Image details: Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 served by picapp.com

Even with the Sprint Cup Series taking the week off, it was still a busy weekend for Missouri native, Carl Edwards …. particularly because he decided to commit to a three-day bicycle trip from his hometown of Columbia, MO to the track that lies in Madison, IL - just outside of the St. Louis metro-area.

Edwards made the trip and got to the track in time to qualify third for the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 at Gateway International Raceway, and then passed Jason Leffler with 48 laps remaining en route to picking up the win Saturday night. The win gave Edwards his second Nationwide Series win of the season, and the second of his career at Gateway.

Driving the dominant no. 20 car for Joe Gibbs Racing in just his fifth NNS start, Joey Logano started the race fourth and finished second, as he was unable to track down Edwards in the closing laps of the race. Jason Keller, Jason Leffler, and Brad Keselowski completed the top-five finishers, with rookie driver, Landon Cassill, running in 6th.

An incident involving David Reutimann and Brad Keselowski brought out the final caution of the day. The restart came on lap 146 with Edwards running third behined Jason Leffler and eventual 7th place finisher, James Buescher. The top two cars, however, took only two tires under the caution period, with Edwards taking four, which ultimately made all the difference in the world, passing Leffler for the lead just six laps later.

Earlier on a lap 116 restart, Landon Cassill got into the back of Scott Wimmer, setting off a chain reaction that eliminated the cars of Mike Bliss, Steve Wallace, and defending race winner, Reed Sorenson. Polesitter, Jamie McMurray, was in the lead at the time, but later retired with engine problems after lap 152.

Points leader, Clint Bowyer, finished 8th; David Ragan was 10th; and Marcos Ambrose ran in 15th. The hometown favorites of Mike, Kenny, and Steve Wallace finished 11th, 18th, and 26th respectively. Kenny was the only one of the three to lead any laps during the race.

Clint Bowyer and Brad Keselowski maintained the top two spots in the Nationwide standings, while Carl Edwards jumped up a spot to #3, where he now sits 201 points out of first.

Complete Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 Results.

Nationwide Series Standings (from nascar.com):

Image details: Diamond Hill Plywood 200 served by picapp.com

Tony Stewart came into the 2008 season with only four tracks on the Sprint Cup Series schedule that he’d never won either a Cup race or a Nationwide race at in his career, but he won the Nationwide Series races at Fontana and Talladega, and now he can go ahead and mark Darlington off his list as well.

Stewart started Friday night’s Diamond Hill Plywood 200 from the second row, but finished 0.815 seconds ahead of the series points leader, Clint Bowyer, to secure his fourth checkered flag in the six events he’s competed in the series this year. Stewart led the most laps on the day, but may not have actually been the car to beat. Matt Kenseth held more than a two-second lead over Tony when he came in for an unscheduled pit stop for four fresh tires on lap 121. Trying to catch the first car a lap down to be in position for the luck dog, Kenseth wrecked going through turn 4, ending his hopes for a victory.

With only three laps remaining, Stewart led Mark Martin to the green flag after the field came out of caution from a David Ragan spin. Martin stalled out on the restart, which set-off a six-car pileup and setup NASCAR’s notorious green-white-checkered finish. Stewart was able to pull away from Bowyer to get the win. The win gives Joe Gibbs Racing their sixth consecutive victory, and their 8th overall. David Reutimann, Todd Bodine, and Steve Wallace finished out the top-five.

Defending Nationwide Series champion, Carl Edwards, came into the race second in points, but blew a tire on lap 2 and smacked the wall. The wreck ended his day, and he finished dead last, dropping him down to third in the rankings. Kyle Busch leap-frogged Edwards in the points and took over the second position.

For more of this race coverage, please read Stewart Wins at Darlington over at the Finish Line.

Nationwide Series Standings (from nascar.com): 

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.

Denny Hamlin won Friday night’s Lipton Tea 250 in the Nationwide Series by passing Kevin Harvick on lap 242 of the 253 lap race, and then held off the former Nationwide Series champ in a green-white-checkered finish. Hamlin’s lead prior to the lap 247 caution had opened up to more than two seconds, but he finished just 0.790 seconds ahead of Harvick after the two-lap dash to the finish.

