Winn-Dixie 250
July 4, 2008
Daytona Intl. Speedway
TV: 7:30pm EST on ESPN2
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Built Ford Tough 225
July 12, 2008
Kentucky Speedway
TV: 6:30pm EST on SPEED
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Indianapolis race weekend
July 25-27, 2008
O'Reilly Raceway Park
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Winner's Quote of the Week
"This is what you live for, this is what you race for, and that is to go to Victory Lane.’ I'm happy to bring it home for Miller Lite and Dodge today.”
Kurt Busch after winning the LENOX Industrial Tools 301.
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7/2: Updated the Power Gauge for Daytona. Updated the Nationwide stats & records page after New Hampshire. Updated the Truck stats & records page after Memphis.
7/1: Updated the Cup driver stat pages after New Hampshire. Updated the Cup league stats & records page after New Hampshire.
6/30: Updated the Cup results, standings, rookie points & money points after New Hamphshire. Updated the all-time winners page. Updated the New Hampshire track stats page. Updated the Cup & Nationwide winless streak pages. Updated the Truck rookie points and segment driver scores.
6/29: Updated the Truck results and standings after Memphis.
6/28: Updated the Nationwide results, standings, top 10 and rookie points after New Hampshire.
6/27: Updated the Nationwide & Truck stats & records pages after Milwaukee.
6/26: Updated the Power Gauge for New Hampshire.
6/25: Updated the Cup league stats & records page after Sonoma. Updated the Truck series segment driver scores. Updated the Cup team pages after Sonoma.
6/24: Updated the Infineon Raceway track stats page. Updated the Cup driver stat pages after Sonoma.
6/23: Updated the Cup team standings, money points and rookie points after Sonoma. Updated the all-time winners list. Updated the Cup & Nationwide winless streak pages.
6/22: Updated the Nationwide results and standings after Milwaukee. Updated the Nationwide and Truck series top 10 finishers and rookie points. Updated the Cup series results and standings after Sonoma.
6/21: Updated the Truck results and standings after Milwaukee.
6/20: Added The Dog House page to the site. Updated the Nationwide stats & records page after Kentucky.
6/19: Updated the Power Gauge for Infineon.
6/18: Updated the Cup driver stat pages after Michigan. Updated the Cup league stats & records page. Updated the Truck segment driver scores & truck stats page after Michigan.
6/17: Updated the all-time winners list, Michigan track stats page, Cup & Nationwide winless streak pages & all team pages.
6/16: Updated all 4 series results and standings.
6/12: Updated the Truck segment driver scores after Texas. Updated the Truck stats & records page after Texas. Updated the Nationwide stats & records page after Nashville.
6/11: Updated the Power Gauge for Michigan.
6/10: Updated the Cup driver stat pages after Pocono. Updated the Cup league stats & records page after Pocono.
6/9: Updated the all-time winners list. Updated the Pocono track stats page. Updated the Cup & Nationwide winless streak pages. Updated the team pages after Pocono.
6/8: Updated the Nationwide results and standings after Nashville. Updated the Nationwide top 10 finishers and rookie points. Updated the Cup results and standings after Pocono.
6/7: Updated the Truck results and standings after Texas. Updated the Truck top 10 finishers and rookie points.
6/5: Updated the Cup and Nationwide winless streaks after Dover. Updated the Nationwide & Truck stats & records pages after Dover.
6/4: Updated the Cup league stats & records page after Dover. Updated the Power Gauge for Pocono.
6/3: Updated the Cup driver stat pages after Dover.
6/2: Updated the all-time winners list after Dover. Updated the Dover Track stats page. Updated the member directory. Updated the Cup team pages after Dover.
6/1: Updated the Bud Shootout pole count after Dover. Updated the Cup results and standings after Dover.
5/31: Updated the Truck results and standings after Dover. Updated the Truck rookie points, segment drivers & top 10 finishers. Updated the Nationwide results, standings, rookie points & top 10 finishers after Dover.
5/30: Updated the Power Gauge for Dover. Updated the Truck stats & records page after Mansfield. Updated the Nationwide stats & records page after Lowe's.
5/29: Updated the Cup league stat pages after Lowe's. Updated the Cup stats & records page after Lowe's.
5/26: Updated the Cup results, standings, rookie points and money points after Lowe's. Updated the LROC results and standings after race #5. Updated the all-time winners page & Lowe's Track stats page. Updated the Cup and Nationwide winless streak pages.
