The Indy 500 -- Wheldon Snatches an Improbable Win

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Dan Wheldon picked up an improbable, jaw-dropping victory in the 100th Indy 500 Sunday. 

It came down to fuel mileage.  Danica Patrick led late, but didn't have enough for the end.  Neither did Bertrand Baguette.  When they pitted for fuel in the closing laps, rookie J. R. Hildebrand inherited the lead.  The only question seemed to be if Hildebrand had enough.  Then, going into Turn Four, close enough to coast home if he ran out, he went high to go around a lapped car, got up a tad too high and slid right up into the wall.  Wheldon took advantage, flying past Hildebrand before the caution came out and grabbing the victory.

Wheldon celebrated in Victory Lane, but IndyCar officials huddled for about two hours before declaring him the official winner.  The question seemed to be if Wheldon was in front of Hildebrand before the caution came out freezing the field, but that seemed pretty obvious on a quick replay.

Hildebrand was hoping to be the first rookie to win the Indy 500 since Helio Castroneves in 2001; instead, Wheldon, in a one-race deal with Bryan Herta Autosport, claimed his second Indy 500 victory.  Ironically, Hildebrand took Wheldon's ride at Panther Racing this season.

Hildebrand coasted across the line to claim second, followed by Graham Rahal, Tony Kanaan and Scott Dixon.  (Race results)

Nationwide -- Charlotte Results

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Matt Kenseth out-dueled Carl Edwards to win Saturday's Top Gear 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  It was Kenseth's first Nationwide Series start this year, and his first in the new Nationwide car.

The race became a battle between Kenseth, Edwards and Kyle Busch, but the two Fords quickly pulled away after the final restart on Lap 154, leaving Busch to settle for third.  Kenseth, filling in for Trevor Bayne, passed Edwards on Lap 197 (of 200) and pulled away to win by 0.763 as Edwards ran out of gas coming to the finish line.  Roush Fenway Fords have now finished 1-2 in the last two Nationwide races -- a first for the team in the series.  Polesitter Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished fourth to give the team three of the top four finishes.  Reed Sorenson finished fifth.  (Race results)

Bayne, the 2011 Daytona 500 winner, now seems to be fully recovered from the mysterious illness that sidelined him since April 23.  The team set him down for one more week as a precaution, and he's expected to be back on the track for next weekend's race at Chicagoland Speedway.  Stenhouse will make his Sprint Cup debut tomorrow subbing for Bayne in the Coca-Cola 600 in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford.

Kimi Raikkonen made his Nationwide Series debut.  It was not a success.  An ill-handling car, a pit road speeding penalty and damage to the front splitter combined to give Raikkonen a 27th-place finish.

Elliott Sadler, who finished tenth, saw his series points lead shrink to just a single point over Stenhouse.  Sorenson is just two points back.  (Standings)

Indy 500: Bump Day

Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti finally made it into the 33-car field for the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500, but their Andretti Autosport teammates Mike Conway and Ryan Hunter-Reay were bumped.

Patrick failed a technical inspection after a parts change and had to go to the back of the qualifying line.  There she had to sit through a rain delay as the clock ticked down to the close of the qualifying session.  She finally got her chance and turned in a four-lap average of 224.861 mph to qualify 26th.

Andretti sat on the bubble as seven drivers tried to claim his spot.  Alex Lloyd finally knocked him out with a 223.957 mph run.  Andretti got back out on the track and started his run with only 55 seconds left on the clock.  He ran 224.628 mph to qualify 28th and knock Hunter-Reay out of the race.

The starting lineup for the May 29 race:

1. Alex Tagliani, Sam Schmidt Motorsports, 227.472 mph
2. Scott Dixon, Ganassi Racing, 227.340 mph
3. Oriol Servia, Newman/Haas Racing, 227.168 mph
4. Townsend Bell, Sam Schmidt Motorsports, 226.887 mph
5. Will Power, Team Penske, 226.773 mph
6. Dan Wheldon, Bryan Herta Autosport, 226.490 mph
7. Buddy Rice, Panther Racing, 225.786 mph
8. Ed Carpenter, Sarah Fisher Racing, 225.121 mph
9. Dario Franchitti, Ganassi Racing, no time (ran out fuel)
10. Takuma Sato, KV Racing Technology-Lotus, 225.736 mph
11. Vitor Meira, A. J. Foyt Racing, 225.590 mph
12. J. R. Hildebrand, Panther Racing, 225.579 mph
13. James Hinchcliffe, Newman/Haas Racing, 225.572 mph
14. Bertrand Baguette, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 225.285 mph
15. Davey Hamilton, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 225.250 mph
16. Helio Castroneves, Team Penske, 225.216 mph
17. John Andretti, Andretti Autosport, 224.981 mph
18. E. J. Viso, KV Racing Technology-Lotus, 224.732 mph
19. Bruno Junqueira, A. J. Foyt Racing, 224.691 mph
20. Justin Wilson, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 224.511 mph
21. Jay Howard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 224.483 mph
22. Tomas Scheckter, KV-SH Racing, 224.433 mph
23. Tony Kanaan, KV Racing Technology-Lotus, 224.417 mph
24. Simona De Silvestro, HVM Racing, 224.392 mph
25. Paul Tracy, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 224.939 mph
26. Danica Patrick, Andretti Autosport, 224.861 mph
27. Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske, 224.639 mph
28. Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport, 224.628 mph
29. Charlie Kimball, Ganassi Racing, 224.499 mph
30. Graham Rahal, Ganassi Racing, 224.380 mph
31. Alex Lloyd, Dale Coyne Racing, 223.957 mph
32. Pippa Mann, Conquest Racing, 223.936 mph
33. Ana Beatriz, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 223.879 mph

