New Hampshire International Speedway sold

Fort Worth, TX (Sports Network) - Bruton Smith, chairman of Speedway Motorsports Inc., agreed to purchase New Hampshire International Speedway from Bob and Gary Bahre for $340 million in cash, NASCAR announced Friday.
The deal is expected to be completed by early next year and then the track is expected to be renamed New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
For now, the two NASCAR Nextel Cup dates at the track will remain. It hosted the Lenox Industrial Tools 300 in July and the Sylvania 300 this September, but nothing is guaranteed beyond next year as to whether one or both of those races will be moved.
NHIS is the host to the lone NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, Busch Series, and Craftsman Truck Series events held in the six-state New England region.
"While we don't have any details about SMI's plans for NHIS, all sanctions for 2008 have been signed and finalized," NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France said. "As a result, there will be no location changes to the 2008 schedule that was released last month. This is important to the fans, competitors, broadcast partners and sponsors who have already made plans for the 2008 races.
"Looking beyond 2008, NASCAR will continue to consider requests by any track operator, including SMI, to relocate race dates. Under NASCAR's "realignment" plan, we have worked with track owners to relocate race dates to meet the needs of our growing national fan base. Ultimately, any change must meet NASCAR's objectives and serve our fans."
Most experts expect one Nextel Cup race, likely the first race in the "Chase," to eventually shift to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
SMI has a strong roster of racetracks. The group also owns and operates Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Infineon Raceway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Lowe's Motor Speedway, and the Texas Motor Speedway.

McLaren won't appeal spying verdict

Woking, England (Sports Network) - McLaren Racing has decided not to appeal the verdict of the World Motor Sport Council in the spying scandal on the Formula One circuit.
The September 13 ruling included penalties of a $100,000 fine and a forfeiture of points in the constructors' standings for the 2007 season.
"We believe the time has come to put this huge distraction behind us," said McLaren chairman and CEO Ron Dennis in a statement. "McLaren wants to win races and world championships. We are fortunate to have, and continue to receive, unwavering support from our employees, sponsor partners and Formula One fans across the world -- all of whom are equally keen that we totally focus on winning this year's Drivers' Championship and the remaining three races of the season."
Despite the loss of constructors' points, the team's drivers were not affected and can capture the championship.
Lewis Hamilton still leads the standings with 97 points, two ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso.
Last week's penalties stem from an investigation that found a McLaren employee had possession of confidential technical data belonging to rival team Ferrari.
Earlier this year, news broke that a Ferrari employee apparently gave documents to McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan. Ferrari mechanic Nigel Stepney, accused of supplying those documents to the rival team, was subsequently fired. Coughlan was suspended.
McLaren has admitted that information from Ferrari was in the possession of one of its employees at his home, but has always denied that the team used that knowledge to gain an advantage.

"It is clear from the full judgment that the World Motor Sport Council concluded that the charge that a McLaren employee had 'unauthorized possession of documents and confidential information' was proven," Friday's statement from McLaren read.

"Despite the existence of no evidence that the information was applied, tested or shared with the engineering team (which it was not), this possession constitutes a breach of the Code. For this breach of Article 151c, a very heavy penalty has been imposed on the team.

"The major principle of the issue for McLaren is: this information was not used to gain advantage on its cars."

Just three races remain on this year's Formula One schedule, starting with next weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.

