Patience and consistency allowed Jimmie Johnson to stay close enough to the front runners to have a chance to win, but a great car and excellent driving skills allowed him to finally get his second win of the 2009 Sprint Cup season in the Autism Speaks 400 held at Dover International Speedway on Sunday.

Jimmie Johnson achieves 42nd career win in Autism Speaks 400

Jimmie Johnson started eighth after the tenth caution of the race due to a difficult crash by David Stemme but was able to overcome a slow pit stop and race to the front of the of the pack. On the way he was able to pass Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart, who started ahead of Johnson, but weren’t able to stay in front of the hard-charging racer. This win was Jimmie Johnson’s fourth victory at Dover International Speedway and the 42^nd victory-lap of his NASCAR career.

The majority of the laps belonged to Johnson, he led an amazing 298 laps of the Autism Speaks 400, and therefore it’s not a surprise that he won the race. Still you have to cross the finish line first and the driver who leads the majority of the laps doesn’t always win. Johnson scored a perfect Driver Rating of 150.00 during the race, with the best score in Average Running Position (2.0), Fastest Laps Run (127), and he spent all but five laps of the race in the top 15.

Johnson was able to get in front of Tony Stewart through Turns 3 and 4 of Lap 398 and then slowly pull away from him to beat him to the line by .861 seconds. Stewart knew he lacked rubber; he had only taken two tires to Johnson’s four during the pit stop, so he made sure to stay near the top of the track to block Johnson’s line through the corners and so stayed in front of him. Johnson was able to finally pass Stewart on the outside of the final two corners and stay in front to take the win.

This win vaults Jimmie Johnson, who led 298 laps of the scheduled 400, into third on the Sprint Cup series driver points’ standings.

Greg Biffle finished third, Matt Kenseth took fourth place, Kurt Busch finished in fifth, and Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Casey Mears, and Mark Martin rounded out the top ten places.

“Image: Newscom”

Confidence is everything in sports, the feeling an athlete gets from success is one of the most important aspects, other than raw talent, for determining whether a racer or any athlete is successful, and on a roll. If this statement is correct? David Reutimann is on one of the best rolls of his NASCAR career because four days after his first victory in a NASCAR Sprint Cup race he took the top spot on the grid for Sunday’s Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Speedway. Only the second pole of the season and the third of his career, Reutimann took the first spot in the Monster Mile by posting his best lap in a time of 22.960 seconds in his No. 00 Toyota.

The 11^th racer to run a qualifying lap, Reutimann ran his qualifying lap with an

Autism Speaks 400 on Sunday at 1:30 PM on FOX

average speed of 156.794 mph to just beat the 156.542 mph mark of Kasey Kahne for the pole position. Reutimann surprised the field with this result, especially since he was the 11^th racer to try to beat Kahne’s time, and Kahne was using the Dodge R6 powerplant in his car for the first time this season.

Juan Montoya will start third on the grid of the Autism Speaks 400 on Sunday, Montoya qualified with an average speed of 156.020 on a day when his car didn’t seem to be running its best. Kasey Kahne’s teammate at Richard Petty Motorsports Reed Sorenson had a good run, Sorenson qualified fourth on the grid with an average speed of 155.952. The last winner at Dover Greg Biffle had problems in the corners with traction but still managed to finish fifth on the grid with an average speed of 155.932.

Kyle Busch will start sixth, which shouldn’t matter much if he’s up to form, so expect him to be in front after a few laps. A.J. Allmendinger will start seventh, eighth will be filled by Jimmie Johnson, Brian Vickers starts ninth, and the tenth position on the grid is held by Elliot Sadler. This result means that all four RPM racers, Kahne, Sorenson, Allmendinger and Sadler are starting Sunday’s Autism Speaks 400 in one of the top ten starting positions.

You can watch the Autism Speaks 400 on Sunday, May 31 at 1:30 PM on FOX or listen to it on MRN Radio starting at 1:15 PM.

Image: Newscom

The winless streaks by drivers such as Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick have ranked amongst some of the biggest stories so far this season. They came into this week’s race at Watkins Glen as some of the odds-on-favorite to win, but alas, Kyle Busch shut the door on those plans yet again. This week’s “List of the Week” will feature the 10 longest winless droughts amongst the drivers inside the top-20 in points.