Nationwide -- Iowa Results

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Ricky Stenhouse Jr held off Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski to win the John Deere Dealers 250 at Iowa Speedway Sunday.  It was Stenhouse's first NASCAR win and the first Nationwide win for a non-Cup driver since Justin Allgaier won at Bristol in March 2010.


Stenhouse and his Roush teammate Edwards swapped the lead several times in the late stages of the race, but Stenhouse took the lead for good on Lap 232 (of 250).  Edwards finished second, followed by Keselowski, Reed Sorenson and Elliott Sadler.  (Race results)

The race marked the first time that three women competed in the same Nationwide race.  Jennifer Jo Cobb was joined by the Cope twins, Angela and Amber, who were making their series debuts.  The Cope twins spun out on almost the same spot on the racetrack just a few laps apart -- Angela on Lap 117, Amber on Lap 129.  Cobb finished 26th, Angela 28th, and Amber 32nd.

Elliott Sadler still leads the series points standings.  Reed Sorenson is second, now just seven points behind.  Stenhouse moved into third, just eight points back.  Justin Allgaier (-20) dropped to fourth, followed by Jason Leffler (-43).

The Sprint All-Star Race

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Carl Edwards won the race off pit road, then pulled away on the restart and led every lap of the final ten-lap segment to win the 2011 Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway Saturday night.


Edwards won the second and third segments (both 20 laps each) of the four-segment race.  After the third segment, the cars lined up on pit road for a ten-minute intermission.  The cars then left pit road under yellow, then returned for a mandatory four-tire change.  Edwards beat Kyle Busch off pit road, then dominated the final segment, a ten-lap shootout, to win the $1,000,000 grand prize.  In all, Edwards won $1,203,300, the largest amount ever in a single All-Star Race.

Edwards beat Busch to the finish by 0.443 seconds.  David Reutimann finished third, followed by Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle.  Biffle, who won the first segment, a 50-lap affair, led twice for a race-high 46 laps.  (All-Star Race results)  It was Edwards's first All-Star Race win in six starts.  He becomes the eighth different All-Star Race winner in the past eight years.

As All-Star Races go, it was a pretty low-key affair.  No drama, no feuding, very few incidents, just a lot of hard racing.  There were only two cautions for accidents.  Both were one-car slides.  The only real incident of the evening occurred on Lap 2 of the preliminary event, the Sprint Showdown.  Landon Cassill's left rear tire blew causing him to spin.  He came up the track in front of Derrike Cope, who T-boned him in the driver's side door. 

Carl Edwards had some issues after winning the race while attempting a celebratory spin through the grass.  He went across a paved strip, then, when he hit the grass again, the nose of his car dug in and almost flipped the car over.  The front end of his car was destroyed, and NASCAR had to move the Victory Lane celebration to the front straightaway.

Eighteen drivers qualified for the All-Star Race.  David Ragan and Brad Keselowski raced their way into the All-Star Race by finishing first and second respectively in the Sprint Showdown.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. got into the All-Star Race by winning the fan vote.

NASCAR: Talladega Results

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeNSCS:  Amp Energy Juice 500

It took a few minutes but NASCAR finally decided that Clint Bowyer was the winner of Sunday's Amp Energy 500 at Talladega.  After a review of the videos and loop data, they determined that Bowyer was just ahead of his RCR teammate Kevin Harvick when the race ended under caution.

Bowyer was in the inside lane being pushed by Juan Montoya.  Harvick was on the outside with David Reutimann glued to his back bumper.  As they came to the stripe to take the white flag, Harvick was inches ahead, but a few seconds later, when the caution came out and the field was frozen, Bowyer was just ahead of Harvick.

It was Bowyer's fourth career win, his first at a restrictor-plate race, and his second of the Chase.  Montoya finished third, followed by Reutimann and Joey Logano.  (Race results)

Bowyer and Harvick almost weren't there at the end.  On Lap 141 (of 188) Bowyer got into the rear of Marcos Ambrose in Turn Two, turning him in front of Harvick.  Both RCR cars suffered front-end damage, but were able to continue.  Harvick made a lengthy pit stop to put tape on the nose of his car.