Kanaan wins as Franchitti and Dixon crash on final lap

Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - Tony Kanaan easily captured the Detroit Indy Grand Prix on the Belle Isle street course. Meanwhile, series points leaders Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti had final lap incidents which jumbled the drivers standings.
The No.11 Andretti Green Racing driver crossed the finish line 0.4865 seconds ahead of Danica Patrick.
The victory was Kanaan's fifth of the season and 12th of his IndyCar career.
Helio Castroneves brought the field to the green flag for the penultimate IndyCar event of 2007. Early on it appeared that most drivers were satisfied to stay in position. Certainly at the top where Franchitti was following pole winner Castroneves. Behind the lead pair were Kanaan, points leader Dixon and Marco Andretti.
Castroneves' lead was 1.3249 seconds after 10 of 90 laps around the tight, 2.125-mile, 14-turn Raceway at Belle Isle course. As they got later into the green-flag run, Franchitti began to eat into the margin cutting it under one second.
While Franchitti was closing slightly on Castroneves, the top-four cars, including Kanaan and Dixon, had pulled away by more than 12 seconds from the remainder of the field.
On lap 20, as the leaders began to close on lapped traffic all, but Castroneves decided it would be a good time to pit. The three came out in the same order they entered, Franchitti, Kanaan and Dixon.
Castroneves struggled with getting by the slower traffic on the narrow course and by the time he came in on lap 25, he ended up being 14.4829 seconds behind the trio.
"I called him in, but it may have been too late," said Team Penske's Tim Cindric.
Luckily for Castroneves, a full-course caution on lap 27 allowed the No.3 Penske driver to close on the leaders. The race got underway on lap 30, but only for a second, as Vitor Meira, Sam Hornish Jr. and Patrick got together on the restart.
They finally cleaned the track and got underway with still more than 50 laps to go. But Castroneves wasn't able to keep up with the three leaders and he was fading back by about three seconds.
At the halfway point, Franchitti and his AGR "wingman" Kanaan were still one- two and 2.2 seconds ahead of Dixon.
Another caution flag and when everyone except Buddy Rice, Patrick and Wheldon made a pit stop, Kanaan beat Franchitti back onto the track. But Kanaan's pit crew only got 13 gallons into the tank, meaning he would have to stop again...and soon.
Rice, who had stopped earlier, was the new leader. With the number of caution- flag laps, it appeared that it might be a "timed race" - not make the advertised 90-lap distance. Should that happen all pit strategies would change drastically. Rice planned to pit in about 10 laps, but then could go until the maximum time for a timed race and maybe "steal" a win. The No.15 peeled off and made it's stop falling to eighth overall.
Patrick, Wheldon and Franchitti now led the way as the field passed the 60- lap mark. Dixon was fourth, still clinging to his championship points lead.
Wheldon pulled into pit lane on lap 63 and Franchitti slipped into second place behind Patrick, who also still had to pit. One lap later Patrick went for fuel and tires and Franchitti inherited the lead with Dixon and Kanaan just behind.
On lap 67 Castroneves and Tomas Scheckter collided in turn one to bring out a full-course yellow. Both championship leaders took the opportunity to get additional fuel and this time Dixon beat Franchitti off pit lane. Dixon came out third, behind Kanaan and Rice. Franchitti was sixth with 20 laps to go. The race went back to green on lap 71.
Franchitti flew around A.J. Foyt IV for fifth and then slid past teammate Patrick for fourth. He was within 1.8 seconds of Dixon, but could he catch and pass him?
Dixon was not just watching Franchitti, but was also gaining on Rice, the second-place car. By lap 76 all four lead cars, including leader Kanaan, were within 1.7 seconds of each other.
Officials announced 10 minutes to go (on lap 80) and the four leaders were still nose to tail. Just two minutes left and it was still Kanaan, Rice, Dixon and Franchitti.
On the final lap, Dixon tried to get past Rice and they collided. While they were spinning, Dixon collected Franchitti as the caution flags flew.
Kanaan went on to win his fifth victory of the season with Patrick avoiding all of the incidents and taking second. Franchitti crawled across the finish line in sixth and Dixon finished eighth.
"I'm protesting this," said Michael Andretti. He indicated that Dixon intentionally took Franchitti out after the incident with Rice.
Franchitti will take a slim three-point lead (587-584) into the season's final race. That event is set for Sunday, September 9th at the Chicagoland Speedway.

Busch edges Johnson for Nextel Cup pole

Fontana, CA (Sports Network) - Kurt Busch was just 0.001 seconds faster than Jimmie Johnson, but it was enough to capture the pole for Sunday evening's Sharp Aquos 500 Nextel Cup race at the California Speedway. The No.2 Miller Lite Dodge driver circled the two-mile oval in 39.474 seconds (182.399 m.p.h.).
The pole victory was Busch's first of the season and 10th of his "Cup" career.
"We didn't expect that good of a lap," said Busch. "We got some of the cloud cover right when it first came in, you could almost feel it cool down."
Starting alongside Busch will be Johnson who came up just short with a time of 39.475 seconds.
Kasey Kahne (39.556) and Ryan Newman (39.688) will make up row two.
Five drivers have mathematically clinched one of the 12 positions in the "Chase" - Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards. Four more drivers are on the verge of clinching - 2006 Nextel Cup champion Johnson, Jeff Burton, Kyle Busch and Clint Bowyer.
Which leaves five drivers competing for the final three spots amd just two races left in the "regular" season. Currently, Kevin Harvick (starting 12th), Martin Truex Jr. (starting eighth) and Kurt Busch hold down positions 10 through 12. Sitting outside the "Chase" and looking in are fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. (starting seventh) and Newman.
Harvick, the 2007 Daytona 500 winner, is 167 points ahead of 13th-place Earnhardt Jr. Truex Jr. is 166 points ahead of his DEI Inc., teammate Earnhardt Jr. Busch is 158 points ahead of "Junior."
Of the five drivers, Busch has had the best results at the California Speedway. The No.2 Miller Lite Dodge driver has made 10 starts, winning once with four top-10s.
Ricky Rudd will make his 900th career start, second all-time behind Richard Petty's 1185 starts.
The race is scheduled to drop the green flag on Sunday at 8 p.m. (et).

