The start flag will drop on another event in the Nationwide Series, the Nashville 300, at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee this Saturday, the first Nationwide Series event for Ricky Stenhouse Jr, a talented driver who showed promise last year. Stenhouse will be driving the No. 16 car for the popular and well respected owner, Jack Roush, who last sat in Victory Lane at Las Vegas with Greg Biffle. Roush currently sits fifth in owner’s points and will be vying for his 100^th win in the Nationwide Series at Nashville; Stenhouse is a talented driver who could help get him closer, so the combination makes sense for both. Stenouse is scheduled to make six other starts this season, at Kentucky, Milwaukee, Gateway, Iowa, and Memphis, and a second start at Nashville, so you’ll get a chance to check out his driving style a few times.

Nationwide Series at Nashville on Saturday

There will be three Roush Fenway Race cars on the track on Saturday, as Stenhouse will be racing beside Carl Edwards and David Ragan. Edwards will be trying for his fourth victory at Nashville and is the current series points leader, while David Ragan currently sits third in the points standings and is putting heat on his teammate to pick up the pace.

Other drivers to watch at Nashville on Saturday are No. 40 Scott Wimmer, besides being the defending champion he has finished in the top ten in eight of his nine races at the track. No. 60 Carl Edwards is always a threat to win at Nashville, with six top five finishes in seven races, including three victories; he’s probably the one to beat. My dark horse is No. 88 Brad Keselowski, who finished fourth and second last year at Nashville, and ran a pretty respectable third last week at Texas, so he seems to be running good.

It will be fun to watch the battles on the track and see who comes out on top Saturday in Nashville, so we’ll see you after the race, and we’ll compare notes.

Image: Newscom

For those of you that have had yourselves so engrossed with the notion of Austin Dillon one day making it to the Cup Series level to run the Richard Childress Racing number 3 car that was formerly run by racing great, Dale Earnhardt, you may be unaware that yet another relative of a long-time car owner at the Cup Series level has embarked on his journey to future stardome through the ARCA/Re Maxx Series.

Matt Carter, the recently turned 27 year old son of Travis Carter, gave himself a belated birthday present this past Saturday night at Toledo Speedway by winning the Hantz Group 200. Carter held off Patrick Sheltra in the closing laps of the caution filled race, and managed to escape with the win only 0.115 seconds ahead of his challenger. Matt was making only his seventh career start in the series and has now pulled himself into a tie for the series’ points lead with last week’s race winner, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., just 20 points ahead of Frank Kimmel.

Other notables in the race included David Ragan, who finished fifth; Stenhouse, who finished seventh; and Ken Schrader who raced his way to a ninth place finish. The series will take back to the track on June 7th at Pocono Raceway for the running of the Pocono 200.

Roush-Fenway Racing’s developmental driver, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, brought home his first set of checkered flags in the ARCA Series during the Kentucky 150 this past Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway. Stenhouse, driving the no. 99 Roush-Fenway Ford Fushion, had to outduel Scott Speed, driver of the no. 2 Red Bull Toyota, through three late-race restarts, and beat him to the line by a mere 0.374 seconds to get the win.

Speed led 55 of the 112 laps, and held a commanding lead over the rest of the field with only 10 laps remaining until a series of wrecks tightened the field up and gave Stenhouse the opportunity to make the pass for the lead on the second restart. Speed went onto finish second, and Ryan Fischer battled his way back from an earlier spin to finish up third. Speed’s teammate, Ken Butler III finished fourth, and John Wesley Townley rounded out the top-five with his fifth place finish.

Following the race, Stenhouse, who took over the lead in the points standings, said, “I don’t know if it has really sunk in yet. I think the win probably won’t sink in until a little later on. We’ve come out here and have had good runs, and to finally have a win is great.”

The series returns to action next Saturday night at Toledo Speedway for the Hantz Group 200.

This week, I’ve decided to compile a list of the top-ten future potential stars in NASCAR. The basis for this list isn’t based purely on driving skill, but also on other aspects that can contribute to their future success such as their organization, or even gender.

10. Justin Allgaier - 21 years-old, currently driving in his third full season in the ARCA/REMAXX Series. Has compiled one victory in each of the past three seasons.

9. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. - 20 years-old, has recorded 2 wins and 4 top-five’s through his first 20 races in the USAC Series.

8. Brad Keselowski - 24 years-old, currently driving in the Nationwide Series for Bob & Kay Keselowski. Currently 7th in points with 4 top-ten finishes.

7. Steve Wallace - The twenty-year-old son of Rusty Wallace; finished 17th in the Nationwide Series points standings last year, and currently 15th in points with a top-five and two top-ten’s.

6. Marcos Ambrose - The 30-year-old Australlian native has won several accolades in lesser series, and is known as an accomplished road racer. He’s turning that into some noticeable stock car success, and through two seasons has 2 top-five’s and 8 top-ten’s. He’s currently 16th in the Nationwide points standings.

5. Brad Coleman - Brad has a future with Joe Gibbs Racing, though the timeline is still a bit sketchy as long as JGR has Joey Logano in the waiting. He made his debut in the Nationwide Series this year and is currently 17th in points with one top-ten finish through ten races.

4. Austin Dillon - Being the grandson of Cup Series teamowner, Richard Childress, is sure to have its perks, and having the fortune to know that you can one day bring Dale Earnhardt’s former number back into NASCAR one day is one of them. He already has a win this season in the Camping World East Series, and is expected to win quite a few more before long.

3. Chrissy Wallace - She earned herself a top-20 finish in her first career start in the Craftsman Truck Series in March, and has recently signed a deal with Germain Racing that will have her competing full-time in 2009. With her family name, superior backing inside the NASCAR garage, and her appeal as a standout female star, big things could be on the horizon for Chrissy Wallace.

2. Aric Almirola - He’s scheduled to run a part-time schedule this year inside the no. 8 car for DEI that includes 12 races, the first of which came earlier in 2008 with a top-five run at Bristol. He’s currently slated to run full-time for the organization when Mark Martin goes into full retirement, which could be as early as next year.

1. Joey Logano - His future lies with Joe Gibbs Racing, producer of three Cup Series championships, and could have a pretty sweet deal lined up for himself depending on what Tony Stewart decides to do at the end of his contract in 2009. He recently won his first-ever start in the ARCA series a little over a week ago in Rockingham, and will make his first Nationwide start at the end of this month when he turns 18 years old.