5/25: Updated the Nationwide results and standings after Lowe's. Updated the Nationwide rookie points & top 10 finishers.
5/24: Updated the Truck results and standings after Mansfield. Updated the Truck rookie points, top 10 finishers & segment driver scores.
5/21: Updated the Truck stats & records page after Lowe's.
5/20: Updated the All-Star stats and standings after 2008.
5/19: Updated the all-time winners page.
5/18: Updated the All-Star results. Added the All-Star award to Nathan Helton's page.
5/16: Updated the Truck results and standings after Lowe's. Updated the rookie points, top 10 finishers and segment points.
5/15: Updated the Power Gauge for Lowe's. Updated the Nationwide stats & records page after Darlington.
5/14: Updated the Cup stats & records page after Darlington. Updated the Truck stats & records page after Kansas.
5/13: Updated the Cup league stat pages after Darlington. Updated the team pages after Darlington.
5/12: Updated the all-time winners list after Darlington. Updated the Darlington track stats page. Updated the Bud Shootout pole count page. Updated the Cup & Nationwide winless streak pages.
5/11: Updated the Cup results and standings after Darlington.
5/9: Updated the Nationwide stats & records page after Richmond. Updated the Nationwide results and strandings after Darlington. Updated the Nationwide top 10 finishers and rookie points.
5/8: Updated the Power Gauge for Darlington.
5/7: Updated the Cup stats & records page after Richmond.
5/6: Updated the Cup league stat pages after Richmond.
5/5: Updated the All-time winners page after Richmond. Updated the Richmond track stats page. Updated the team pages after Richmond.
5/4: Updated the Cup results, standings, money points and rookie points after Richmond. added the Nationwide page for Robby Stone.
5/3: Updated the Nationwide results, standings, rookie points & top 10 finishers after Richmond.
5/2: Updated the Cup and Nationwide stats & records pages after Talladega. Updated the Power Gauge for Richmond.
4/30: Updated the team pages after Talladega.
4/28: Updated the LROC results for week 4. Updated the all-time winners page. Updated the Talladega track stats page. Updated the Cup and Nationwide winless streak pages. Updated the Cup league stat pages.
4/27: Updated the Truck results and standings after Kansas. Updated the Cup results and standings after Talladega. Updated the Cup money and rookie points.
4/26: Updated the Nationwide results and standings after Talladega. Updated the Nationwide rookie points & top 10 finishers.
4/23: Updated the Nationwide stats & records page after Mexico. Updated the all-time winners page. Updated the Nationwide winless streaks page.
4/20: Updated the Nationwide results and standings after Mexico. Updated the rookie points & top 10 finishers.
4/18: Updated the Nationwide stats & records page after Phoenix.
4/17: Updated the Power Gauge for Talladega.
4/16: Updated the Cup league stat pages after Phoenix. Updated the Cup stats & records page after Phoenix.
4/14: Updated the all-time winners page after Phoenix. Updated the Phoenix track stats page. Updated the Cup and Nationwide winless streak pages. Updated the team pages.
4/13: Updated the Cup results, standings, money points and rookie points after Phoenix.
4/12: Updated the Nationwide results and standings after Phoenix. Updated the Nationwide rookie points and top 10 finishers.
4/11: Updated the Nationwide stats & records page after Texas.
4/10: Updated the Power Gauge for Phoenix.
4/9: Updated the Cup league stat pages after Texas. Updated the Cup league stats & records page after Texas.
4/8: Updated the team pages after Texas.
4/7: Updated the all-time winners page after Texas. Updated the Texas track stats page. Updated the Cup and Nationwide streak pages.
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Busch Wins a Wet and Wild One
Associated Press
LOUDON, N.H. (AP) -- Kurt Busch had strategy and luck on his side. Tony Stewart had neither.
That's how Busch wound up ending his 29-race winless string Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the rain-shortened Lenox Industrial Tools 301, while the frustrated Stewart simply added another disheartening loss to his own winless string that has reached 31 races.
"Sometimes you just don't win 'em the right way," Busch said. "I think we can honestly say that, but we had a lot of work and a lot of effort put in today and we'll take it."
It is the first victory for the Penske Racing driver since September at California Speedway, and it came on a day when two-time Cup champion Stewart dominated, leading 132 of 284 laps, only to see the hard luck that has dogged him all season continue.