The race was tame by Talladega standards.  There were just five cautions, and one of those was for debris.  The only accident that would come close to being a "Big One" was the wreck that brought out the final caution and ended the race a couple of miles too soon.  A. J. Allmendinger got the worst of that one.  He spun, flipped up on his side, and slammed hard (still on his side) into the inside wall.  Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, Scott Speed, and David Gilliland were also involved.

On Lap 134, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who led a race-high 24 laps, tried an ill-timed bump draft on Jeff Burton.  The contact put Burton into the wall, where he collected Earnhardt, finishing both of their days.

Kyle Busch pushed his JGR teammate Denny Hamlin to the front and was in position to win, but got shuffled back at the end of the race and finished 25th.  All of the Roush Fenway Chasers -- Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, and Greg Biffle -- suffered the same fate.  They finished 16th, 17th, and 19th respectively.

Denny Hamlin's day almost became a disaster to ruin his championship hopes.  On Lap 77, while cruising around in the back of the field to stay out of trouble, he lost contact with the pack and fell out of the draft.  Running by himself, he fell behind quickly at the rate of about four seconds per lap and was eventually lapped on Lap 105.  Once he got back in the main pack, he was able to stay up near the front, and eventually got his lap back during the caution for the Bowyer-Harvick-Ambrose incident on Lap 141.

It was a three-man race for the championship coming into this race, and it's an even tighter three-man race now.  In fact, this is the closest race between the top three contenders with three races to go since the Chase format started.  Jimmie Johnson, who finished seventh, increased his lead over Denny Hamlin, who finished ninth, from six to 14 points, but Harvick is now just 38 points behind Johnson.   Jeff Gordon, who finished eighth, jumped back ahead of Kyle Busch to fourth in the standings, but he's 207 points out.  (Points standings)



NCWTS:  Mountain Dew 250

Kyle Busch beat Aric Almirola to the line to gain a controversial win in Saturday's Mountain Dew 500 at Talladega.  Busch's margin of victory was 0.002 seconds, the closest in Camping World Truck Series history and tying Ricky Craven's win over Kurt Busch in a Cup race at Darlington in 2003 for the closest win in the three national series since the introduction of electronic timing in 1993.

Johnny Sauter finished third, followed by Matt Crafton and Ricky Carmichael.  (Race results)

They came out of the final turn in a single-file line with Busch seemingly ready to just push Almirola to the victory, but Sauter went low and Busch went down to block.  Sauter gave Busch a push, then moved up high and the three crossed the line side-by-side-by-side.  That final push from Sauter got Busch out of shape and his left tires went below the yellow line, out of bounds, as he struggled to keep control.  That had Almirola's team complaining that Busch should have been disqualified.  NASCAR let it slide.

It was Busch's sixth Truck Series win of the season, his second at Talladega, and the 22nd of his career.

The Big One came on Lap 91.  Grant Enfinger bumped series-leader Todd Bodine, turning him and triggering a wild wreck that saw Ron Hornaday's truck flip several times before coming to rest on its roof.   Bodine finished 18th and took a big hit in the points standings, but still has a comfortable 216-point lead over Almirola with just three races remaining.

NASCAR Basics: Impound Races

Image by fdtate via FlickrOn a typical NASCAR race weekend, Sprint Cup drivers will get some practice time in and qualify Friday, followed by more practice Saturday and the race on Sunday.  Crewmembers can set up the cars for qualifying, then dial in a race setup.  For an impound race, NASCAR usually shifts to Saturday qualifying, then impounds the cars from after qualifying until the start of the race.

At one time impound races comprised over half of the races on the Cup schedule.  It was supposed to be a cost cutting move, a balance between the teams that could afford to set up the car twice, once for qualifying and once for racing, and those who had to make due with just one setup.

The number of impound races has been pared down to just a few -- currently, the two Talladega races and the July Daytona race.  Television networks, sponsors, track officials and fans wanted to see more on-track activity on a race weekend.  Secondarily, the rules seemed to be hurting the poorest teams the most, the ones the rule was designed to help.

The richer teams were able to be more liberal with their setups.  Since they were in the Top 35 in owner's points and therefore locked into the race, they didn't have to strain to get all the speed they could in qualifying.  The poorer teams, who were more likely to be go-or-go-homers having to get into the race on speed, were forced into qualifying setups that they had to change into race trim on pit road during the race.

When a car is impounded, two crewmembers are allowed in to turn off the electrical switches, take out the radio, check air pressures and cover the cars.  They must then leave the garage.  On race day, two crewmembers are allowed in to get the car ready for the race.  They can connect the oil heater, open the hood, prime the oil system, start the car, move the car out of the garage, open the oil cooler pressure valve if needed, start the engine, close the hood, check and adjust air pressures, tighten the wheels, put the radio back in the car, put in a water bottle, adjust the tape on the front of the car, replace equipment batteries, and add a limited amount of fuel.  All other work is forbidden except with NASCAR authorization which is rarely granted.