10. Matt Kenseth - 22 races - Last Win: Homestead-Miami Speedway, Fall 2007
9. Jeff Gordon - 27 races - Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Fall 2007
8. Greg Biffle - 29 races - Kansas Speedway, Fall 2007
7. Tony Stewart - 36 races - Watkins Glen International, Summer 2007
6. Jamie McMurray - 40 races - Daytona International Speedway, Summer 2007

5. Martin Truex Jr. - 45 races - Dover International Speedway, Spring 2007
4. Kevin Harvick - 57 races - Daytona International Speedway, Spring 2007
3. David Ragan - 60 races - No NSCS wins
2. Brian Vickers - 68 races - Talladega Superspeedway, Fall 2006
1. Elliott Sadler - 141 races - Auto Club Speedway, Fall 2004

***
My name is Michael and I wrote over at b5medias’s boxing and pro
wrestling blog, Jab and Grapple. b5’s staff of
writers is guest posting on other sports blogs this week. Look for Tim
over on the sports comedy blog dejuiced.

***

After August 3rd’s long slog of a Pennsylvania 500 one has to wonder
when either:

a) NASCAR joins the rest of the motorsports world and runs races in
the rain with rain tires as the did on August
2 in Montreal,  or
b) Removes at least one of the two races at Pocono.

I was amazed to hear Tony Stewart say during a rain stoppage that
Montreal was the first time many Nationwide Series drivers had driven
on rain tires. Greg Biffle admitted to NASCAR.com that “”I kind of was
looking forward to this because I’ve never raced in the rain, but I
don’t think I will be from now on.”

But what’s the real problem here? What racing problems could rainfall
bring about?

More bumping and unsure driving?The Cars of Tomorrow are
indestructible tanks that can bump and skid into other vehicles to
their heart’s content.

More crashes? The COT’s safety is un-paralleled and it’s not as if
they would be going at the high-end dangerous speeds in the rain
anyway.

Wet fans? Football plays in the rain and their fans have great fun in the wet.

What positives would rain running bring?

Exciting and unpredictable racing is sure to occur. There would be
added elements of strategy and NASCAR drivers wouldn’t seem so prissy
while waiting for a vacuum to suction off an itty bitty section of wet
track. Grand Prix Motorcycle racing competes in the rain why can’t
NASCAR?

As far as Pocono Speedway hosting two races a year, that’s only a
function of fortunate geography and it’s proximity to New York and
Philadelphia. It would have been nice to have moved one of the two to
Nazareth Speedway but that one-mile tri-oval sadly shut down for
business.

The Pocono races are usually long and unexciting (although Sunday’s
finish was fun). If I’m off to a NASCAR race from my Harrisburg, Pa.
home I’m choosing the Monster Mile at Dover, Del. over Pocono 10 times
out of 10. They’re both 120 miles from my door.

But again, the chances of only one race at Pocono per year look about
as good as racing on rain tires.

Written by Michael Sedor

*Credit photo to Sporting News 

Kyle Busch won his sixth race of the Sprint Cup season and picked up the second Cup restrictor plate win of his career, much to the dismay of the crowd on-hand at Daytona International Speedway for Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400. But, whether or not you like Kyle Busch is irrelevent - what you cannot deny is that the action at Daytona was exciting once again and should be considered another victory for the Car of Tomorrow.

Paul Menard led the field to green after winning the Coors Lite Pole Award during Friday’s qualifying session, and he held onto the position for the first 19 laps of the race, before finally surrendering it over to former DEI teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr. The lead for Junior was short-lived, however, as AJ Allmendinger brought out the first caution of the evening on lap 20 after he cut down a right-side tire and smacked the wall, and it was Kyle Busch leading the field off of pit road. Earnhardt and Busch then swapped the lead back-and-forth a few more times and controlled the position between them until Jimmie Johnson finally took over on lap 75, and then Jeff Gordon moved to the front on lap 79.

Tony Stewart had been moving towards the front and easily had one of the best cars in the field, but some flu-like symptoms finally caught up with Smoke, and after a lap 71 caution involving Greg Biffle and Juan Pablo Montoya, Stewart called upon his former Joe Gibbs Racing ‘mate, JJ Yeley, who failed to qualify for the race and was standing by in the no. 20 pits as a relief driver. It took the team two pit stops, but they made the driver change and got Yeley out on the track at the tail end of the field. For Stewart, this was the second time he needed a mid-race substitute in his career, the last time coming at Dover in 2006 when the team used Ricky Rudd to relieve Stewart, who was recovering from a shoulder injury.