Busch hasn't had much to celebrate this season, either.
Since finishing second to teammate Ryan Newman in the season-opening Daytona 500, the 2004 Cup champion had finished in the top 10 only once and came into this event 22nd in the points. But Sunday turned out to be his day, thanks to crew chief Pat Tryson's decision to keep his No. 2 Dodge on track when Stewart and several other lead cars pitted during a late caution period.
When rain eventually ended the race 17 laps short, with the field under a red flag on pit road, Busch had his 18th career victory and Stewart was an unhappy 13th.
"I've been on the flipside of it plenty of times," Busch said. "There's those times when you just grit your teeth and go, "What could we have done different? Why did it happen this way?' So it isn't pretty, but we'll take it.
"That's the beauty of Sprint Cup racing is the competition level is always at its best. Sometimes the guys that have fast race cars don't win because they got outdueled in the pits with pit strategy. You take 'em when you can get 'em because you get burned plenty of times the other way."
Runner-up Michael Waltrip, who had not finished better than 23rd this season, used the same strategy as Busch. The two-time Daytona 500 winner said he was hoping the race would go to the end because he believed he had a faster car than Busch. But Busch believed he could hold the top spot.
"I felt like it was going to be a great duel down to the end with everybody on old tires, everybody would have been slipping and sliding," Busch said. "I felt we had track position and I felt like my fire and desire was going to overcome anything today to get into Victory Lane.
"Once I saw that we were leading and we were out in front with 26 (laps) to go, that good old Kurt Busch jumped up on the wheel and I told myself, "Don't let your team down. This is what you live for. This is what you race for, and that is to get into Victory Lane."
Tryson said Busch could have won even if the rain hadn't been cut short.
"To be honest, we were rooting for it not to rain because we had the fuel milage to make it to the end and the other guys were going to have to pit, so we weren't really counting on the rain," he said. "It just kind of worked out that they all pitted there and then it rained. But it could have worked out the other way, too.
Stewart, who dominated the second half of the race on the 1.058-mile oval, held off a challenge from two-time reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson late in the race and appeared on the way to his first victory since August at Watkins Glen, N.Y. But Stewart and most of the other drivers who had been racing at the front of the pack did not have enough gas to get to the end.
On lap 271, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had been in the top 10 all day, started toward pit road and was hit from behind by Jamie McMurray, who then spun into David Ragan, bringing out a caution.
Stewart and the rest of the front-runners pitted under the ensuing yellow flag, while Busch and seven other drivers who had pitted more recently than the leaders, stayed on track.
The race restarted on lap 279, but there was another caution on lap 280, with Clint Bowyer and rookie Sam Hornish Jr. crashing, then Juan Pablo Montoya slamming into series points leader Kyle Busch, Kurt's younger brother, moments later. Montoya was later assessed a two-lap penalty by NASCAR for rough driving and finished 32nd.
The rain that had been threatening for much of the afternoon began falling during that caution and, moments after the cars were red-flagged onto pit lane just before completing lap 285, NASCAR called the race, leaving Busch on top, ahead of Waltrip, J.J. Yeley, Martin Truex Jr., Elliott Sadler, Reed Sorenson and Casey Mears, all of whom had stayed on track during the previous caution.
Waltrip said it was strategy, not rain, that gave him the solid finish.
"The reason why I'm sitting here is because we got an opportune caution late in the race and took advantage of race position," the owner-driver said.
Within minutes after the race was official, the sky opened up and lightning began flashing around the speedway, emptying the stands in a hurry and forcing Busch to hold his victory celebration in the shelter of the garage area.
Stewart took a while getting out of his car and could hardly believe his fate.
"It's just been the oddest year I've ever seen for this race team," he said. "It's just frustrating. There isn't anybody that's going to tell you any different than that. There's nothing you can do. If there was something we could do about it we'd change it.
"It's not because of lack of effort," added Stewart, who took two tires on his final pit stop and finished 13th. "I've got some of the best guys in the garage area and I've had 'em for 10 years. It's the worst string of bad luck we've ever seen, but there's nothing we can do about it."
Kyle Busch wound up 25th on Sunday, while series runner-up Jeff Burton, who finished 12th, climbed from 103 points behind to just 64 heading into next Saturday night's race at Daytona.