Franchitti on pole at Infineon

Sonoma, CA (Sports Network) - Dario Franchitti's first session time held up through the Firestone Fast Six shootout and he captured the pole for Sunday's Motorola Indy 300. The No.27 Andretti Green Racing driver circled the Infineon Raceway course in one minute, 16.7017 seconds.
The pole victory was Franchitti's second of the season and sixth of his IndyCar career.
"Track conditions changed a lot from this morning, but the car has been fast all weekend and we did it when it counted," said Franchitti.
Starting alongside Franchitti will be Danica Patrick who posted a second-best time of 1:17.1486. Patrick was the only driver to improve a time in the Firestone shootout.
"I was a little bit worried because...it didn't really feel very good and I made quite a few mistakes, but it was enough," said Patrick.
Tony Kanaan (1:17.1932) and Helio Castroneves (1:17.2608) will make up row two.
Franchitti was fastest in the first qualifying session and he led a group including Kanaan, Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Sam Hornish Jr. and Patrick.
Two races ago, Kanaan was virtually a bystander in the championship race. He was 111 points behind AGR teammate Franchitti and 77 points behind Dixon.
Worse, neither Franchitti nor Dixon had made a misstep all season and it looked as if the gap was too large to bridge.
The series traveled to the Michigan International Speedway and Kanaan collected his first win of the season. Better still, Dixon faltered with handling problems finishing 10th and Franchitti finished 13th after a frightening upside-down ride.
Two weeks ago Kanaan won his second consecutive race, at the Kentucky Speedway, while points leader Franchitti again struggled. Kanaan is now just 52 points behind Franchitti and 44 out of second place.
The race is set to drop the green flag on Sunday at 3 p.m. (et).

Bourdais wins pole at Zolder

Zolder, Belgium (Sports Network) - Sebastien Bourdais captured the pole for Sunday's Champ Car Grand Prix of Belgium at the Zolder Circuit. The No.1 Newman/Haas/Lanigan driver circled the 2.622-mile road course in one minute, 12.821 seconds (123.195 m.p.h.) to take the top spot.
The time was quicker than the pole-winning time set in 1984 by Michele Alboreto of Ferrari (1:14.846) when Formula One last raced on the track.
The pole victory earned Bourdais one championship point and gives him a 38- point lead over Robert Doornbos entering tomorrow's race.
"Obviously it would be awesome to go back to Europe with the McDonald's team and get another couple of wins, but those tracks are a big unknown for us," said Bourdais. "I have never been to Zolder or Assen."
That hasn't seemed to bother the Frenchman in the past. Over the last four years, seven new venues have been used by the Champ Car circuit and Bourdais won five times.
Starting on the front row with Bourdais will be Will Power who was third fastest on Saturday, but won Friday's provisional qualifying session.
The second row will consist of Doornbos (1:13.067) and Bruno Junqueira (1:13.313).
"For Champ Car, it's their first time at Zolder, but not for me -- I raced there seven years ago, in 2000," said Doornbos. "It's just great to drive in front of your home crowd, and for sure it gives you an extra boost that you need."
Mario Dominguez drove the No.4 Dan Clarke car after the latter was suspended for the weekend following an accident in Friday practice. He qualified 12th quickest.
The race is set to drop the green flag on Sunday at 8 a.m. (et).

Kahne edges Montoya for Bristol pole

Bristol, TN (Sports Network) - In one of the closest qualifying sessions of the season, Kasey Kahne captured the pole for Saturday night's Sharpie 500 Nextel Cup race at the Bristol Motor Speedway short track. The No.9 Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge circled the 0.533-mile high-banked half mile in 16.016 seconds (119.805 m.p.h.).
The pole victory was Kahne's second of the season and 14th of his "Cup" career.
"It felt good to get a couple of Dodges on the front row," said Kahne, who has yet to win in 2007 after winning six times the previous year. "A great start to the weekend, we need stuff like this to go on, it's been kind of a rough season."
Starting alongside Kahne, in just his second start at Bristol, will be Juan Pablo Montoya who posted a time of 16.064 seconds.
Jamie McMurray (16.103) and David Ragan (16.105) will make up row two. A total of 13 drivers were within 0.020 seconds of the pole winner.
Other drivers of note at their starting positions: Carl Edwards (sixth), Ryan Newman (seventh), Jimmie Johnson (ninth), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (17th) and points leader Jeff Gordon (18th).
Kurt Busch, who owns the 12th and final position in the "Chase for the Nextel Cup," has built his lead to 163 points over 13th-place Earnhardt Jr. and 171 over his Penske Racing teammate Newman. His second win in the last three races also means that should he make the "Chase" he would start with the fourth- highest total. Only Gordon (four wins), Johnson (four) and Tony Stewart (three) would begin the 10-race "playoffs" with more points.
In 13 career starts at BMS, Busch has one pole, five wins and eight top-10s. Between the spring of 2002 and the spring of 2004 he won four of five races and has led a total of 560 laps.
As always when you try and shoehorn 43 cars onto the high-banked, Bristol Motor Speedway track, expect to see plenty of bent sheetmetal and frustrated drivers. It makes for great racing.
The race is scheduled to drop the green flag on Saturday at 8 p.m. (et).

