ	Daryl Harr
DNQ	Justin Hobgood	41.00	32.00	1

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N'Wide: Busch on Nashville pole

Kyle Busch made the long commute to Nashville Superspeedway in time to qualify his own car for the Federated Auto Parts 300. It was worthwhile, he won the pole with a speed of 161.044 mph.

Our View: Busch only has two top-10s on this track in Nationwide competition, but his latest attempt ended in a result of second after starting fourth in the Pepsi 300 earlier this year.

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CW East: R Truex wins Watkins Glen

From a NASCAR Press Release

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (June 6, 2009) – NASCAR Camping World Series East rookie Ryan Truex passed race leader Patrick Long between Turns 10 and 11 on the last lap and took the checkered flag in the Tioga Downs Casino 125 Saturday at Watkins Glen International.

Truex (No. 00 NAPA Toyota), who was making just his fifth career start in the series for Michael Waltrip Racing, ran in the top three throughout the day and got position on Long (No. 03 AASCO Motorsports Chevrolet) coming out of Turn 10 on the last lap of a green-white-checker finish. Truex held his position as Long went off the course and Truex came out of Turn 11 with a clear vision of the finish line and earned the victory.

Long settled for a fourth-place finish. Matt Kobyluck (No. 40 Mohegan Sun Resort & Casino Chevrolet) finished as the runner-up and rookie Brett Moffitt (No. 44 Castle Packs Power Chevrolet) was third.

Rounding out the top 10 finishers were Matt DiBenedetto, Steve Park, Eddie MacDonald, Alex Kennedy, Brian Wong and Jonathon Smith.

Truex’s win marked the fifth different driver in as many races to win in 2009. Truex is the third member of his family to win in the series along with his father, Martin Sr., and his older brother, Martin Jr.

With his third-place effort, Moffitt overtook Jody Lavender for the series points lead. Lavender finished 14th on Saturday.

The sixth race of the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Series East season is slated for Friday, June 25 with the Heluva Good! Summer 125 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H.

Tioga Downs Casino 125 at The Glen Unofficial Results
Saturday
At Watkins Glen International
Watkins Glen, NY
Lap length: 2.45 miles
(Start position in parentheses)

1. (6) Ryan Truex, Mayetta, N.J., Toyota, 54 laps, 62.056 mph, $12,425.
2. (3) Matt Kobyluck, Uncasville, Conn., Chevrolet, 54, $7,100.
3. (4) Brett Moffitt, Grimes, Iowa, Chevrolet, 54, $5,800.
4. (5) Patrick Long, Oak Park, Calif., Chevrolet, 54, $4,800.
5. (1) Matt DiBenedetto, Grass Valley, Calif., Toyota, 54, $5,000.
6. (7) Steve Park, East Northport, N.Y., Chevrolet, 54, $3,000.
7. (11) Eddie MacDonald, Rowley, Mass., Chevrolet, 54, $2,800.
8. (8) Alex Kennedy, Aztec, N.M., Chevrolet, 54, $3,150.
9. (14) Brian Wong, Newport Beach, Calif., Toyota, 54, $1,900.
10. (12) Jonathan Smith, Beacon Falls, Conn., Chevrolet, 54, $2,360.
11. (13) Dustin Delaney, Mayfield, N.Y., Chevrolet, 54, $2,330.
12. (10) Jason Holehouse, Toronto, Ontario, Toyota, 54, $1,800.
13. (17) Sonny Whelen, Old Saybrook, Conn., Chevrolet, 54, $1,775.
14. (16) Jody Lavender, Hartsville, S.C., Ford, 53, $2,250.
15. (20) John Salemi, Nashua, N.H., Chevrolet, 49, $1,725.
16. (9) Eric Curran, Springfield, Mass., Chevrolet, 48, engine, $1,700.
17. (19) Matt Kurzejewski, Mansfield, Pa., Dodge, 39, accident, $2,185.
18. (18) Jason Patison, Corona, Calif., Chevrolet, 35, transmission, $2,170.
19. (15) Ryan Duff, Hazard, KY., Chevrolet, 20, engine, $2,160.
20. (2) Antonio Perez, Guadalajara, Mexico, Dodge, 13, engine, $2,150.
21. (21) Tiffany Daniels, Smithfield, Va., Dodge, 5, engine, $1,640.
Race Statistics
Time of Race: 2 hours 7 minutes 55 seconds
Margin of Victory: .239 seconds
Fastest Qualifier: M. DiBenedetto (118.773 mph, 74.259 seconds)
Caution Flags: 8 for 20 laps.
Lead Changes: 3 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: M. DiBenedetto 1-15; E. Curran 16-21; P. Long 22-53; R. Truex 54.
Standings: 1. B. Moffitt, 764; 2. J. Lavender, 746; 3. M. Kobyluck, 727; 4. E. MacDonald, 723; 5. R. Truex, 697; 6. D. Delaney, 660; 7. S. Park, 650; 8. A. Kennedy, 628; 9. J. Patison, 602; 10. R. Duff, 596.