Matters then appeared to be getting worse for the Gibbs camp when Denny Hamlin got Kyle Busch loose on lap 82. Busch got so loose, in fact, that he was forced down onto the apron and sank all the way back to 37th place, near his new teammate, JJ Yeley. A caution on lap 110 helped Busch make up some ground, though, after Elliott Sadler hit the wall and bunched the field back up. Busch was amongst a handful of cars charging up to the front of the field, in a group that included Yeley, Martin Truex Jr. and Kasey Kahne who started in the back of the field, and Daytona 500 winner, Ryan Newman, who was recovering from an earlier spin with Jamie McMurray back on lap 44.

Under the caution, Carl Edwards stayed out on the track to collect 5 bonus points for leading a lap, and then it was Earnhardt Jr. and Denny Hamlin swapping the lead back and forth for several laps. Busch had worked his way back into the top-ten by lap 110, and it’s a good thing for him, because the final 40 laps of the race brought out seven more cautions.

The fifth caution of the evening came with just 37 to go when David Gilliland got loose and hit the wall, bringing Ryan Newman with him and setting off a chain reaction behind them which also resulted with Jeff Burton in the wall. Gilliland had been running inside the top-five for most of the race until a pit road misque during the previous caution shuffled him back to 14th and in what would become the danger zone.

The mele’ continued just 7 laps later when Jamie McMurray couldn’t clear the no. 83 car of Brian Vickers and got spun out as a result, and then five laps after that, Ryan Newman was involved in his third accident of the day, this time spinning along with Denny Hamlin. Then, on lap 139, JJ Yeley - who had been making steady progress working his way up inside the top-15 and flirting with the top-ten - got turned sideways by David Ragan, and Jeff Burton and Casey Mears ended up in the wall behind them.

The 9th caution of the race came on lap 149 when Boris Said was spun by Joe Nemechek, and with the field bunched up together, Kyle Busch re-assumed the lead when he passed Jeff Gordon on lap 155. Another caution came out a lap later with a big spill involving Dave Blaney, Jimmie Johnson, Paul Menard, Regan Smith, JJ Yeley, David Reutimann, and Denny Hamlin, amongst others.

The field lined up for the sixth green-white-checkered finish of the season. Kyle Busch was out front, followed by Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards. A slow restart caused Edwards to get into the back of the no. 24, turning Gordon around onto the apron, but NASCAR chose not to waive the caution flag. Then, Edwards and Matt Kenseth ducked out of line and pulled up next to the race leader, but Kenseth’s car “couldn’t hold it down” on the high line.

In an unlikely turn of events, the race turned into Carl Edwards running side-by-side with Kyle Busch, but Carl’s teammate - Matt Kenseth - was pushing Kyle, and Kyle’s brother - Kurt Busch - was pushing the no. 99. As the two cars took turns pulling their nose ahead of the other, the cars started piling up behind them, and NASCAR finally brought out the caution. Officials then turned to video replay to decide who was in front when the caution flag actually came out, and it was determined that Kyle did in fact pull ahead of Edwards right at the last moment, naming him the winner.

Edwards went onto finish 2nd - his best Daytona finish - with his Roush teammate, Matt Kenseth in third, and Kurt Busch in 4th, despite starting all the way back in the 36th position. David Ragan recovered nicely from a pit road penalty that put him at the end of the field on lap 113, and he went onto finish 5th. Robby Gordon had a very solid race and even led a lap at one point, and he finished 6th. Kasey Kahne appeared to be headed for disaster when he was forced to pit with less than 10 to go due to a right fender rub, but he rebounded into the 7th position. After leading the most laps in the race, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car faded in the latter stages, as he settled for 8th. 9th place went to Clint Bowyer, who had a very quiet day as he worked his way up from 25th. And, Mark Martin rounded out the top-ten finishers after starting from the outside pole. There was also a point in the race where Mark got the opportunity to run up front with his three Hendrick teammates for next season.

Other Notables: Kevin Harvick finished the race in 12th, but it wasn’t enough to keep him in the top-12 in points, as he now sits 13th in the standings ….. Polesitter, Paul Menard, finished 15th ….. Driving in relief of Tony Stewart, JJ Yeley finished 20th, which was just enough to keep Stewart two points in front of Harvick ….. Jimmie Johnson finished 23rd ….. After appearing as though he might be in line for the victory on the final restart, Jeff Gordon plummeted to a 30th place finish ….. Last year’s race winner, Jamie McMurray, finished 32nd ….. Daytona 500 winner, Ryan Newman, finished 36th ….. Jeff Burton wound up 37th, ending his 23-race streak of top-15 finishes.