Busch joins Joe Gibbs Racing for 2008 season

HUNTERSVILLE, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Kyle Busch officially announced his decision to join Joe Gibbs Racing at a news conference Tuesday morning.
Busch, who currently drives for Hendrick Motorsports, will join Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season.
Busch will replace J.J. Yeley - who drives the No. 18 Chevrolet - at Joe Gibbs Racing, which already features two-time series champion Tony Stewart and 2006 Rookie of the Year Denny Hamlin.
Busch's departure from Hendrick Motorsports was announced earlier this summer when the organization signed NASCAR's most popular driver - Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The 22-year-old Busch currently is eighth in the series standings with five top-five finishes and 12 top-10s.
Yeley, 30, has struggled since joining Joe Gibbs Racing full time at the beginning of last season, recording just one top-five finish and four top-10s in 58 total starts.
Yeley currently is 21st in the series standings and trails Kurt Busch - Kyle's older brother - by 445 points for the 12th and final spot in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

Harvick wins second straight in Busch

Watkins Glen, NY (Sports Network) - Kevin Harvick captured Saturday afternoon's Zippo 200 Busch Series race at the Watkins Glen International road course. The No.21 Auto Zone Chevrolet crossed the finish line more than three seconds ahead of Jeff Burton.
The victory was Harvick's series-leading fifth of the season and 31st of his Busch Series career. Harvick ties Jack Ingram for second all-time behind only Mark Martin (47).
"What a car! We didn't qualify like we wanted to and we thought our car was really good in race trim and when they dropped the green flag it was good to go," said Harvick.
Kurt Busch brought the field to the green flag for 82 laps of racing over the fast 2.45-mile road course in upstate New York. He led the first 12 laps before making his first pit stop of the afternoon on lap 13.
From there Ron Fellows inherited the lead because he had yet to pit. None of the top-three drivers had pitted in the first 15 laps leaving Greg Biffle and Patrick Carpentier in second and third, respectively.
The trio finally made their initial stops by lap 23 and Harvick found himself in the lead with Busch five spots back in sixth. Harvick's lead was more than six seconds over Burton and seven over third place Paul Menard. And lurking in fifth place was Mexico City winner Juan Pablo Montoya.
By lap 35 Harvick's primary competition, Burton, Menard and Montoya, had closed the gap to four seconds. But a caution flag, for a Steve Wallace spin, slowed the race to a crawl.
Most of the teams pitted with 44 laps to go, hoping for about eight laps of caution to reach the checkered flag. Scott Pruett stayed out until lap 41 and his crew said he could make it to the finish from there, though most experts doubted it.
Meanwhile, Busch led the race and was waiting for his pit stop because he couldn't make it all the way based on their past fuel mileage. Montoya made his last stop on lap 46 and Busch came in on lap 47.
With 30 laps to go Harvick regained the lead, but Busch was in sixth and didn't need to save any fuel to reach the finish line. Busch got around Brad Coleman for fourth place with 26 laps still remaining. He took Kenseth easily and Menard before the bus stop and then there was just one driver remaining between himself and the lead.
Harvick's lead over Busch was 4.098 seconds on lap 57. But Busch was in no hurry to catch Harvick because his crew chief didn't think Harvick could reach the finish line without stopping. So Busch settled into second place about five seconds behind Harvick and two seconds ahead of third place Burton.
Then on lap 67 a caution flag erased Harvick's lead. But the caution flag laps also allowed Harvick to run full out to the finish line. The green flag dropped to restart the race with 13 laps remaining but went back to caution with an incident at the restart.
The final restart began with 10 laps to go. Busch, who had fallen to fourth just before the last caution flag, passed both Menard and Burton for second on the first green flag lap. With eight laps to go, Busch got too wide in turn one and spun way wide, losing ground to the leader and second place to Burton.
Harvick's lead was 1.615 seconds on Burton with seven to go and 2.957 seconds one lap later and the No.21 RCR Chevrolet cruised to his second consecutive Busch Series win.
Busch, Menard and Coleman completed the top-five. Edwards finished a distant 32nd.
The next race in the series is set for Saturday, August 18th at the Michigan International Speedway.