In Lucky Dog Racing's Cup Series, Daniel Schmittou broke a 59 race winless streak to get his first victory of the season and first since October 2006. Dan won the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 by just a 5 point margin over R.J. Palmer and Marty Fleissner who tied in points. R.J. got 2nd place while Marty finished in 3rd and took over the points standings.
Marty's finish gave Mafia Motorsports 2 members in the top 5 but Intimidator Racing, Inc. also had 2 as Troy Wiggins recorded his consecutive top 5 to finish 4th. Charquillia Addison rebounded from her struggles to finish in 5th.
LOUDON, N.H. -- Aside from Tony Stewart becoming the 22nd different winner in 22 Nationwide Series races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the outcome of Saturday's Camping World RV Sales 200 was more of the same for NASCAR's Triple-A division.
Stewart's victory was the eighth of the season for the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, which has carried four different drivers to victory lane this year -- Stewart on five occasions and Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and rookie phenom Joey Logano once each.
Hamlin and Busch, in fact, chased Stewart for the final 64 laps, after Stewart took the lead for good on Lap 136. Hamlin, driving Braun Racing's No. 32 Toyota, was within a half-second of the leader when Greg Biffle crashed on Lap 200, the final circuit. The race ended under caution with Stewart, Hamlin and Busch in the top three spots, followed by Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards.
Stewart credited crew chief Dave Rogers, a native of the neighboring state of Vermont, with the consistently excellent performance of the No. 20 Camry.
"There've been four drivers (to) win in this car, so it's not the drivers -- that's for sure," Stewart said. "We're the fortunate ones to be able to drive this thing."
A two-tire call on Stewart's final pit stop in Lap 129 got the No. 20 Toyota out in third place for a restart on Lap 133. Three laps later, Stewart took the lead from Edwards, who had taken fuel only on the pit stop, with a smooth pass entering Turn 1.
On Lap 138, Hamlin passed Edwards for second, and Busch followed into third position three laps after that, but neither could overtake the leader.
"We didn't know it would come down to a track position race," said Busch, who took four tires on his final pit stop, restarted eighth and had to work his way through traffic. "We got out-strategized there at the end."
Notes: Todd Braun's No. 32 and No. 38 Toyotas were painted black, with no sponsor decals on either car. The cars were a symbol of mourning for the team owner's mother, Linda Braun, who died Wednesday. . . The race marked the first 1-2-3 Nationwide Series finish for Toyota. . . Stewart led 75 laps and Busch 63, as the Gibbs cars dominated. . . Series points leader Clint Bowyer finished ninth. . . Polesitter Landon Cassill had to start from the rear of the field because of an engine change. He gained 28 positions before a tap from Bobby Hamilton Jr. sent his No. 5 Chevy into the wall and out of the race on Lap 47. He finished 34th.
In Lucky Dog's Nationwide series, Jeff Ping wins his second race of the season and third of his career as he he dominates at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Jeff scored a whopping 440 points, just 5 less of the record to get an easy win in the Camping World Sales 200. Jeff's other win this season came back at Darlington. Gary Wheat keeps his good runs coming with another 2nd place finish while Troy Wiggins gets his first career top 5 run after coming in third. Leon Baker and Paul Ouderkirk round out the top 5.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Ron Hornaday Jr. led the final 129 laps, including a green-white-checkered finish, to win the O'Reilly 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race Saturday night at Memphis Motorsports Park.
Hornaday's victory in the Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet was his third of the season and boosted him into the points lead, 27 in front of Matt Crafton. It was Hornaday's 36th career victory in the series, tops all-time.
Erik Darnell was second in a Roush Fenway Racing Ford and Crafton third in his ThorSport Racing Chevrolet.
Hornaday led 139 of the 204 laps, four over the scheduled distance on the .75-mile track. He pulled away from Darnell on the overtime restart, leading by two truck lengths into the first corner, and was never threatened. Hornaday's margin of victory was .269 seconds.
Each Memphis race winner is presented with a statuette of Elvis Presley, a copy of the full-size statue on Memphis' famous Beale Street.
"That Elvis Trophy is the coolest in the world," Hornaday said. "I really wanted that trophy."
Hornaday started third and passed polesitter Johnny Benson for the lead on the inside in Turn 1 on the 44th lap. He tapped Benson's Bill Davis Racing Toyota in the rear in Turn 4 to set up the pass.
