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.

NASCAR announces 2008 Sprint Cup Schedule

Daytona Beach, FL (Sports Network) - The 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup (formerly Nextel Cup) scheduled was released on Wednesday. The 36-race schedule is similar to last year's schedule with no new venues and little change in the order of races.
The season will open on February 17th with the 50th running of the Daytona 500 and will end at the Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 16th.
The first open weekend will take place after the fifth race. In 2007 the first open date was after California, the second race of the season. Another change will be at the Chicagoland Speedway where the race will take place on Saturday night instead of Sunday afternoon.

2008 Sprint Cup Schedule -

February 9 - Budweiser Shootout, Daytona Beach, FL

February 14 - Gatorade 125s, Daytona Beach, FL

February 17 - Daytona 500, Daytona Beach, FL

February 24 - California Speedway, Fontana, CA

March 2 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, NV

March 9 - Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, GA

March 16 - Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, TN

March 30 - Martinsville Speedway, Martinsville, VA

April 6 - Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, TX

April 12 - Phoenix International Raceway, Phoenix, AZ

April 27 - Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega, AL

May 3 - Richmond International Raceway, Richmond, VA

May 10 - Darlington Raceway, Darlington, SC

May 17 - NASCAR Sprint All-Star Challenge, Concord, NC

May 25 - Lowe's Motor Speedway, Concord, NC

June 1 - Dover International Speedway, Dover, DE

June 8 - Pocono Raceway, Long Pond, PA

June 15 - Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, MI

June 22 - Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, CA

June 29 - New Hampshire International Speedway, Loudon, NH

July 5 - Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL

July 12 - Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, IL

July 27 - Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, IN

August 3 - Pocono Raceway, Long Pond, PA

August 10 - Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, NY

August 17 - Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, MI

August 23 - Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, TN

August 31 - California Speedway, Fontana, CA

September 6 - Richmond International Raceway, Richmond, VA

September 14 - New Hampshire International Speedway, Loudon, NH

September 21 - Dover International Speedway, Dover, DE

September 28 - Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, KS

October 5 - Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega, AL

October 11 - Lowe's Motor Speedway, Concord, NC

October 19 - Martinsville Speedway, Martinsville, VA

October 26 - Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, GA

November 2 - Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, TX

November 9 - Phoenix International Raceway, Phoenix, AZ

November 16 - Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, FL

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).

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.

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.

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.

Mears edges Truex Jr. for pole in Chicago

Joliet, IL (Sports Network) - Casey Mears captured the pole for Sunday's USG Sheetrock 400 at the Chicagoland Speedway. The No.25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet circled the 1.5-mile oval in 29.580 seconds (182.556 m.p.h.), just 0.013 seconds ahead of Martin Truex Jr.
The pole victory was Mears' first of the season and third of his Nextel Cup career. His last pole was at Indianapolis in 2004.
"It's a great day for the National Guard/GMAC team, the guys have been doing a great job," said Mears. "This is the car that we won Charlotte with so everyone is pretty pumped this weekend."
Truex Jr.'s time was 29.593 seconds (182.476 m.p.h.). Ryan Newman (29.595) and Mark Martin (29.622) will make up row two.
Other drivers of note and their starting positions: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (fifth), Jimmie Johnson (eighth), Matt Kenseth (10th), Jeff Gordon (11th), Denny Hamlin (13th) and Kevin Harvick (14th).
Gordon ended his Joliet, IL winless streak last July and climbed into the top-10. He has been in the top-10 ever since - 37 weeks. It is the second longest active streak in Nextel Cup behind the 44-week streak by Jeff Burton. (The all-time record is held by Dale Earnhardt - 174 weeks from 1986 - 1992.)
Gordon has been almost perfect in 2007 winning four times and posting 16 top-10s in 18 starts. Even after being penalized 100 points for a COT infraction, Gordon owns a 277-point lead over Hamlin. With just eight races left before the start of the "Chase for the Nextel Cup," Gordon can coast into the "playoffs." He is 733 points ahead of 12th-place Earnhardt Jr.
Also safely ensconced in the "Chase" are Hamlin, Kenseth, 2006 Nextel Cup champion Johnson, Jeff Burton and Carl Edwards.
The final six playoff positions are being contested by 11 drivers. Currently, two-time Nextel Cup champion Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Daytona 500 winner Harvick, Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer and Earnhardt Jr. hold the positions. But Jamie McMurray, winner of last week's race in Daytona, is just 49 points back. The win was his first in 166 starts.
"That guy (McMurray) works as hard or harder than anybody down here; he deserves it," said Edwards, his teammate at Roush Racing.
Also within striking distance are Newman (-61), Kurt Busch (-121), Greg Biffle (-204) and J.J. Yeley (-236).
The race is scheduled to drop the green flag on Sunday at 4 p.m. (et).

Vickers disqualified after qualifying

Loudon, NH (Sports Network) - After qualifying 28th in Friday's Nextel Cup qualifying session, Brian Vickers' No.83 Toyota was disqualified for having a ride height below minimum.
NASCAR allows a quarter-inch tolerance on ride heights but the Toyota was an eighth-of-an-inch below that.
"All the non-top-35 cars go back through inspection," said crew chief Doug Richert. "When we went through, we found the front end of the car didn't meet their minimum height."
The disqualification puts Chad Chaffin into the field at the New Hampshire International Speedway and he will start 43rd for Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 300.

Nascar: Toyota earns first Nextel Cup pole win

Loudon, NH (Sports Network) - Dave Blaney won the pole for Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 300 to give manufacturer Toyota its first Nextel Cup pole victory. The No.22 Bill Davis Racing Toyota circled the 1.058- mile flat oval in 29.426 seconds (129.437 m.p.h.).
When told of his time, Blaney could only say "Wow!"
The pole victory was Blaney's first of the season and second of his Nextel Cup career. His other pole victory was in 2003 at Rockingham.
"We've had a tough year, we've had so many DNFs (did not finish) it's been killing us," said Blaney. "But the guys never give up, their attitudes are great, they dig in...and its paying off."
Starting alongside Blaney will be Kurt Busch who posted a second-best time of 29.484 seconds.
Reed Sorenson (29.620) and Johnny Sauter (29.640) will make up row two. Infineon Raceway winner Juan Montoya was fifth quickest.
Other drivers of note and their starting positions: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (sixth), Kevin Harvick (seventh), Jeff Gordon (eighth), Jimmie Johnson (10th), Denny Hamlin (11th), Ryan Newman (12th) Tony Stewart (14th), Kyle Busch (18th) and Matt Kenseth (31st).
Johnson swept both events at NHIS in 2003 and Kurt Busch matched that in 2004. Tony Stewart won the summer of 2005 event and just missed, finishing second, in the fall race that year.
Last year Kyle Busch won this race while Kevin Harvick finished fifth. Harvick would bring that knowledge to the fall race and win it to take the early lead in last year's "Chase."
Harvick was pretty good last Sunday, finishing second to Montoya. He lead his RCR teammates to a two-three-four finish. All three are currently qualified for the "Chase" in what is turning out to be a very good year for Richard Childress Racing.
"Kevin is our leader on the road-course thing and really has made us as competitive as we are," said Burton. "That's as much to do with our performance today as anything is Kevin pushing them (the crew) to get better fuel mileage, to build better cars."
The race is set to drop the green flag on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. (et).