Bourdais wins pole at Road America

Elkhart Lake, WI (Sports Network) - Sebastien Bourdais captured the pole for Sunday's Generac Grand Prix at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI. The No.1 Newman/Haas/Lanigan driver circled the historic 4.048-mile road course in one minute, 41.535 seconds to take the top spot. The lap was more than 1.5 seconds faster than his nearest competitor.
The pole victory added one championship point to Bourdais' total his second of the weekend.
Starting alongside Bourdais will be Will Power who put up a time of 1:43.116.
Robert Doornbos (1:43.134) and Graham Rahal (1:43.162) will make up row two.
"Road America is a high-speed track, more what I'm used to in Europe," said former Formula One driver Doornbos. "You sort of have to shift your mind set, just as you'd change the setup on your car after racing on a street course. For one thing, there is so much more speed around the turns compared with the street circuits that you have to be much more delicate and precise with the car. We did well at the test earlier this year, and I can't wait to get back there."
With seven races left in the series, Bourdais, who just announced that he would leave the series to drive for Formula One's Toro Rosso in 2008, is on track to win his fourth consecutive series championship. The Frenchman used a win at Edmonton to reclaim the top spot and a fifth-place two weeks ago to maintain his lead. It is where Bourdais always expects to be. In 68 races, Bourdais has been the points leader for 42 of them.
However, Bourdais will bring just a 12-point lead over "rookie" Doornbos into this week's race at Road America. Doornbos cut the lead in half with a win at San Jose.
The race is scheduled to drop the green flag on Sunday at 3 p.m.

Busch edges Montoya for Busch pole

Watkins Glen, NY (Sports Network) - Kurt Busch won the pole for Saturday afternoon's Zippo 200 Busch Series race at the Watkins Glen International road course. The No.39 Penske Dodge circled the 2.45-mile circuit in one minute, 12.569 seconds (121.540 m.p.h.).The pole victory was Busch's first of the season and second of his Busch career. His only other pole was last year, also at Watkins Glen."I don't run Busch all that often and so when we come to the race track with this group of guys we're going for the win," said Busch. "We just won a small battle right now, there's still a big-time race this afternoon."Starting on the front row with Busch will be Juan Montoya who posted a time of 1:12.846.
Ryan Newman (1:13.002) and Robby Gordon (1:13.154) will make up row two.Carl Edwards finished a distant 30th last week in Montreal and with it lost 65 points in the standings. Somehow, the No.60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford driver will have to continue on with just a 787-point lead in the Busch Series championship. Edwards still leads the series with four wins (tied with Kevin Harvick), top-fives (13) and top-10s (17).
Behind Edwards are David Reutimann (-787) and Harvick (-919).
In fourth place overall is a surprising name to most - Jason Leffler. In the middle of his second full year of Busch racing, Leffler is set to improve on last year's 13th-place finish.
The green flag is set to drop at 3:30 p.m. (et).