NASCAR: NSCS -- Martinsville: Tums Fast Relief 500 Results

Image by Hans J E via FlickrDenny Hamlin rallied to pick up his third straight Sprint Cup Series win at Martinsville Sunday in the Tums Fast Relief 500, Kevin Harvick finished a surprising third, and we're left with the closest points battle with four races to go in the history of the Chase format.  And the true wild-card race in the Chase, Talladega, is up next.

The final 98 laps (of 500) were run under green, a benefit to Hamlin whose car was much better on long runs.  On the final restart on Lap 402, Harvick led the field to green with Jeff Burton second and Hamlin third.  Hamlin got around Burton on Lap 453, then battled Harvick side-by-side for several laps before finally taking the lead for good on Lap 471.

Hamlin started on the pole and led the first ten laps until he was passed by Marcos Ambrose.  By the first caution 47 laps in, Hamlin had faded to 12th.  But the crew kept working and the track finally came to Hamlin.  He beat Mark Martin to the finish by 2.318 seconds.  It was Hamlin's 15th career Cup win, his series-leading seventh of the year, and his fourth at Martinsville, including the last three in a row.

Martin's day started out bad, then got much worse before he put on a furious rally at the end to finish second.  By Lap 30, Martin was overheating his brakes and had to baby them the rest of the way.  On Lap 226, he spun, backing into the wall and doing considerable damage to his car.  He fell two laps down and was 18th on the final restart before rallying to a runnerup finish.  He was coming hard at the end and might have won if the race had gone ten laps more.  Martin said adjustments didn't make much of a difference. "I think the race track just came to us. We had a good setup in the car for the race track when it was rubbered up in the second half of the race."

Harvick, whose previous best at the track was a seventh-place finish, was expected to lose ground in the points battle.  His 36th-place start also added to those predictions.  But he quickly moved up through the field.  By that first caution on Lap 47, he was in ninth, three spots ahead of Hamlin.  He stayed near the front for the rest of the race and led most of that last long green flag run until Hamlin and Martin passed him in the closing laps.  Harvick also benefited from a crew swap with Clint Bowyer before the race.

After a long, multi-lap battle, Kyle Busch pulled ahead of Johnson in the closing laps to finish fourth.  Johnson, whose car was much better on short runs, held on for fifth, followed by Joey Logano.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. led 90 laps around the midpoint of the race and finished seventh for just his second top 10 in the last 14 races.  Carl Edwards, Jeff Burton and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top 10.

Burton led a race-high 134 laps before fading at the end.  After a restart on Lap 364, he got into an on-track feud with Harvick, his RCR teammate.  Burton was running on the outside and attempted to cut down in front of Harvick.  Harvick cut him off, then accused Burton of cutting him off.  Over the radio, he also accused Burton of doing the same thing at Indy and Loudon.  A short time later, during another caution, Harvick bumped doors with Burton.  For his part, Burton was perplexed:  "I have no clue what he could possibly be upset about.  I cleared him and turned to the bottom the same way he cleared me on the restart and turned to the bottom.  It's Martinsville, that's what you do."  Calmer heads eventually prevailed, and Harvick dismissed the dustup in his postrace press conference:  "We were just racing."

Another on-track incident put the final dagger in Jeff Gordon's fading championship hopes.  On Lap 384, Gordon was trying to nose ahead of Kurt Busch going into Turn Three.  He came in too hot and the two got together.  Gordon tapped Busch.  Busch got loose and Gordon went around him.  But Busch accelerated and caught Gordon coming out of Four.  He hooked him and spun him down the frontstretch.  Gordon lost a lap as his crew tried to repair the damage.  He got the lap back, but lost two more on the final green flag run as his damaged car struggled to keep up.  Gordon got inside of Busch again in the closing laps and pushed him up the track.  Busch lost one spot as a result and finished 16th.  Gordon finished 20th.

Other Chase drivers:  Matt Kenseth finished 15th, Tony Stewart 24th, Greg Biffle 33rd, and Clint Bowyer 38th.  (Race results)

The top three in the points standings have tightened up with Johnson's lead over Hamlin down to just six points.  Harvick gained 15 points on Johnson and is now just 62 points behind.  Although no one has been eliminated yet, it really is a three-man race with just four races remaining.  With his fourth-place finish, Kyle Busch moved into fourth in the standings, 172 points back.  Gordon dropped to fifth, 203 points behind Johnson.

NASCAR: NNS -- Gateway: 5-Hour Energy 250 Results

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When the caution came out in the closing laps of Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Gateway International Raceway, Brad Keselowski came to pit road and took four tires.  The gamble paid off as he was able to slice through the competition to win the 5-Hour Energy 250.