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Stewart 24th fastest in time trials for the Dream

With the Prelude to the Dream washed out, Tony Stewart is making it up to fans by trying to race his way into the Dream itself. On Friday night, he had the 24th fastest Late Model dirt car in time trials with a lap of 16.089 on the half-mile Eldora Speedway.

"Kid Rocket" Josh Richards posted the fastest lap of 15.655.

Our View: To further put this in perspective, 109 Dirt Late Models took time and another seven cars are signed in to run the heats.

Stewart happy with backup

According to a Tweet from @BobPockrass, Tony Stewart was in a good mood following practice and says his backup car is better than his primary.

Our View: His speeds on the chart certainly confirm that and Pocono is a track on which a driver can come from the back. Its long straights allow drivers with horsepower to pass before entering the corners.

Hamlin fastest in Pocono Happy Hour

Denny Hamlin posted the fastest single lap in Pocono Happy Hour with a speed of 165.317 mph. His average speed of 162.817 was second best.

Our View: Perhaps we should call Hamlin and Ryan Newman co-winners of this session. Newman was quickest and second fastest in Happy Hour and these two drivers could be the class of the field on Sunday.

Newman wins Pocono Happy Hour

Ryan Newman posted the quickest time in Happy Hour, with a speed of 163.000 mph during 21 laps. His fastest lap of 165.213 was second best on that grid.

Our View: Newman is the hottest driver on the circuit for the moment and if he was not on your lineup already, he should be now.

Logano in Pocono ARCA race

Joey Logano will do double duty this week at Pocono. He will take to the track from the outside of the second row Saturday afternoon.

Our View: This track is tricky to learn and even though the cars are significantly different, Logano needs the seat time. This can only help him during the Cup race.

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Vickers spins in Pocono HH

Immediately after the field went to green in Happy Hour at Pocono, Brian Vickers looped his car in the tunnel turn.

Our View: Unlike Tony Stewart in the first session, however, Vickers more or less kept his car on the pavement and did not do much damage. He is not expected to roll out a backup.

Johnson wins Sat. a.m. practice

No matter how you measured it, Jimmie Johnson won Saturday practice with a top speed of 167.607 and an average speed of 164.872 during 11 laps.

Our View: Johnson's recent record at Pocono has been spotty, but this confirms our suspicion that he will be the driver to beat on Sunday.

Stewart spins in Pocono P1

At the 34 minute mark in the first practice session, Tony Stewart spun without making wall contact.

While he may have avoided the wall, he tore the front splitter off his car. Stewart will probably roll out a backup car and that will cause him to give up the pole, but with the two practice session back-to-back, he's going to lose a lot of track time.

Last week's contact between Biffle and Edwards "just racing"

The contact between Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle last week at Dover late in the Autism Speaks 400 was just a racing deal, according to SceneDaily.com.

Our View: As the author of this points out, however, the two do seem to run into one another a lot. Rivalries between teammates are often more intense because these guys are also fighting for internal resources. At Pocono, there is plenty of room to race, so don't look for any contact this week.

F1: Turkish GP Lineup, with avg. start/fin

For the second time in 2009, Sebastian Vettel wrestled the pole from Jenson Button, and just like the site of his previous pole the Chinese Grand Prix, he took the top spot after Button won the honor in back-to-back weeks. This is Vettel's first time to start near the lead in Turkey, however. His two previous attempts there have started 18th and 14th and ended 19th and 17th respectively.

Button and teammate Rubens Barrichello continue to make a mockery of the sport by starting second and third. There is absolutely no reason to think they are going to finish anywhere but at the front.

Lineup, with average start/finish

Start	Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
1	Sebastian Vettel	18.00	16.00	2
2	Jenson Button	8.25	13.25	4
3	Rubens Barrichello	12.25	14.50	4
4	Mark Webber	14.75	8.50	4
5	Jarno Trulli	10.25	8.50	4
6	Kimi Raikkonen	6.75	3.75	4
7	Felipe Massa	5.50	2.75	4
8	Fernando Alonso	3.25	4.25	4
9	Nico Rosberg	11.00	11.00	3
10	Robert Kubica	8.00	6.00	3
11	Nick Heidfeld	10.25	6.50	4
12	Kazuki Nakajima	19.00	16.00	1
13	Timo Glock	13.00	15.00	1
14	Heikki Kovalainen	9.00	4.50	2
15	Adrian Sutil	18.50	19.00	2
16	Lewis Hamilton	3.50	2.50	2
17	Nelson Piquet Jr	15.00	17.00	1
18	Sebastian Buemi
19	Giancarlo Fisichella	9.75	9.00	4
20	Sebastian Bourdais	18.00	18.00	1