Gordon to start from pole after Watkins Glen qualifying rained out

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (AP) -- Jeff Gordon started from the back of the field in NASCAR's first road race of the Nextel Cup season after his team was penalized for a technical violation. This time, he'll start from the pole.
A misting rain that hovered above Watkins Glen International on Friday became too heavy mid-afternoon and forced NASCAR to cancel qualifying for Sunday's Centurion Boats at The Glen.
It's the third time qualifying has been rained out this season in Cup and the third time in four years it's been washed out at Watkins Glen International. As the runaway points leader, that placed Gordon up front in his No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet as the top 35 cars in the 43-car field were set by points.
``It's one of the reasons that leading the points like we are right now, it's where the payoff is,'' Gordon said after capturing his sixth pole this season and 62nd of his career. ``It's just one of those days. I was in the pace car riding around and the track was dry but the windshield was wet. I thought we were going to find a window, but it just keeps rolling in and making parts of the track wet. There was just no getting around that.
The cancellation left Denny Hamlin on the front row alongside Gordon, and Matt Kenseth, Jeff Burton, and Tony Stewart round out the top five. Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer Martin Truex Jr., and Kurt Busch complete the top 12.
Gordon struggled when he first went out for the lone practice session and ended up turning only five laps. But after making some adjustments in the garage, he finished with the fifth-fastest speed at 120.802 mph and was optimistic about qualifying in the Car of Tomorrow, even though he was to have gone out second and teams weren't allowed to test at Watkins Glen.
``Obviously, I didn't draw a good number for qualifying,'' Gordon said. ``Going out second wasn't going to benefit us. We had to make some pretty big adjustments to get the car where we needed it to be, and we still didn't even have it perfect there toward the end. I didn't think we were going to be on the pole today if we had gone, but I think we had a shot at the top five.
Hamlin topped the speed charts at 121.528 mph, followed by Jimmie Johnson, Canadian road race ace Ron Fellows and Jamie McMurray. Rookie Juan Pablo Montoya was seventh-fastest and Stewart, who has won three of the past five races here, was 10th.
The misting conditions sent six drivers home who had to qualify for the race on speed: Boris Said, Ward Burton, A.J. Allmendinger, Brian Simo, Klaus Graf, and Marcos Ambrose, who was to have driven a car provided by Robby Gordon.
Ambrose was cheated out of a chance to win his first NASCAR race when Robby Gordon intentionally wrecked him in the closing laps of a Busch Series race last weekend in Montreal.
If he had qualified, it would have been Ambrose's first Cup start.
``You'd like to see qualifying because a lot of guys have to qualify on time,'' Hamlin said. ``They deserve to be in the field based on their speed. It's just the system we work in. If you're not here every week, then you don't get the perks of being guaranteed in the show.
Which left Said as frustrated as ever as he turned his focus to Saturday's Busch race.
NASCAR should have had us qualify tomorrow,'' said Said, who had the provisional pole at Daytona last month before qualifying was rained out. ``The Busch race isn't until 3 o'clock in the afternoon. There's no reason you can't come in here and practice and qualify. They say they want the small teams, but they don't want the small teams. This pretty much puts us out of business.

Bourdais take another provisional pole

San Jose, CA (Sports Network) - Sebastien Bourdais won Friday's provisional qualifying session for the San Jose Grand Prix. The No.1 Newman/Haas/Lanigan driver circled the 1.448-mile, 11-turn, temporary circuit in 49.509 seconds (104.926 m.p.h.).
The provisional pole win, his fifth of the season, earned Bourdais one championship point and a guaranteed position on the front row.
Justin Wilson was second quickest at 49.747 seconds. Will Power (49.822), Bruno Junqueira (49.852) and Alex Tagliani (49.852) completed the top-five.
Bourdais, the three-time series champion, has a 20-points lead on "rookie" Robert Doornbos. Doornbos is a former F1 driver for Minardi (2005) and Red Bull (2006) which were not really competitive against the giant teams of F1 like Ferrari and McLaren. But the team came to that realization and made the move across the Atlantic Ocean to Champ Cars.
Doornbos is finally getting to show what he can do when he gets in a competitive car. He opened his rookie Champ Car Series campaign with a second place finish at Las Vegas. Following his only bad outing at Long Beach (13th), Doornbos put himself on the podium four consecutive times including a win at Mont-Tremblant. He was on his way to another top-10 result last week when Alex Tagliani took him out in a late-race incident. Doornbos has earned six top-10s in eight starts.
Behind Doornbos is Power (-25) and Wilson (-29). Both are still very much in the championship race.
The final qualifying session is set for Saturday at 5 p.m. (et) with the race set to drop the green flag on Sunday at 6 p.m.

DEI and Ginn Racing merge

Mooresville, NC (Sports Network) - Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Ginn Racing merged Wednesday to create a new four-car team.
Effective immediately the new team will feature the Chevrolets of Paul Menard, Martin Truex Jr., Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin and Aric Almirola.
Martin and Almirola will combine to drive Ginn's No. 1 Army Chevrolet for the remainder of the 2007 season and into 2008. Menard drives the Menards Chevy, Truex handles the Bass Pro Shops car and Earnhardt is at the controls of the Budweiser Chevrolet -- all originally part of the DEI team.
All four cars are inside the top 35 in Nextel Cup points.
"This merger is great for both our companies," said DEI global operations president Max Siegel. "Our stated goals included an expansion to four cars as quickly as possible and, in order to do that, we had to acquire more shop space. This relationship with Bobby Ginn and his company allows us to accomplish both which makes this a perfect transaction."
The partnership will force Ginn to give up the points on his No. 13 car, which was 34th in the owner standings.
"NASCAR's cap of four teams per company meant we had to give something up," said Ginn. "We felt so strongly about this merger that we surrendered the intangible value of the 13 car. We all were completely comfortable that the benefits of working together far outweighed the value of the points."
DEI's current management team will be responsible for all day-to-day activities.