Keselowski appeared to be on his way to a second-place finish behind his Penske Racing teammate Justin Allgaier when Danica Patrick spun into the wall after contact from Stephen Wallace.  The top three cars -- Allgaier, Keselowski and Carl Edwards -- took four tires and lined up for the restart behind Reed Sorenson and Josh Wise, who stayed out, and Mike Bliss and Jason Leffler, who took two tires.  Bliss got into the rear of Sorenson and got him loose, then got by him for the lead.  Keselowski pulled even with Bliss with the white flag in sight.  His four tires beat Bliss's two through Turns One and Two and he pulled away to win by 0.227 seconds.

It was Keselowski's 12th career Nationwide win, his fifth of the season and his first at Gateway.  He had victory in sight in the July race at Gateway, but Carl Edwards punted him into the wall in the final turns, and he finished 14th.

They were three abreast for third place with Allgaier, who led a race-high 88 (of 200) laps, nosing ahead of Leffler and Edwards.  (Race results)

With the win, Keselowski has all but locked up the Nationwide Series championship.  He now leads Edwards by an insurmountable 485 points with just three races remaining.  In fact, Keselowski will clinch the championship in two weeks at Texas if he finishes just nine points better than Edwards.  He can also clinch at Texas just by finishing 20th or better.  (Points standings)

Keselowski and Edwards started in the back of the field after relief drivers qualified their cars for them.  They were busy with Cup practice and qualifying at Martinsville, and showed up just long enough to race.  They both quickly worked their way through the field.  Keselowski took the lead for the first time on Lap 77.  He led four times for 83 laps.

At the midpoint of the race, Scott Wimmer and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got loose coming out of Turn Four.  That triggered an 11-car melee that sent nine cars to the garage.  The race was red-flagged for about 20 minutes to clean up the mess.

This might have been the final NASCAR race at Gateway International Raceway.  Dover Motorsports, who owns the track, is looking for a buyer and has not requested any racing dates for 2011.

NASCAR: NCWTS -- Martinsville: Kroger 200 Results

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Ron Hornaday passed Kyle Busch with three laps to go in regulation and held him off on a green-white-checkered restart to win Saturday's Camping World Truck Series race, the Kroger 200, at Martinsville.  It was Hornaday's first win ever at Martinsville, his second of the season, and the 47th of his career.

Hornaday passed Busch on Lap 197 (of 200) just before the 11th and final caution of the day came out for Cody Cambensy's spin.  NASCAR officials initially had Busch ahead for the final restart, but went to the television replays and reversed themselves.  The race went six laps past the scheduled distance.

Todd Bodine, who was racing just hours after the death of his mother, led much of the second half of the race.  He was passed by Busch with 25 laps to go and Hornaday soon followed.  Bodine hung on to finish third, followed by Jason White and Aric Almirola.  (Race results)

Bodine now leads Almirola by 282 points with just four races remaining.  If Almirola were to win all four of the remaining races, Bodine would need to average just a 12th-place finish to take home the championship trophy.  (Points standings)

Five drivers made their series debuts.  B. J. McLeod finished 17th, C. E. Falk 25th, Amber Cope 26th, Angela Cope 30th, and Cambensy 32nd.  The Cope twins were two of a record four women in the race with Johanna Long and Jennifer Jo Cobb.

NASCAR: Martinsville Preview

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All three of NASCAR's national series are in action this weekend.  Saturday's Nationwide Series race, the 5-Hour Energy 250 (3 p.m. ET, ESPN2), is at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Illinois.  The other two races -- Saturday's Camping World Truck Series race, the Kroger 200 (12:30 p.m., Speed), and Sunday's Sprint Cup race, the Tums Fast Relief 500 (1 p.m., ESPN) are at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia.

Sunday's Cup race is the sixth in the ten-race Chase for the Sprint Cup, and going in it's looking like a three-man race for the title.  Jimmie Johnson leads Denny Hamlin by 41 points with Kevin Harvick in third, 77 points out.  Several other drivers still have a shot, but will need a lot of luck between now and the end of the season.  Jeff Gordon (-156) is fourth, followed by Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart, both tied at 177 points out.  (Points standings)

Johnson and Hamlin have combined to win the past eight races at Martinsville.  Hamlin won three of them including the past two.  Gordon leads all active drivers with seven wins at the track, but hasn't won since sweeping both races in 2005.  Johnson is right behind him with six Martinsville wins.  They both have a long way to go to match the King's record; Richard Petty has 15 wins there.

Hamlin started the weekend off right by winning the pole for Sunday's race.  In Friday qualifying he turned a lap of 19.518 seconds (97.018 mph), edging Marcos Ambrose for the pole by just 0.003 seconds.  Greg Biffle qualified third, followed by Ryan Newman and Juan Montoya.  Montoya's lap was just 0.012 seconds slower than Hamlin's.