Grades:
the Racing - 95%
the Drama - 96%
Coverage - 92%
Pre-Race - 89%

Overall Grade: 94%

Recommended Reads:
- Kyle Busch Captures Win in Exciting Finish at Daytona International Speedway - (Racing for the Win)
- Live on Type Delay: Firecracker (Coke Zero) 400 - (RevJim’s Rans ‘n’ Raves)

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

Sprint Cup Series Standings (from nascar.com):

If you ask any driver or any team owner, they’ll be the first to tell you that every race is a big deal, and nobody can deny that. But, as I take a look at the starting grid for the Toyota Save/Mart 350 and then look at the points standings, when I combine that with everything that I know has already taken place in this crazy season, I can’t help but think that it especially holds true this weekend at Infineon Raceway, and it all starts right there at the top of the field.

Kasey Kahne has been on a helluva roll ever since he won the All-Star Race in Charlotte about a month ago. Of the four points races that have taken place since then, he’s won two of them and finished 2nd in another, with his only hiccup coming when he got caught up in the big pileup at Dover. Yet, the typical race fan would be quick to discount Kahne as a legitimate threat to win the championship this year, and would chalk it up as nothing more than a hot streak. Kasey must be privvy to these statements, though, because he didn’t let the fact that he’s never scored higher than 23rd at Infineon stop him from pacing the field during Friday’s qualifying runs and taking the pole for Sunday’s race. Now, with all of the momentum going in his favor, a win - or, even a top-five - could and probably would establish Kahne as the real deal … for this season at least.

The most disappointing team in 2008 has without a doubt been Penske Racing, where Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch are currently 17th and 19th in the points standings. Since pulling off their dramatic 1-2 finish in the season-opening Daytona 500, the duo has combined for only one more top-five and five more top-ten finishes. Looking to turn their seasons around, a stop at Infineon could be just what the doctor ordered. Both Newman and Busch rank amongst the series’ top-ten full-time active drivers at Infineon in terms of best average finishes, and both will be starting Sunday’s event from top-ten starting positions.

Perhaps the buzz of the town this weekend surrounds Marcos Ambrose, who will make his Sprint Cup debut when the green flag drops in Sonoma. Stepping inside of the no. 21 Ford for the Wood Brothers this weekend, Ambrose will be looking to use his road course expertise to turn a few heads at Sonoma in hopes of landing a ride in the series next year. He qualified 7th and led the final practice speeds, though he did lose control of the car about halfway through the practice session and ran into the tire barriers. There was a bit of damage sustained to the left side of the car, but the crew was able to repair the car, and there seems to be little concern over the mishap for Sunday.

And, of course every team owner in the garage will be expecting top results from their former open-wheel stars that have since joined the ranks of NASCAR full-time. Afterall, if these guys are unable to get the job on the road courses - the one place they’re expected to do well - then what kind of results should they really expect from their drivers on a weekly basis going forward? Just ask Dario Franchitti how secure he feels his job is now after the 2007 IndyCar Series champion failed to qualify for Sonoma. With that in mind, you can bet that fellow Ganassi teammate, Juan Pablo Montoya, will be looking to rebound from his 21st starting position and recapture some of the glory that helped him win this race last year. But, at least he doesn’t have it near as bad as Patrick Carpentier, whom has been rumored to be on the chopping block over at Gillette-Evernham Motorsports. Carpentier, a former IRL driver himself, will start Sunday’s race from the 37th position.

Road course racing has been on the receiving end of more than its chare of criticism from NASCAR fans over the years, and often finds itself on the losing end of such debates. Whether you’re a fan or not, though, one thing cannot be denied, and that’s the fact that this drama-filled season is sure to play a part at Sonoma.

*Credit photo to Newscom.

We all know that Joe Gibbs Racing has established themselves as the powerhouse of the field at this point in time. We know that Roush-Fenway Racing has come a long way in figuring out this new car and that Hendrick Motorsports seems to have lost the edge that they had on everyone else last year. We’ve analyzed potential contractual signings every which way we could, and still found ourselves locked in a guessing game. Been there, done that, but perhaps one of the stories that we haven’t talked nearly enough about are two teams that are holding out hope of getting a driver into contention for the Chase for the Cup for the first time in their team’s history, and another that hasn’t fielded a Chase contender since 2004.