Dixon wins third straight race

Lexington, OH (Sports Network) - Scott Dixon captured Sunday's inaugural The Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio road course and in the process collected his third consecutive victory. The No.9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver crossed the finish line 2.6917 seconds ahead of Dario Franchitti.
The victory was Dixon's third of the season and ninth of his IndyCar career.
Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan and Danica Patrick completed the top-five.

Castroneves upsets AGR for Mid-Ohio pole

Lexington, OH (Sports Network) - Brazilian Helio Castroneves beat out five other drivers, including all four Andretti Green Racing teammates, in the "Firestone Fast Six" to capture the pole for Sunday's inaugural The Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio IndyCar race. The No.3 Penske Racing Honda driver circled the 2.258-mile road course in one minute, 06.8375 seconds.
The pole victory was Castroneves' sixth of the season and 23rd of his IndyCar career.
"This team is fantastic, they never let me down," said a happy Castroneves. "We've been struggling a little bit."
Starting alongside Castroneves will be Danica Patrick who posted a second-best time of 1:07.1257.
"This is by far the best that I've done on a road course," said Patrick. "I'm really proud of the team. It feels good to have the Motorola car in the front row, not on an oval, but on a road course."
Tony Kanaan (1:07.1757) and Marco Andretti (1:07.3931) will start in row two.
Andretti was quickest in the one-lap preliminary qualifying session and led Dario Franchitti, Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Patrick and Castroneves in the six- person "Firestone Fast Six" shootout.
But it was Castroneves who laid down the best lap and though everyone took a shot at the time, no one could surpass it.
Dixon, starting sixth, so far this year has a win (Watkins Glen) and a second place (St. Petersburg) in two road course starts. It's not a fluke either. In 2006 Dixon earned a first, second and fourth in the three road course events.
Dixon seeks to improve on last year's fourth-place overall finish. In 2006 he collected two wins and nine top-fives. He already has those numbers in 2007 with still six races left on the schedule and is working on a two-race win streak.
"To come back and repeat at both (Watkins Glen and Nashville) is fantastic," said Dixon. "To be honest, things seem to come a little easier for me. I think it is a confidence level. Coming into these two races that were back to back, we've proven ourselves (at Nashville) last year, so you do come into a race weekend with more confidence."
Series points leader Franchitti has made the most starts at Mid-Ohio, but has little success to show for it. In six starts, Franchitti has just one top-10 (third in 1999) and finished 16th or lower four times.
The IndyCar driver with the most success on the 2.258-mile circuit is Castroneves. In four CART starts between 1998-2001 the Brazilian collected three top-10s including back-to-back wins in 2000 and 2001.
The race is set to drop the green flag on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. (et).

Kevin Harvick wins USG Durock 300 Busch Series

Joliet, IL (Sports Network) - Kevin Harvick hung around the top-10 for 170 laps before taking his first lead of the race and went on to capture Saturday's USG Durock 300 Busch Series race at the Chicagoland Speedway. The No.21 Richard Childress Chevrolet driver crossed the finish line 1.012 seconds ahead of Matt Kenseth.
The victory was Harvick's third of the season and 29th of his Busch career.
After winning his fourth pole of the season earlier in the day, Denny Hamlin led the 43-car field, comprised of 25 "Cup" drivers, to the green flag for 200 laps of racing.
The No.20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet driver led the field through the first caution flag on lap three for a Ryan Newman crash.
On lap seven the first lead change occurred when the race got back underway. series points leader Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch ducked under Hamlin to take over the top-two spots, respectively.
Edwards started to pull away from his competitors. He expanded the margin to over two seconds as Busch, Hamlin and Kenseth battled for second. Hamlin eventually won the battle for second and begun to cut into Edwards' lead.
The No.60 Ford driver lost the first position on lap 31 when Hamlin used the high side to pass him. Edwards fought back though and would trade the top spot with Hamlin. Hamlin won the battle on lap 35 as Edwards lost a few spots when Busch and Kenseth passed him.
Hamlin continued to lead, but Kenseth was closing the gap between the two. And on lap 49 Kenseth was able to get around the No.20 Chevrolet for the first spot. Busch, Edwards and Jeff Burton battled for position behind these drivers.
On lap 58 the leaders started to make their way down pit road for their first stops of the afternoon as the race stayed under the green flag. Todd Kluever, the last driver to cycle through the stops, stayed out to lead three laps before he came down for service.
When the stops were complete Busch found himself leading Kenseth, Hamlin, Burton and Harvick.