"Benson got loose and I got into the back of him," Hornaday said. "I'll take the blame. I didn't want to pass him that way, and Johnny knows that."
Hornaday was seventh and Benson eighth for a restart on Lap 58 following their first pit stops, trailing trucks that had either not pitted or pitted earlier.
The two blasted in tandem to the front, passing Stacy Compton on the inside of Turn 1 on Lap 76.
On the next restart on Lap 83, Benson's truck didn't accelerate. He limped around the track with an engine that didn't have any power and dropped out, finishing 33rd. Benson, who led 43 laps, fell from first to fourth in the points, 56 behind Hornaday.
"Benson had the truck to beat," Hornaday said. "He needed to break for us to win. I don't know if we want to be in the points lead. Everybody who gets in it seems to have problems."
Darnell's second-place run was his third straight top-five and fifth of the season.
"It was a really good night," Darnell said. "We qualified well and kept it up front most of the night. We were good on long runs. Ron (Hornaday) was better on restarts all night."
Darnell was 10th for the restart on Lap 83 and steadily worked his way forward. He passed Rick Crawford for second on the inside in Turn 1 on Lap 139 and stayed there to the checkered flag.
Crafton started 16th and charged to third, passing Crawford for the position on Lap 181 and holding it to the end.
Crawford was fourth and David Starr finished fifth.
In Lucky Dog Racing's Truck Series, the defending Truck series champion won his first of the year as Mike McKillop won the O'Reilly 200. This is Mike's 2nd career victory and also moves him back into the lead of the standings for the first time this season. It was a close victory over Dan Schmittou who finished in 2nd place with the same picks as Mike.
Ludwig Hormann Jr finished in 3rd place and moved up to 2nd in the standings. James Dillon took 4th place followed by Lou Demian in 5th.
Lou Demian wins his first LROC race to give Lucky Dog Racing the lead
Lucky Dog Racing leader, Lou Demian, finally won his first race in the LROC series after a season and a half. Lou set a new points record after scoring 967 points in race #6 which was held between Michigan and Kentucky.
Lou's win was the 2nd in a row for Lucky Dog Racing drivers after a huge race #5 where Jordan Hunt led the way. Lou also moves up into the top 5 in the standings as well.
More imporantly, Lucky Dog Racing took the lead in the overall standings after both FASCAR and P10 Select had their troubles with each having a driver missing from their lineup.
With the halfway point in the season, LDR leads P10 Select by 910 points with FASCAR behind them by 7 points. The next race will be the Indianapolis race weekend at the end of July.
Who else should win at Martinsville then Martin Fleissner? Marty dominated the race in Yahoo's Lucky Dog Group for his first top score of the season and move up into 14th place. Marty scored 312 points with his picks of Jeff Gordon, Dale Jr., Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers. He also shared in the top score in Lucky Dog Racing's Cup series. He didn't get the win there but came awfully close. Marty's still looking for his first career win therem but he'll take his first win in the Yahoo Group.
The only other member to break 300 points this week was Dupont24 who came in 2nd place. The former Lucky Dog Racing member has struggled a little bit to start the season but gets a nice comeback this week. He had close to the same drivers as Yatesfan, but took Greg Biffle over Kasey Kahne. He moves up to 34th place in the standings.
The next highest score was 290 shared by TCB Racing and Hunter4U9. Both teams are at opposite ends of the standings but both benefited this week.
We have a new points leader in the series as 3J's Racing took the lead after Bristol. He holds on this week with TCB Racing breathing down his neck in 2nd place. Mafia Girl is in third place followed by Helton Motorsports and Diagnostic Dave.
Lucky Dog Racing's Streak to the Finish is a Forum only competition. Here's how to play... Pick a top 10 driver each week to keep your streak going! Sound easy? Not so fast.... you can only choose a driver once per streak. You receive points depending on how your driver finishes and your current streak. How far can your streak go? If you score the most points out of all players, you can receive a special award on your team page, a spot in the 2009 LROC Series and a $25.00 gift certificate to NASCAR.com's Superstore. If you don't have a forum name, click on the picture to go to the forum, create a name and get ready to start your streak!
You can join at any time during the season, so what are you waiting for? play now... there's nothing to lose!
2008 Current Top 5 Streak To The Finish Drivers Following Bristol
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Stewart grabs his fifth at New Hampshire