Gordon about his back pain

HOW IS YOUR BACK AND HOW WILL IT HOLD UP HERE AT POCONO VERSUS A TRACK LIKE DOVER?:

“I think this track is probably one of the easier tracks. You get a lot of resting period on those long straightaways. About the only place that it might be an issue will be under braking getting into turn one. I had to do a test at Road Atlanta this week – that was one of the real tests and I was surprised that we got through it pretty good. Especially after the wreck last Friday during qualifying. I was pretty sore from that. I think the road courses and Martinsville, Bristol – those are the toughest tracks on it. This one should be pretty easy.”

HOW IS YOUR BACK FEELING?:

“Right now I’m feeling pretty good. It’s always nice to have an extra day of rest – kind of got that today. I know there’s a lot of people that this didn’t work out so well for. For us, it worked out well – we got an extra day of rest, got a great starting position, great pit stall and now we can go focus for the race on Sunday. We’ll get out there tomorrow with the car in race conditions.”

DO YOU KNOW WHETHER YOU WILL HAVE TO HAVE SURGERY ON YOUR BACK?:

“Surgery really hasn’t been an option looking at my condition and the options of surgery is really too invasive. I don’t necessarily think it’s necessary. I might do another treatment of what I did a couple weeks ago. We have to wait four to six weeks. They say the second treatment you usually have a lot better results than the first one. I really haven’t seen any big effects from the first one so I wasn’t really thrilled about doing a second one. Anytime they talk about sticking needles in your back it’s not something I’m looking forward to. It wasn’t so bad though and I’m certainly willing to give it a shot so we’ll do that when the time’s right and it fits in the schedule. Until then, my focus is on the training and just stretching. It’s strengthening the area, my whole core area and that’s been great for me in a lot of ways because it’s got me in better physical shape. From a cardio standpoint especially, when I’m in the car everything feels better. I don’t feel as hot in the car, I don’t feel as winded and it’s just dealing with the spasms – just the muscles getting really tight and causing some pain there. Other than that, we’re getting through it.”

From a GM Press Release

Stewart on Indy tire test

DO YOU FEEL LIKE AFTER THE TEST AT INDY THAT THEY’RE ON THE RIGHT TRACK AND YOU GUYS WILL HAVE THE TIRE THAT CAN LAST A FUEL RUN WHEN YOU GO BACK FOR THE 400?

“I can’t tell you what is going to happen when we go back. I can tell you the other day we ran a full fuel run on a set of tires and didn’t have a problem with it. I was pleasantly surprised. I know Ryan (Newman) had went and done the first two or three tire tests there and they hadn’t made it that far. The other day, and I don’t know if it was because it was right after the Indy 500 or what and if there was still rubber down from that, but the tire wear was great. There was cording early in the session but no more than what we’ve always seen in the past there. It didn’t take long at all with four cars running to get it to where you could run 20 to 25 laps pretty easily and by the end of the day you could run a full fuel run. If the conditions stay like they are now I’m confident they’ve got a tire that we’re not going to have to worry about. Obviously there is a lot of time and a lot of weather that is going to come in between now and then and I don’t know how that is going to affect everything. If we had to race this weekend I could promise you that we would have a tire that could make it the whole way.”

From a GM Press Release

Kvapil to practice for Robby Gordon

Travis Kvapil will shake down Robby Gordon's car in Saturday's practice sessions, while the off-road racer is competing in the Baja 500, according to SceneDaily.com.

Our View: Gordon has done this several times before without any major issues. The No. 7 could be a solid mid-pack contender and could fit your roster in order to extend your salary cap.

IRL: Texas lineup with avg. start/finish

Dario Franchitti won the pole for Saturday night's Bombardier Learjet 550k—his fifth top-10 start on this track in six attempts. His results have been irregular after starting that close to the front, but the other time he started from the pole in 2004, he finished second.

Ryan Briscoe rolls off the grid second, and if his personal history at Texas is an indication that is precisely where he will finish. In 2005, he started and finished 12th in this race. Last year, he finished third after starting on the inside of the second row.

Like Briscoe, Scott Dixon does a good job of finishing what he starts at Texas. His first attempt there came in spring 2003 when he started second and finished sixth. In fall 2003, he started and finished second. In fall 2004, he started fifth and finished sixth. He went from fourth to second in 2006 and last year he won from the pole. He starts third on Saturday.