Mathews grabs first truck pole

Sparta, KY (Sports Network) - Ryan Mathew captured the pole for Saturday night's Built Ford Tough 225 at the Kentucky Speedway. The No.22 Bill Davis Toyota driver circled the 1.5-mile oval in 31.222 seconds (172.955 m.p.h.).
The pole victory was the first of Mathews' Craftsman Truck Series career.
Starting on the front row with Mathews will be Bill Lester who posted a second-best time of 31.223 seconds.
Jack Sprague (31.228) and series points leader Mike Skinner (31.229) will make up row two.
Travis Kvapil won the race two week's ago, but he didn't gain much on the leader Skinner or second-place Ron Hornaday, Skinner finished fourth and Hornaday Jr. came across the stripe in third place.
Skinner's lead is 103 points on Hornaday Jr., 228 points on defending series champion Todd Bodine and 263 points on Kvapil.
The No.5 Toyota has built the lead with consistency. It is what NASCAR values the most. Skinner has put up 12 top-10s in 12 starts, winning three times. He leads the series not only in points, but also in winnings ($392,875), laps led (654), poles (7), top-fives (10) and driver rating (122.9).
The race is set to start at 8 p.m. (et).

Hamlin hustles around Chicagoland for pole

Joliet, IL (Sports Network) - Denny Hamlin won the pole for this afternoon's USG Durock 300 Busch Series race at the Chicagoland Speedway. The No.20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet driver circled the 1.5-mile oval in 30.083 seconds (179.503 m.p.h.).
The pole victory was Hamlin's fourth of the season and 10th of his Busch career.
Starting with Hamlin on the front row will be series points leader Carl Edwards who posted a time of 30.114 seconds.
Edwards is the man to beat in 2007 as he jogs to his first Busch Series championship. On the back of 15 top-10s and a series-leading four wins, Edwards has a stranglehold on the driving title - by 798 points. The all-time winning margin is 824 points which Kevin Harvick set last year.
Aric Almirola (30.210) and Kasey Kahne (30.302) will start in row two.
This week's Busch Series race at Chicagoland is likely to see a first-time winner make the turn into Victory Lane. In six previous races, there have been four first-time winners.
In 2001, Jimmie Johnson won the only Busch race of his career. The next year, Johnny Sauter held off late charges from Todd Bodine and Jeff Burton. Skip to 2004 and Justin Labonte won his first and only Busch race squeezing out every drop of fuel to get to the checkered flag. Casey Mears became the fourth member of the club one year ago when he beat Edwards to the checkers.
A possible choice for this year's first-timer would be Brad Keselowski. After a great run substituting for Ted Musgrave in a Craftsman Truck race, he will get a shot behind the wheel of Jr. Motorsports' No.88 U.S. Navy Chevrolet.
The 24-year-old made 13 starts for a smaller team - Keith Coleman Racing before it suspended its operations. When Musgrave was suspended for one race because of an on-track incident, Keselowski finally got the chance to compete in a top quality, competitive truck.
Keselowski won the pole, led four different times for a total of 62 laps and contended for the win.
"I've watched Brad for a while and he's shown a lot of promise in the few Busch races he's run," said Earnhardt Jr. on the team's website. "He became available at a time when we were looking to make some changes to our program and everything just lined up for us to put him in the Navy Chevrolet for the next three races."
The race is set to drop the green flag at 3 p.m. (et).

Dixon wins IndyCar qualifying in Nashville

Lebanon, TN (Sports Network) - Scott Dixon captured the pole for Saturday night's Firestone Indy 200 at the Nashville Superspeedway. The No.9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver circled the 1.333-mile oval in 22.8947 seconds (204.414 m.p.h.).
The pole victory was Dixon's second of the season and eighth of his IndyCar career. Dixon, the defending Firestone Indy 200 champion, won last week's road course race at Watkins Glen, his third in a row at the upstate New York site.
"The car has been fast all weekend," said Dixon. "It's good for what we need. You know we need to put the pressure on the AGR guys any time we can, leading sessions and leading qualifying. Hopefully we'll have a good car in the race tomorrow."
Dario Franchitti will start alongside Dixon on the front row after a best lap of 22.9555 seconds.
Franchitti has been great all season and it shows in the standings. He has three wins, including the Indianapolis 500, and has yet to finish below seventh. Franchitti has been even better over the last three weeks winning two times and finishing third in the other.
Franchitti has taken a close championship race that had at least six drivers thinking titles and turned it into a two-man, maybe a three-man, race.
The Edinburgh, Scotland native owns a 47-point lead over Dixon. Franchitti's Andretti Green Racing teammate Tony Kanaan is in third place, 75 points back.
Kanaan (22.9668) and Sam Hornish Jr. (22.9815) will make up row two.
The race is set to drop the green flag on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (et).