Once considered one of the top organizations in NASCAR, Yates Racing last visited Victory Lane back in the Fall of 2005 when Dale Jarrett drove the no. 88 car to a win at Talladega and the last time they were able to land a driver inside the top-12 in points was with Elliott Sadler back in ‘04. Since those days, the team has gone through a horrendous rebuilding stage and continue to struggle week in and week out to find primary sponsorship of their cars driven by Travis Kvapil and David Gilliland. Both are highly regarded as “underdogs” every Sunday when the series hits the track, and both have failed to land a top-five finish all season long. Still, they’ve continued to push forward, and have managed to turn a few heads along the way, particularly Kvapil. Coming into the season as a driver that nobody really paid much attention to, Travis admittedly got off to a rather slow start. But, something seems to have clicked within this team ever since a solid run at Phoenix turned sour and he finished 22nd. After that race, Kvapil sat 24th in points, but four finishes of 16th or better in the last six races - highlighted with a 6th place run at Talladega and an 8th place run in Darlington - have now moved Travis up six spots in the standings. He’s now 18th in points and trails 12th place, Tony Stewart, by only 150 points.

Red Bull Racing has been the team that quite a few people have been talking about as of late. With Brian Vickers and AJ Allmendinger behind the wheel for the organization, the team managed to qualify for only 40 races in a combined 72 attempts in their inaugural season in 2007. Coming into the season with both cars outside of the top-35 in points and forced to qualify on time, Allmendinger again missed out on the first three events of ‘08 before being replaced temporarily by veteran driver, Mike Skinner. Despite failing to finish inside of the top-25 in any of the five races that Skinner filled in, the move appears to have paid dividends. AJ has been able to take what he’s learned from Skinner and put it to good use on the track, first winning the All-Star Showdown at Lowe’s to make the cut for the All-Star event itself, and then scoring a career best 12th place finish last week at Pocono. Still, the focus of the media on this team has been placed with Brian Vickers, who appears to be on the verge of scoring the second Cup victory of his career. After a disappointing 2007 that brought him only 1 top-five and 5 top-ten’s, Vickers has been impressive on several occassions this year, though it may not always show up in the results column. He’s been strong on all of the superspeedways, but the team really started to turn heads when they established themselves as one of the dominant cars in the Coca Cola 600 before an equipment failure ended their day. Since then he’s bounced back with a 13th place effort at Dover and finished 2nd last week at Pocono. Brian has now moved up to 17th place overall and trails 12th by a mere 112 points.

Rounding out the list of underdogs making a charge towards the Chase is non-other than Petty Enterprises. Despite the fact that this team has more wins than any other organization in the history of the sport and a slieu of championships from when “the King” himself, Richard Petty, drove the car, the company hasn’t celebrated a win since 1999 when John Andretti won at Martinsville, and the closest they’ve come to a bid for the Chase was an 18th place finish in the standings last year from Bobby LaBonte. Now, nobody’s really sure who will drive the no. 45 car next year as Kyle Petty, Chad McCumbee, and Terry LaBonte have all failed to do much with the ride, but Bobby continues to press forward. Though he’s failed to score a top-ten all season long, he does have seven top-15’s and has gone the entire year without a DNF, something that has hindered the team in recent years. Additionally, he’s got six finishes of 18th or better in the last eight races, which started with a 12th place run at Phoenix, and LaBonte now resides in 19th in the standings, trailing his former Gibbs teammate in 12th by 159 points.

As many of the drivers in the top-12 continue to experience their share of misfortunes as they bounce back and forth between the bubble spots, this could be a prime opportunity for one of these teams to capitalize. But, with the recent emergance of guys like David Ragan, the resurgance of Matt Kenseth, and other perrenial Chase hopefuls such as Ryan Newman and Martin Truex Jr. standing between them as well, the guys currently in the top-12 may not be all they’ll have to contend with.

DYN Imposes:
This week, Do You NASCAR also asks its readers …

1. Which driver in these 3 organizations will be the first to score their first / next win?
2. Are consistent top-15 and top-20 runs going to be enough to land a driver in the Chase field?
3. Which of these teams has made the best organizational move(s) in the last 2 years?
4. Will any of these 3 teams get a driver into the 2008 Chase? If so, who?

*Credit photos to Newscom.

Image details: Pocono 500 Qualifying served by picapp.com

For the second time in his Sprint Cup career, Kasey Kahne has turned the quickest qualifying lap at Pocono, thus earning himself the Coors Lite Pole Award. His first pole position at Pocono came back in 2004 when he set the track qualifying record at 172.533 mph. The lap he turned on Friday afternoon was about 2 mph slower and took 52.873 seconds, but it got the job done, nonetheless, and he will start Sunday’s Pocono 500 from the inside of row 1.