The king of Texas qualifying, however, may just be Helio Castroneves. In 10 previous attempts, he's never started outside the top 10 and he converted two of those strong starts into victories and another pair of races into runner-up results. He kept that streak alive with a fourth-place start.

Danica Patrick rounds out the top five in fifth, which is her fourth top-10 start in five Texas attempts. In those races, she's never finished worse than 13th and has back-to-back top-10s in 2007/2008.

Lineup with avg. start/finish

Start	Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
1	Dario Franchitti	8.40	7.40	5
2	Ryan Briscoe	7.50	7.50	2
3	Scott Dixon	6.75	6.50	8
4	Helio Castroneves	6.30	5.70	10
5	Danica Patrick	9.50	7.00	4
6	Mario Moraes	18.00	22.00	1
7	Dan Wheldon	9.11	11.89	9
8	Marco Andretti	17.33	11.67	3
9	Robert Doornbos
10	Ed Carpenter	17.00	15.43	7
11	Hideki Mutoh	6.00	4.00	1
12	Graham Rahal	11.00	18.00	1
13	Alex Tagliani
14	Sarah Fisher	14.25	17.88	8
15	Raphael Matos
16	Tony Kanaan	4.50	7.50	8
17	Justin Wilson	27.00	23.00	1
18	Tomas Scheckter	15.33	6.00	9
19	Mike Conway
20	Milka Duno	14.00	23.00	2
21	E J Viso	14.00	28.00	1
22	Anthony Foyt IV	17.43	16.43	7
23	Ryan Hunter-Reay	20.00	10.00	1
24	Jacques Lazier

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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

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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.

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Busch says no rivalry with Earnhardt

Where Kyle Busch is concerned, the media is making a big deal out of nothing in terms of a budding rivalry between himself and Dale Earnhardt Jr., according to SceneDaily.com.

Our View: "Some of the media trying to build up stuff like that," said Busch. "To me, I've got no issues with Dale Jr. whatsoever. It wasn't him that kicked me out of Hendrick Motorsports, to be honest with you. It was Casey Mears."

Hey… maybe there's a budding rivalry between Busch and Mears.

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.

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N'Wide: Edwards fastest in Nashville practice 2

With rain cancelling Friday activities at Pocono, Carl Edwards made his way to Nashville Superspeedway and posted the fastest time in Happy Hour for the Federated Auto Parts 300.

Our View: Brad Coleman in a Gibbs' car, Steve Wallace, Mike Bliss and Sean Caisse in a Childress car rounded out the top five. Kyle Busch also made the long commute from Pocono, but he was only 12th fastest. Jason Leffler—who won the first session—clocked in eighth best on this chart.

Complete Practice Times

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Stewart on double-file restarts

ON THE DOUBLE-FILE RESTARTS

“The good thing is with the way they changed the rule everybody kind of has to stay in line so it kind of brings some sanity back to it. I think there are many more pros than there are cons in this equation. There are so many times you get back to eighth or tenth and now you’re starting 16th to 20th on the track but you’re not that far in track position. You’re racing guys that are absolutely racing their guts out trying to get a lap back and you can’t blame them for that but at the same time its right in the middle of what you’re trying to do racing with guys that you’ve earned the right to race with. I think it works out great for the lead-lap guys to race with the lead-lap guys. The lap-down guys have the opportunity to directly race against those guys head-to-head that they’re racing with for a lap back. I think it’s an equation that works good. I don’t think that the trick part is any different than what you do on any other Saturday night short track and the same things that we did to get us here. I don’t know that it’s got that far yet. I think it’s going to be pretty sane from that side.”

From a GM Press Release

Pocono staring lineup, with avg. start / finish

"Obviously everybody is disappointed we didn’t get on the race track today but it worked out good for myself and Jeff (Gordon)," Tony Stewart said after qualification for the Pocono 500 was rained out and set by owner points. "It’s nice to be able to get a front-row starting spot because of rain but it’s not what the fans came to see."

Stewart and Gordon weren't the only benefactors. Several drivers, such as Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle bettered their average staring position by approximately 10 spots to roll off the grid inside the top 10.