In addition to Hamlin and Biffle, only two other Chasers -- Tony Stewart, sixth, and Carl Edwards, seventh -- qualified in the top ten.  Gordon starts 11th, Clint Bowyer 17th, Jeff Burton 18th, Johnson 19th, Kyle Busch 26th, Kurt Busch 29th, and Matt Kenseth 32nd.  Harvick has his work cut out for him; he starts 36th.
Michael McDowell, Robby Gordon, Terry Cook and Johnny Sauter failed to qualify for the 43-car field.  (Race lineup)

Martinsville Speedway is one of the oldest NASCAR tracks.  It was on the schedule in the inaugural season of 1949, and is the only track to be on the schedule every year since.  At just 0.526 miles, it's also the shortest track, but it packs a lot of excitement in a small package.  Drag race down one 800-foot straightaway, make a sharp left around a tight turn with almost no banking, then drag race down the other straightaway to another sharp turn.  Repeat for 500 laps or until something, usually brakes, fails.

Saturday's Nationwide race will probably be the last NASCAR race at Gateway.   Dover Motorsports, which owns the track, asked for it not to be included on the 2011 Nationwide and Truck Series schedules.  It is uncertain if they are trying to sell it or will simply shut it down.

Barring a rainout or some other unforeseen event, Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards will miss the drivers' meeting and have to start at the rear of the field.  They will be spending most of the weekend at Martinsville and will probably show up at Gateway just long enough to jump in their cars and run the race.  Keselowski leads Edwards by 450 points and can clinch the Nationwide Series championship if he gains 136 points on Edwards Saturday.  Keselowski will win the championship if he averages a 26th-place finish in the four remaining races.   Brandon McReynolds and Brad Sweet will be making their Nationwide debuts at Gateway.

Todd Bodine has a commanding 262-point lead over Aric Almirola with five Camping World Truck Series races remaining.  Amber and Angela Cope will be making their Truck Series debuts at Martinsville.  The 27-year-old nieces of Derrike Cope will be the first twins to compete in the same race in any of the three national NASCAR series.

NASCAR: NSCS -- Charlotte: Bank of America 500 Results

Image by i heart him via FlickrJamie McMurray got by Kyle Busch on a late restart and pulled away to an easy victory in Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte, and Jimmie Johnson added a few more points to his lead in his quest for a fifth straight championship.

McMurray got ahead of Busch coming out of Turn Two on the final restart of the night on Lap 314 (of 334) and pulled away as Busch battled Johnson for second place.  McMurray crossed the finish line 1.886 seconds ahead of Busch for his third win of the season, the sixth of his career and his second at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  It was only the 13th win by a non-Chase driver in a Chase race since the format was adopted in 2004.

The victory comes almost eight years to the day after McMurray's first career victory.  He won at Charlotte in 2002, driving in relief of Sterling Marlin, who had broken his neck in an accident two weeks earlier.

Busch, who led a race-high 217 laps was upset with the runner-up finish.  He appeared to be on his way to victory when NASCAR threw a caution for debris on Lap 308.  "I don't know what the caution was for.  You know, apparently there was a mouse that ran across the race track or something," Busch said.  Around the 100-lap mark, Busch had almost a four-second lead on Jeff Gordon when his throttle stuck.  That problem eventually resolved itself.

Early on, it looked like it might not be Jimmie Johnson's night.  He started tenth, but quickly started falling back with a loose car.  It got too loose and he spun it around coming out of Turn Two on Lap 34.  He was in the middle of traffic, but somehow managed not to hit anything or get hit.  He dropped as far back to 37th, but got up toward the front by staying out when most of the lead lap cars pitted during a caution on Lap 128.  He restarted fifth, then moved up to third through a long round of green-flag stops.  Johnson finally ran down McMurray and took the lead on Lap 189, holding it for 15 laps until Marco Ambrose spun to bring out a caution that got finally got Johnson back in sequence with everyone else.  He was quite happy with his third-place finish.

Denny Hamlin also had to overcome some adversity to finish fourth.   Ryan Newman got loose and pounded the wall on the second lap of the race.  Hamlin had to slam on the brakes to avoid Newman and flat spotted his tires.  After pitting for fresh rubber, he restarted in the rear of the field, but steadily worked his way up toward the front.  He finally settled into the top five, but couldn't get the adjustments he needed to challenge for the win.

Only three other Chase drivers finished in the top ten.  Greg Biffle finished fifth, Matt Kenseth sixth, and Kevin Harvick eighth.

After putting himself back in championship contention with good runs in the last two races, including a win last week at Fontana, Tony Stewart is back to long odds again.  He slowed when Newman spun on Lap 2 and got tagged in the rear by David Gilliland.  He made several pit stops to try to repair the damage, but fought an ill-handling car the rest of the night and came home 21st.