Jimmie Johnson was the first driver to qualify for the race and had the pole locked up until Kahne beat him out for the privelege. Johnson’s lap was still good enough to earn him a spot in the front row, though, and he will lineup next to Kahne on the front row of Sunday’s starting grid. The DEI cars of Mark Martin and Regan Smith qualified third and fourth, followed by Joe Nemecheck and Carl Edwards, who will make up row 3 for the start of the race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will look to rebound from last week’s misfortunes at Dover, and qualifying 7th is a good start for accomplishing that mission. Starting next to him on the outside of row 4 will be AJ Allmendinger, who has been red hot during qualifying these past few weeks. And, completing the top-ten starters for the race will be Scott Riggs and Kyle Busch, who qualified 9th and 10th.

Qualifying 11th through 13th are three drivers that many are expecting to contend for the win on Sunday, as Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, and Matt Kenseth will occupy those positions. The heavy favorite to win at Pocono, though, is Denny Hamlin, who qualified 16th. Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon had perhaps the most disappointing runs on Friday, though, as they qualified 27th and 38th respectively. The number 96 Hall of Fame Racing car driven by JJ Yeley was the only car that failed to qualify for the event.

Image details: Best Buy 400 served by picapp.com

For many viewers, about the only real excitement during Sunday’s Best Buy 400 at Dover International Speedway came on lap 18 of the 400 lap event when Elliott Sadler - in an effort to clear the lapped car of Jeremy Mayfield - slid down the track and clipped the nose of David Gilliland, setting off a chain reaction that collected a total of twelve cars. Included in the accident were six drivers that entered the day in the top-12 in points, including Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Tony Stewart. As fate would have it, none of these drivers fell out of the top-12, but there was quite a bit of shakeup in the points themselves, nonetheless.

For Stewart, it marked the second time in just three races that his car had been in an accident that also involved Sadler, the first of which came on the second lap of the Dodge Challenger 500 a few weeks ago at Darlington. In that event, Sadler’s car bobbled getting into Turn 2 and got into Stewart, knocking the toe of Tony’s car in the process. While Sadler was forced to retire to the garage, Stewart found himself two laps down. Despite being able to repair the car enough to give Smoke the fastest car on the track by the end of the race, he was never able to get back onto the lead lap, and thus was forced to settle with a 21st place finish.

Following the race this past Sunday, Stewart sarcastically assumed responsibility for the accident, stating, “If I’m within a half a lap of him, I expect that to happen. It’s my fault. I hit him. When I hit him, it caused all the guys behind us to wreck. So, it’s my fault.”

Stewart has been on the receiving end of a lot of bad luck this season, which also includes a cut tire on the final lap of the Coca Cola 600 that robbed him of his first win of the season, and he’s now dropped to 11th in points, just 35 points ahead of 13th place, David Ragan. But, as Smoke fans already know, not only is it now officially “his time of the year,” but Stewart also has a habit of performing better when he adds a bit of attitude to his walk. A short little feud with Sadler could be the ticket.

Image details: Nextel Prelude To The Dream served by picapp.com

If you thought it was bad sitting through the rain delay that slowed down the action this past Saturday for the Nationwide’s Heluva Good! 200 at Dover International Speedway, then you’re not the only one feeling the anguish that Mother Nature can put on racing events.

Fullthrottle.com has reported that rainy skies have delayed - or, in some cases altogether postponed - racing events across the nation this past week.  The Tri-Track Challenge Series that takes place at Paducah International Raceway, Macon Speedway, and I-55 Raceway probably felt the weather a bit more than most.

After the first leg of the Tri-Track Challenge on Friday was won by Ken Schrader at Paducah with a last lap pass over second place finisher, Jason Feger, the second race - held at I-55 scheduled for Saturday, May 31st - was rained out just prior to the hotlaps, and they have re-scheduled the event for August 2nd. The third event - held in Macon, IL - was also delayed by rain, though they eventually got that race underway. 

As if all that rain weren’t enough for Schrader, he was again slated to run on Tuesday at the Iowa Sate Fairgrounds along with fellow NASCAR driver, Kenny Wallace, but that, too, was halted by some nasty weather. That race has been re-scheduled for June 16th.

Wednesday evening will bring the annual running of the Prelude to the Dream race held at Eldora Speedway in Ohio. The event will feature a myriad of NASCAR stars, including Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, and others.

For more information on this story, as well as message from Ken and Ann Schrader, please read Where in the World are Wallace and Schrader? over at Full Throttle.