Starting grid, with average start/finish

Start	Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
1	Tony Stewart	13.00	12.30	20
2	Jeff Gordon	10.28	11.38	32
3	Jimmie Johnson	9.79	7.36	14
4	Kurt Busch	15.69	13.94	16
5	Ryan Newman	13.93	10.14	14
6	Kyle Busch	22.00	15.88	8
7	Denny Hamlin	6.17	6.67	6
8	Matt Kenseth	14.17	19.61	18
9	Greg Biffle	18.33	19.17	12
10	Jeff Burton	16.53	18.53	30
11	Carl Edwards	14.25	26.00	8
12	Mark Martin	10.66	8.64	44
13	David Reutimann	32.00	29.50	4
14	Kasey Kahne	16.60	7.80	10
15	Juan Montoya	28.50	20.25	4
16	Clint Bowyer	20.83	23.50	6
17	Brian Vickers	14.50	8.70	10
18	Dale Earnhardt Jr	16.28	15.00	18
19	Martin Truex Jr	15.17	15.00	6
20	Marcos Ambrose
21	Casey Mears	20.92	21.08	12
22	Jamie McMurray	21.33	17.67	12
23	Joey Logano
24	Kevin Harvick	15.31	19.31	16
25	Reed Sorenson	30.33	25.50	6
26	Sam Hornish Jr	34.00	33.50	2
27	Elliott Sadler	20.70	24.15	20
28	Bobby Labonte	17.69	16.22	32
29	David Stremme	25.75	34.25	4
30	A J Allmendinger	23.33	22.33	3
31	David Ragan	22.00	29.50	4
32	Michael Waltrip	21.58	21.38	45
33	Paul Menard	30.25	23.75	4
34	Robby Gordon	27.73	30.53	15
35	John Andretti	28.20	19.50	20
36	Sterling Marlin	17.39	17.57	44
37	Scott Speed
38	David Gilliland	30.75	23.50	4
39	Joe Nemechek	24.64	14.71	28
40	Patrick Carpentier	32.00	24.00	1
41	Dave Blaney	22.61	24.72	18
42	Regan Smith	26.50	20.00	2
43	Dexter Bean

N'Wide: Leffler tops Nashville practice 1

Jason Leffler posted the fastest lap of the first practice session. He posted a speed of 159.811 mph.

Our View: Leffler was followed by Michael McDowell, Stephen Leicht (practicing Clint Bowyer's car), Sean Caisse and Scot Lagasse Jr. With less than a handful of Claim Jumpers in the field this week, the Nationwide Regulars have a chance to shine.

Complete Practice Times

More Nationwide Newsbreakers

Martin pleased Friday was washed out

Mark Martin was pleased that qualification and practice was washed out on Friday, according to NASCAR.com. He said, "I view it as the less time on the track, the better. I feel like for our team, for us, we usually hit the track running -- and the longer we run, the more the competition has a chance to catch up," Martin said. "So I'm really comfortable with getting rained out completely."

Our View: This has been a consistent statement from Martin and it shows he is extremely happy with the preparation at the shop. That seems to be the key to his success so far in 2009.

Kahne on double-file restarts

HOW MUCH HAVE YOU HAD TO THINK THROUGH THE DOUBLE-FILE RESTARTS THAT NASCAR HAS IMPLEMENTED THIS WEEKEND?

"Truthfully, I really haven’t thought it through. The biggest thing that I’ve thought about is the benefits (of the new rule) and how it’s going to make (the racing) better. Certain things can happen throughout the race and no matter if you have double-file (restarts) or single-file or lapped down cars, whatever can throw your race off. Last week we ended up a lap down because we pitted when some of the other cars pitted and the debris caution came out and we were a lap down. The way that I look at it is, now we’re racing with the cars that we are racing. Whether you’re a lap down and you’re racing with the lap down cars or you’re on the lead lap and racing with the lead lap cars, it’s so competitive right now…cars are all so equal…that it takes your tires to fall off…it takes your car to slow down and things like that before you can pass a car. If you sit there and race…if you restart 10th and you’re racing with lap downed cars… or the guys inside of you…or the two in front of him for 20-25 laps, you may never even see the car in ninth (position) or eighth to try and pass them. To me, I just think that it’s going to be more competitive for us in a good way because you’re racing the cars that you’re racing. You’re not having to pass guys that are just as fast and ended up a lap down because they had one bad run."

From a Dodge Press Release.

NASCAR countersues Mayfield

At Pocono, NASCAR announced they had filed a countersuit against Jeremy Mayfield, allegedly "willfully violating NASCAR's substance-abuse policy, breach of contract, and defrauding NASCAR and its competitors of earnings," according to Ramswy Poston NASCAR's managing director of corporate communications.

Our View: The best defense is a good offense. At the center of the controversy seems to be an assertion that Mayfield purposefully combined drugs to achieve the effect of an illegal substance.

IRL: Franchitti on Texas pole

Dario Franchitti will start Saturday night's race Bombardier Learjet 550k from the pole with a speed of 214.513 mph.

Franchitti's career at Texas has been hit-and-miss. He missed last year, but in his four previous starts he has one top-five, two top-10s and two results outside the top 10.