Jeff Gordon also had his share of problems.  The polesitter led the first seven laps, but fell back with a loose car.  On Lap 190, it died on him with a bad alternator.  He coasted around to the pits and lost a lap changing out the battery.  He got the lap back with the free pass on the caution for Ambrose's spin, but was never happy with the way his car was handling.  A pit road speeding penalty on the final stop of the night doomed him to a 23rd-place finish.

Kurt Busch was going for the sweep of the three Charlotte Cup races (including the Sprint All-Star Race), but he spun out on Lap 24.  He didn't hit anything, but couldn't quite get going again.  He finished 30th, worst of all the Chase drivers.

Other Chase drivers:  Carl Edwards finished 12th.  Clint Bowyer was 17th.  After a spin of his own, Jeff Burton finished 20th.  (Race results)

With his third-place finish, Johnson increased his lead over Hamlin to 41 points.  Harvick is the only other driver within 100 points of Johnson; he's 77 points down.  Gordon stayed in fourth place, but dropped 156 points down.  Kyle Busch moved up four spots in the standings to fifth.  He's now tied with Stewart, 177 points behind Johnson.  With the win McMurray moved past Newman into 13th, best of the non-Chase drivers.  (Points standings)

A pre-race stunt caused a fiery mess along the frontstretch of Charlotte Motor Speedway, but no one was injured.  Daredevil Spanky Spangler, driving an RV with "Hold my beer. Watch this" spray-painted on the side, was being chased by a police car driven by his son Bryan.  There was a series of planned explosions as the vehicles approached a jump, but the bottom of the RV caught fire and landed nose first on some junked cars near the ramps.  It took several minutes for rescue workers to pull Spanky from the RV, but he walked to an ambulance that took him to the infield care center.  He was treated and released.

NASCAR: NNS -- Charlotte: Dollar General 300 Results

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Brad Keselowski pulled away from the rest of the field on a restart with eight laps to go to easily win Friday night's Nationwide race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  It was Keselowski's eleventh career win in the series, his fifth win of the season and the second in the new Nationwide car.  It was Keselowski's first win at Charlotte.

Keselowski inherited the lead when his crew opted for track position over new tires and he stayed out during a caution on Lap 154 (of 200).  Other than a brief battle for the lead with Martin Truex Jr. and a couple of late restarts, he had no problem running the last 56 laps on the same set of tires.

Keselowski crossed the finish line 1.137 seconds ahead of Truex.  Justin Allgaier was third.  Joey Logano was fourth.  Clint Bowyer had the car to challenge Keselowski for the win, but had to rally to finish fifth after a pit road speeding penalty on his final stop.  Kyle Busch lead a race-high 84 laps, but faded at the end to finish sixth.  (Race results)

That Lap 154 caution, where Keselowski inherited the lead and Bowyer got his speeding penalty, was a strange call by NASCAR to correct a mistake.  Brian Scott was given a pass-through penalty for a missing lugnut on Lap 146.  When NASCAR officials later determined that there was no missing lugnut, they called the caution to give Scott a chance to get his lap back.  Kevin Harvick claimed that the "ghost caution" ruined his strategy and his chance of winning.  Harvick fell back on the restart, later pitted for fresh tires and finished tenth.  Scott spun out on the front straightaway on Lap 182 to bring out the seventh caution and finished 28th.

Danica Patrick finished 21st, her best showing in nine Nationwide starts.  JR Motorsports announced Friday that Patrick will compete in the first four races of the 2011 Nationwide season, including her first trip to Bristol Motor Speedway.  She will run a similar schedule to this year's 13-race campaign.

There's no drama in the Nationwide title race now.  Go ahead and start engraving Keselowski's name on the trophy.  He now leads Carl Edwards, who finished 13th, by 450 points with just four races remaining.  (Points standings)

Related articles

• Nationwide meeting takes different turn (msn.foxsports.com)
• Danica Patrick Project: Tony Stewart Gives a Nationwide Measuring Stick (bleacherreport.com)

NASCAR: Charlotte Preview

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A Saturday night Cup race means an accelerated schedule for the weekend.  There are two races on the weekend schedule, both at Charlotte Motor Speedway:  the Friday night Nationwide race, the Dollar General 300 (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2), and Saturday night's Bank of America 500 (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC).  The Camping World Truck Series is off yet again, but returns next weekend at Martinsville.

Saturday night's Cup race is the fifth race in the ten-race Chase for the Sprint Cup.  Jimmie Johnson increased his points lead last weekend at Fontana; he now leads Denny Hamlin by 36 points.   The contenders are now separating themselves from the pretenders.  Kevin Harvick (-54) and Jeff Gordon (-85) are the only other drivers within 100 points of the four-time champion, but Tony Stewart lurks back in fifth, just 107 points behind Johnson.  (Points standings)

Again, some bad news for those trying to catch Johnson:  we're in the middle of a string of Johnson's best tracks.  Johnson leads all active drivers with six wins at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  His next win at CMS will move him ahead of Bobby Allison and Darryl Waltrip, making him the all-time winner at the track.

