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.

Post from: EveryJoe

Rain Puts a Damper on Racing Across the Country

Image details: Heluva Good! 200 served by picapp.com

Saturday’s running of the Heluva Good! 200 at Dover International Speedway in the Nationwide Series ended with Denny Hamlin pulling his no. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry into Victory Lane, giving Gibbs their season leading 9th victory on the year. After sitting through a 3 hour rain delay due to storms along the east coast, Hamlin, who started the race on the outside of the front row next to polesitter, Carl Edwards, was the dominant car for most of the day, leading the most laps in the race and ultimately beating Edwards to the finish line with a 1.154 second lead. Edwards went onto finish second.

“It was alright,” Edwards said. “Second’s no fun, it’s not what we come here for, but my hat’s off to Denny. He did a great job. I just wish I could have got up to him.”

David Stremme used some late race pit strategy with a two-tire stop for some much needed track position, and he wound up third. Fourth place went to David Reutimann, and Greg Biffle wound up fifth after passing rookie, Joey Logano, in the closing laps of the race to take that position.

Logano – who started the race in 9th – ran solidly all day long in his Nationwide Series debut, but found himself in trouble early on. He made contact with the no. 9 Dodge of Kasey Kahne during a round of pit stops and was forced to return to the pits for a second time under caution, and he restarted back in the 28th position on lap 26. By the time that the next caution flag waived in the air just twenty laps later, Logano had worked his way up eleven spots to 17th, and he gradually worked his way through the field for the remainder of the race before finishing 6th.

Following the race, Logano stated, “We were a sixth place car and finished sixth. Overall it was a good day. I was hoping for that top-five, but I screwed up in the pits and put myself in a position that I didn’t need to. We’ll see what happens next.”

Clint Bowyer entered the race with the points lead, and a solid 9th place effort was good enough to keep him at the top of the standings, though Kyle Busch – second in points – gave him a little extra insurance earlier on. Busch, who had been running near the front for the entire race, was running ahead of Braun Racing teammate, Jason Leffler, when Leffler’s no. 38 Toyota got loose and hit Busch from behind. Both cars then collided with the outside retaining wall, ending both of their days permanently.

Busch, who finished in 28th and now trails Bowyer by 122 points, said, “I just have a teammate that can’t stand to be number two. I don’t know what Leffler was thinking there.”

Following the accident, Leffler apologized to both Kyle Busch and car owner, Todd Braun.

Nationwide Series Standings:

Post from: EveryJoe

Logano Finishes 6th in NASCAR Debut

Image details: NASCAR Testing Day 1 served by picapp.com

Dario Franchitti, driver of the no. 40 Target car for Chip Ganassi Racing, returned to the track on Tuesday for the first time since incurring his ankle injury a month ago at Talladega. Dario was on-hand for NASCAR’s test session at Pocono Raceway in preparation for the upcoming Pocono 500 two weeks from now which the husband of movie star, Ashley Judd, plans to participate in.

Since the injury to Franchitti back on April 26th in the Nationwide’s Aaron’s 312, car owner, Chip Ganassi, has used an extended list of contacts to keep the seat of the no. 40 car filled for the interim. Ganassi turned to Penske Racing’s test driver, David Stremme, for the Cup race at Talladega, and then Ken Schrader for Richmond, and then most recently, former Ganassi driver, Sterling Marlin, at Darlington and last weekend at Lowe’s. The team failed to qualify for the Dan Lowry 400 in Richmond, and posted an average finish of just 31.0 in the other three events.

Though Franchitti is considering possibly competing in this weekend’s Nationwide race at Dover, the Heluva Good! 200, Ganassi plans to run Jeremy Mayfield in the car for Sunday’s Cup race. Mayfield has been out of a ride since his release from Haas CNC Racing earlier in the season, and many people feel that he has just about run out of anymore good potential opportunities for the future. After touring with the soldiers in Iraq for 12 days earlier in the month, Mayfield now must concentrate on putting together a solid run this weekend if he hopes to have a shot at landing a solid ride for 2009.

Post from: EveryJoe

Ganassi Slates Mayfield for Dover; Franchitti for Pocono