Pocono Plans

by Andrew Marren

For Race 14 on the 36-race Sprint Cup Series schedule, NASCAR heads to the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, PA for the Pocono 500, the first of two stops at the track. Nestled in the Pocono Mountains, this track has played host the at least one NASCAR event a year since 1974. The second date on the tour was added in 1982. Pocono boasts NASCAR’s most unique track design; a 2.5-mile flat triangle with three straightaways with different lengths, three turns with varying degrees of banking. Pocono also boasts the circuit’s most treacherous corner, Turn two, or the “tunnel turn.” This corner has seen many grinding crashes, none worse than the lap one crash in the 1988 Miller High Life 500 that ended the career—and nearly took the life of—legend Bobby Allison; a scene I personally saw play out while attending my first race.

Due to the nature of the track’s layout, teams and drivers have a difficult time figuring out the car’s setup for optimal performance. Turn three is probably the most important turn to handle well enough that drivers can apply maximum horsepower for the frontstretch, the longest straightaway in NASCAR. This makes Pocono the place where man and machine must act in harmony more than any other track.

In 2008, Kasey Kahne rode the momentum he picked up during the two weeks NASCAR spent in Charlotte. There, he won both the All Star race and the 600 before riding his Budweiser Dodge to victory. That was his first at Pocono.

If you’re looking for a favorite in this race look no further then Denny Hamlin, driver of the FedEx Toyota out of the Joe Gibbs Racing stable. Hamlin has six career starts at Pocono Raceway and in that span, he has five top-10s. Among those top-10s are two wins and four top-fives. He’s also scored two pole positions.

Of course you will have to look at the Hendrick Motorsports stable as well. Jeff Gordon (four) and Jimmie Johnson (two) have combined for six total wins at Pocono. Mark Martin has not won there, but his average finish of 10.7 is highest among active non-winners. And keep an eye Dale Earnhardt Jr., if for nothing else just to see how the adjustment to his new crew chief Lance McGrew is playing out.

Join us at http://www.eventdaygames.com/ this week to play along with our unique fantasy game.

Yahoo! Qualification Story - Pocono

Rain canceled qualification at Pocono, but starting position is still important. Instead of revealing who rolled off the hauler fast, the drivers at the front of the pack as the toughest in the series at the moment since the grid was aligned by points. Check out this summary (.pdf) of who's going to be hot at in the Pocono 500.

F1: Kovalainen tops Turkey's second practice

The second practice session for the Turkish Grand Prix featured an entirely different cast of characters at the front of the field. With a lap of one minute, 28.841 seconds, Heikki Kovalainen narrowly edged Fernando Alonso who was six/thousandths of a second slower.

Our View: Meanwhile, Rosberg was only seventh quick and Hamilton was 13th. Fantasy Players will need to watch for Saturday's practice to see if a consensus is reached.

Complete Practice Results

Pocono quals canceled

Persistent rain has canceled qualification for the Pocono 500 and the field will be lined up by owner points, according to a Tweet from NASCAR PR.



The rich get richer. Some fast cars will have to come from the back, but we won't know which they are until Saturday's practice session.

F1: Rosberg fastest in Turkey's first practice

Nico Rosberg posted the fastest single lap in the first practice session for the Turkish Grand Prix, with a lap of one minute, 28.952 seconds.

Our View: That's great, but better news might be found a little further back. Lewis Hamilton has had a terrible start to the season, but he was second quick in this session.

Complete Practice Results

Rain postpones Pocono practice

Rain in Pocono has postponed—and will probably cancel—practice at Pocono. NASCAR will try their best to get qualification in the books.

Our View: Don't count on that happening, however; the rain appears to be here to stay through Friday. If the drivers line up by points, some fast guys are going to need to come from the back, which is always difficult on a flat track.

F1: Turkey's last four races

To date, there have been only four Turkish Grand Prixs, as Formula 1 continues to expand into the Middle and Near East and so far, this has been Felipe Massa's personal playground. He's won the last three editions of this race, and if not for a failure to finish in the inaugural race of 2005—he might have been absolutely perfect.

Kimi Raikkonen is the only other winner this track has seen, and of course he took that first event. He hasn't been bad lately either with a second in 2007 and an eighth last year.