Jeff Gordon captured the pole for Saturday night's race in a rare Thursday qualifying session.  Gordon ran a lap of 28.192 seconds (191.544 mph) to edge out Carl Edwards (191.455 mph) for the top spot.  A. J. Allmendinger qualified third, followed by Mark Martin and Paul Menard.  The pole was Gordon's first in almost a year, dating back 34 races to November 2009 at Texas.  It was Gordon's eighth pole at Charlotte and the 69th of his career, tying him with Cale Yarborough for third on the all-time list.  Gordon has now won a pole in 18 consecutive seasons, tying him with Richard Petty.  David Pearson put together a streak of 20 consecutive pole-winning seasons.

Only four Chase drivers qualified in the top 10 -- Gordon, Edwards, Kyle Busch (sixth) and Johnson (tenth).  Kurt Busch, who is going for an unprecedented three-race sweep at CMS, starts 15th.  Matt Kenseth starts 17th, Jeff Burton 18th, Clint Bowyer 20th, Greg Biffle 22nd, Denny Hamlin 23rd, Kevin Harvick 24th, and Tony Stewart 29th.

Joe Nemechek, Casey Mears, Mike Bliss, Jason Leffler, Kevin Conway and Johnny Sauter failed to make the 43-car field.  (Race lineup)

Charlotte Motor Speedway is a 1.5-mile quad-oval with moderate banking -- 24 degrees in the turns and 5 degrees on the straightaway.  The 1500 feet back straightaway is the only straight part of the track; the frontstretch has little doglegs before and after the start/finish line.  Since drivers spend about two-thirds of a lap turning, downforce wins races here.

NASCAR: NSCS -- Fontana: Pepsi Max 400 Results

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Tony Stewart earned his first career victory at Auto Club Speedway, winning Sunday's Pepsi Max 400.  Jimmie Johnson began pulling away from the rest of the Chase field in the quest for his fifth straight championship.

Stewart's championship hopes were on life support after the first two Chase races.  After four, he suddenly finds himself back in contention again.  He was buried back in the field throughout the first half of the race, but his crew made the right adjustments and the car came to life in the second half.  It was Stewart's second win of the season and the 39th of his career, putting him in a 17th-place tie with Tim Flock on the all-time wins list.

The race turned on a debris caution on Lap 183 (of 200).  Paul Menard and Regan Smith took two tires and led the field to green on the restart with 13 to go.  Stewart got by Smith a lap later to take the lead, but another caution soon flew when David Ragan slid up the track and pinched Kurt Busch into the wall.  That set up a two-lap shootout and Stewart and Johnson led the field to green.  Stewart took the high line and got a good push from Clint Bowyer to keep him ahead of Johnson.  Bowyer and Johnson battled side-by-side through the final lap for second as Stewart pulled away to win by 0.466 seconds.

Bowyer won the battle and nipped Johnson at the line for second.  Kasey Kahne was fourth.  Ryan Newman was fifth.  (Race results)

After the race, Bowyer seemed disappointed with a second-place finish.  He blasted NASCAR for the debris caution, claiming that he would have won easily if the race had stayed green.

Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Jeff Gordon finished seventh, eighth, and ninth respectively to keep Johnson in sight in the championship hunt, but it wasn't easy for any of them.  Harvick and Gordon overcame pit road speeding penalties.  Hamlin had to start the race in the rear of the field after his crew changed his transmission after qualifying.

The rest of the Chase contenders had terrible days.  After his run-in with Ragan, Kurt Busch limped home in 21st place.  That was two spots ahead of Jeff Burton, who ran yet another lackluster race.  Kyle Busch's engine blew on Lap 155; he finished 35th.

After all their past success at Fontana, it was surprising to see the whole Roush Fenway Racing organization's title hopes go up in smoke.  Greg Biffle's engine blew just 40 laps in, giving him a 41st-place finish.  Just a few laps later, Carl Edwards lost power and had to be pushed to the garage.  The trouble was finally traced to a distributor problem and he returned to the track to finish 34th.  Matt Kenseth also had engine problems.  His car was smoking badly at the end, but he nursed it home to finish 30th.

Johnson now leads Hamlin by 36 in the points standings.  Harvick (-54) and Gordon (-85) are the only other drivers within 100 points of the four-time champion.  With his win and the other Chasers' misfortunes, Stewart climbed five spots in the standings to fifth.  He is now 107 points back with six races remaining.  Kurt Busch (-140), Edwards (-162), Burton (-177), Kyle Busch (-187), Biffle (-215), Kenseth (-241) and Bowyer (-247) round out the Chase field.