The win makes Hamlin nearly perfect at his native tracks this year in Virginia. Denny won his first race of the season in April by winning the race in Martinsville, he won Friday’s Nationwide race in Richmond, and he will start Saturday night’s Sprint Cup race in Richmond from the pole position. The win also gives Joe Gibbs Racing five consecutive victories in the series.

For Harvick, it was a bit of disappointment despite finishing 2nd. He is still in search of his first win of the year, and more importantly, the first win while driving his own car for Kevin Harvick, Inc., and he almost had it – leading nearly a hundred consecutive laps before being passed by Hamlin with 11 laps to go.  Kyle Busch had found himself a lap down earlier in the night, but was able to bounce back for a third place finish. He held off Steve Wallace on the final lap of the race, who finished fourth. David Ragan completed the top-five.

Nationwide points leader, Clint Bowyer, finished ninth, while his pursuer, Carl Edwards, finished two spots ahead in seventh. Edwards was able to gain a few more points on Bowyer in the standings and now trails first place by only nine points.

Nationwide Standings:

For those NASCAR fans that thought after the retirement of Rusty Wallace two years ago that the sole responsibility of getting the Wallace family name into the headlines of the racing world would fall squarely on the shoulders of young Lauren (Warren?) Wallace, you could be sadly mistaken. No, I’m not talking about the trio that currently occupies the Nationwide Series – Mike, Kenny, and Steve – and, I’m not even referring to the team of Rusty Wallace Inc.  I’m actually making reference to the 20-year-old Chrissy Wallace.

For those of you not familiar with the name, Chrissy is the daughter of Mike Wallace, and the niece of future Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace. She’s been racing for a few years now, particularly in late model events in North and South Carolina. She has won four late model events and is also the first female to win a late model stock car event at Hickory Speedway in the track’s 57 year history. Additionally, she’s won forty-plus races in legends cars.

Now, according to Raygan Swan at nascar.com, Chrissy will officially embark on her professional career on March 29th of this year when she competes in the Craftsman Truck Series’ Kroger 250 at Martinsville. She has partnered herself with the Toyota team Germain Racing and will compete in at least five Craftsman Truck races as well as five ARCA races throughout the course of the season. If she runs well in those events, who knows, she could potentially be tapped to run more events if scheduling permits. Chrissy’s father, Michael, also races for Germain in the Nationwide Series, and this move will officially make them the first father-daughter combo to ever race for the same team in NASCAR.

In response to questions regarding the status of women in NASCAR – or, in the racing world in general – Chrissy stated, “I feel more accepted here, especially lately because I proved my point by winning. But, guys have it stuck in their heads that females don’t need to be out here. The phrase ‘never a successful female’ is stuck in owners’ minds and some have said we don’t run well and look like idiots, but if you don’t take a chance, you’ll never know.”

In a potential prelude to tomorrow’s Sprint Cup Series’ running of the Daytona 500, Tony Stewart was able to find victory lane for Joe Gibbs Racing in a wild race at the Camping World 300 at Daytona International Raceway, giving Toyota its third NASCAR victory in the last two days. After Brad Keselowski brought out a late-race caution by spinning and collecting several other cars, including Steve Wallace, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Jason Keller, and others, racing resumed with only six laps to go. The Gibbs cars of Stewart and Kyle Busch were able to outrun Dale Earnhardt Jr, Brian Vickers, and Matt Kenseth, with Stewart crossing the line just 0.259 seconds ahead of Busch.

The victory marked “Smoke’s” third win in this event in the past four years, and it was Busch’s second consecutive year finishing runner-up. Perhaps even more impressive is the charge Toyota has made during this Toyota stretch by finishing 2nd last week in the Budweiser Shootout, then winning the second Sprint Cup Gatorade Duel and the Craftsman Truck Series season-opener on Friday, and then winning the Nationwide season opener. As for Earnhardt Jr, he stated that he was just happy to have gotten to participate in the race after failing post-qualifying inspection earlier this week (fines and penalties will be assessed later this week), and appears to be quite content with a third place finish. Stewart will attempt to become only the sixth driver in history to sweep both the Saturday and Sunday races at Daytona.

Complete Results (credit nascar.com):