Average finish, last four races

Driver	Avg Finish	2008	2007	2006	Inaugural 2005
Juan Montoya	3.00				3
Fernando Alonso	3.25	6	3	2	2
Lewis Hamilton	3.50	2	5
Pedro de la Rosa	5.00			5
Felipe Massa	5.50	1	1	1	19
Kimi Raikkonen	6.75	3	2	21	1
Robert Kubica	8.00	4	8	12
Jenson Button	8.25	11	13	4	5
Heikki Kovalainen	9.00	12	6
Christian Klien	9.50			11	8
Giancarlo Fisichella	9.75	20	9	6	4
Michael Schumacher	10.00			3	17
Jarno Trulli	10.25	10	16	9	6
Nick Heidfeld	10.25	5	4	14	18
David Coulthard	10.25	9	10	15	7
Ralf Schumacher	10.33		12	7	12
Alexander Wurz	11.00		11
Jacques Villeneuve Jr	11.00				11
Nico Rosberg	11.00	8	7	18
Rubens Barrichello	12.25	14	17	8	10
Timo Glock	13.00	13
Robert Doornbos	13.00				13
Scott Speed	13.00			13
Anthony Davidson	14.00		14
Narain Karthikeyan	14.00				14
Takuma Sato	14.67		18	17	9
Mark Webber	14.75	7	22	10	20
Nelson Piquet Jr	15.00	15
Christijan Albers	16.00			16	16
Vitantonio Liuzzi	17.50		15	20
Sebastian Bourdais	18.00	18
Sebastian Vettel	18.00	17	19
Tiago Monteiro	18.50			22	15
Adrian Sutil	18.50	16	21
Kazuki Nakajima	19.00	19
Sakon Yamamoto	19.50		20	19

IRL: Texas' last five races

After posting three consecutive top-fives from St. Petersburg through Kansas Speedway, Tony Kanaan has had two horrible weekends in the Indy Racing League with finishes in the 20s in the Indy 500 and at the Milwaukee Mile. Last week, he entered the flat one-mile oval with a near perfect record on that track during the last five years before crashing barely 12 races into the event. Now, he has another chance to rebound. At Texas Motor Speedway, he's finished seventh or better in his last five tries.

Helio Castroneves has actually been stronger in recent seasons. Except for a crash in 2007, he would have swept the top five since the fall 2004 race, having won twice and posting a second-place finish.

Dan Wheldon posted the fastest time in Friday's session and he too has to be considered a serious contender this week. Like Castroneves, he had a bad 2007 race, but has finished sixth or better four of his last five attempts.

Average finish, last five races

Driver	Avg. Fin	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004.2
Tony Kanaan	3.8	5	2	7	3	2
Helio Castroneves	5.0	2	16	1	5	1
Adrian Fernandez	5.0					5
Hideki Mutoh	6.0	6
Sam Hornish Jr	6.0		1	4	2	17
Scott Sharp	6.0		7	5	4	8
Dan Wheldon	6.2	4	15	3	6	3
Vitor Meira	6.2	7	5	6	9	4
Scott Dixon	6.4	1	12	2	11	6
Mark Taylor	7.0					7
Ryan Briscoe	7.5	3			12
Townsend Bell	9.0					9
Danica Patrick	9.5	10	3	12	13
Dario Franchitti	10.0		4	13	8	15
Sarah Fisher	10.0		10
Jeff Simmons	10.5		6	15
Kosuke Matsuura	10.8		9	8	7	19
Graham Rahal	11.0	11
Tora Takagi	12.0					12
Bryan Herta	12.3			11	10	16
Will Power	13.0	13
Felipe Giaffone	13.5			16		11
Tomas Scheckter	13.6	25	14	10	1	18
E J Viso	14.0	14
Milka Duno	14.0	17	11
Alex Barron	14.0				14	14
Anthony Foyt IV	14.3	12	17		18	10
Buddy Rice	15.0	8	8	18	21	20
Bruno Junqueira	15.0	15
Roger Yasukawa	15.0				15
Ed Carpenter	15.4	9	18	9	20	21
John Andretti	16.0	16
Patrick Carpentier	16.0				16
Tomas Enge	16.0				19	13
Eddie Cheever Jr	17.0			17
Marco Andretti	17.3	19	19	14
Mario Moraes	18.0	18
Buddy Lazier	19.0			19
Darren Manning	19.3	28	13		17
Ryan Hunter-Reay	20.0	20
Jon Herb	20.0		20
Mario Dominguez	21.0	21
Marty Roth	22.0	22
Jimmy Kite	22.0				22
Enrique Bernoldi	23.0	23
Jaime Camara	24.0	24
Oriol Servia	26.0	26
Justin Wilson	27.0	27

Fans help Carl Long

In the aftermath of the NASCAR appeal committee's refusal to reduce Carl Long's overly harsh penalty, fans have begun donating to a relief fund at CarlLong.com.

Our View: Long is not going to be a good fantasy value as an independent driver, but fans of dark horses should give whatever they can. Not that they are listening—but this sends a message of sort to NASCAR.

Trucks: Texas' last five races

Last week, Ron Hornaday Jr.'s race ended early with crash damage, but he managed to retain the points' lead in the topsy-turvy Camping World Truck Series season. He should be able to put that disappointment behind him immediately, because he enters the weekend as the defending winner of this race. In fact, he swept both events on this track last year.

The second-place finisher in both of those events won't repeat, however; Kyle Busch is not making the long commute from Pocono Raceway this week and that opens the door for the driver who was third in both races. Yes—the first-, second- and third-place drivers had perfect symmetry as Johnny Benson stepped on the final step of the podium in the spring and again in the fall.

The perfection ends there—but not by much. Todd Bodine was fifth in this race last year and fourth in the fall.

Average finish, last five races

Driver	Avg Finish	2008.2	2008.1	2007.2	2007.1	2006.2
Clint Bowyer	1.00					1
Mike Skinner	5.00	8	9	3	2	3
Ron Hornaday Jr	5.80	1	1	18	4	5
David Ragan	6.00					6
David Reutimann	7.00					7
Todd Bodine	8.00	4	5	16	1	14
Ken Schrader	8.00				8
Kyle Busch	8.75	2	2	29		2
Jason Leffler	9.00			9
Marcos Ambrose	10.00					10
Terry Cook	10.80	6	16	12	12	8
Jack Sprague	11.00	15	4	6	26	4
Matt Crafton	11.00	19	7	7	7	15
Aaron Fike	11.00				11
Marc Mitchell	12.00		12
Tim Sauter	12.00			10	14
Bobby Hamilton Jr	12.00					12
Ted Musgrave Sr	12.25		28	1	9	11
Travis Kvapil	13.00	7		26	6
Josh Wise	13.00				13
Colin Braun	13.50	5	22
Chad McCumbee	13.75	23	6	13		13
Brian Scott	14.33	9	13	21
Rick Crawford	14.60	11	21	5	3	33
Brendan Gaughan	14.80	16	15	2	24	17
Bobby East	15.00		8			22
Kraig Kinser	15.00				15
Mike Bliss	15.50			4		27
David Starr	15.80	12	27	19	5	16
Jon Wood	16.33	31	10	8
Donny Lia	16.50	14	19
Dennis Setzer	17.40	13	11	15	16	32
Scott Speed	18.00	10	26
Damon Lusk	18.00					18
Shelby Howard	18.50	17	20
Justin Marks	18.50		14	23
Aric Almirola	18.50		17			20
Johnny Benson Jr	18.60	3	3	27	29	31
Blake Bjorkland	19.00				19
Erik Darnell	19.40	18	24	14	32	9
Bill Lester	19.50				18	21
Willie Allen	19.50			11	28
Paul Tracy	20.00	20
Ryan Lawler	20.00	22	18
Stacy Compton	20.00		30		10
J R Norris	20.00			20
Eric Norris	20.00				20
Jack Smith (ASA)	21.00	21
Andy Lally	22.00			22
Chad Chaffin	22.67		25	24		19
P J Jones	23.00		23
Justin Labonte	23.00					23
Jeff Green	24.00	24
Michel Jourdain Jr	24.00					24
Joey Clanton	24.50			32	17
Jacques Villeneuve	25.00			25
John Mickel	25.00					25
T J Bell	25.75	32	31	17	23
Shane Huffman	26.00					26
Ryan Matthews	27.00	33			21
Joe Ruttman	27.00				27
Jason White	27.50	25	29	34	22
Norm Benning	28.00	28
Scott Lynch	28.00			28
Robert Richardson	28.00					28
Max Papis	29.00	29
Clay Rogers	29.00			33	25
Kerry Earnhardt	29.00					29
Butch Miller	29.50	27	32
J C Stout	30.00	26	34
Cale Gale	30.00	30
Chase Miller	30.00					30
Regan Smith	30.00			30
Peyton Sellers	31.00			31
Derrike Cope	31.00				31
Chris Wimmer	32.00				30	34
Nick Tucker	33.00		33
Kelly Sutton	33.00				33
Mike Harmon	34.00	34
Brandon Knupp	34.00				34
Larry Gunselman	35.00		35
Johnny Chapman	35.00					35
Kevin Lepage	35.00			35
Blake Mallory	35.00				35
Erin Crocker	36.00					36
Travis Kittleson	36.00			36
Wayne Edwards	37.00			37

More Camping World Truck Series Newsbreakers

F1: No KERS for BMW / Sauber

BMW / Sauber will not utilize the KERS system this week in the Turkish Grand Prix, according to Formula1.com. Team principal Mario Theissen said, "there are only two free practice sessions to check out the new aero package and we think that the risk of getting off track by trying out a new KERS configuration at the same time is higher than the potential gained."

Our View: Nick Heidfeld needs some help. He finished second on the Sepang Circuit and was seventh at the Circuit de Catalunya, but the remainder of his 2009 results has been outside the points.