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Nascar Trackside News:
Kyle Busch wins Nationwide race at Chicagoland
By RICK GANO, AP Sports Writer
JOLIET, Ill. (AP)—Take a bow, Kyle Busch. He did exactly that after winning again Friday night.
Busch added another Nationwide Series victory to his column Friday night, winning the Dollar General 300 at the Chicagoland Speedway.
The points leader with six victories in the Sprint Cup Series, Busch won for the fifth time in the Nationwide Series.
Busch did his customary bow to the crowd, which is becoming a weekly tradition as he has dominated this season. He has won 13 races, spanning all three of NASCAR’s top series.
“Happy to be here and happy to be in Victory Lane again. This is awesome,” Busch said.
So how does it feel knowing you have a chance to win, no matter what you’re driving?
“You go to the race track every week thinking you’ll be a contender. You go at least thinking you got a shot at winning,” Busch said. “You keep coming up with ideas. … From there you go into the race and try to make what you can out of the race.”
That’s what Busch pointed to Friday night, a pit stop just before the halfway mark that helped him eventually take over the lead.
“We made some good calls on adjustments on pit road and the thing came to life,” Busch said. “We got it out front and kind of took off there.”
Busch grabbed the lead on the 95th lap in his No. 18 Toyota, held it until a pit stop on the 149th and then regained it five laps later for the remainder of the 200-lap race on the 1.5-mile track.
Denny Hamlin, who started in 41st position, raced his way to a runner-up finish. Brad Keselowski was third.
Hamlin closed strong and lost by only 3.12 seconds.
“I felt we had something for Kyle. We just needed a caution,” Hamlin said. “Anything would have worked. I was looking all over for debris. I just couldn’t find anything.”
Joe Gibbs Racing drivers have dominated the Nationwide series this season— cars owned by the organization have won 13 times.
Hamlin (3), Busch (5), Joey Logano (1) and Tony Stewart (5) have combined to win 14 of the 19 series races this year. Busch earned one of his wins driving for Braun Racing.
Drivers on Friday night were also able to get acclimated to late evening/night conditions at the Chicagoland Speedway for the first time in a major competition and prepare for Saturday’s Sprint Cup Series race, the LifeLock.com 400.
Eight of the top 12 drivers from the Sprint Series were entered Friday night, hoping to get a feel for the track under different circumstances. Busch got pretty comfortable. He’ll also be on the pole for Saturday night’s race. (more)
Gibbs Racing says so long to Stewart
By RICK GANO, AP Writer
JOLIET, Ill. (AP)—Joe Gibbs Racing wanted Tony Stewart to stick around. When it became apparent he wanted to leave to pursue ownership with a different team, they agreed to let him go.
“It was brought to a head between Tony and us and I think the farther we went with it and the more we talked about it, we just reached the conclusion it would probably be best under these circumstances to go ahead and let Tony pursue another option here and let him get started and let us get started” in a different direction, Joe Gibbs said Saturday.
Stewart will be given a 50 percent ownership stake in the team, which will be renamed Stewart-Haas Racing when he joins it next season.
Stewart’s partnership with Joe Gibbs Racing produced 32 victories, two Cup championships and more than $68 million in winnings.
“The ideal situation is Tony drives for JGR, redoes the deal and retires here and we start a fourth car down the road,” J.D. Gibbs said. “That was our hope. … It is discouraging for us. We hoped for him to finish out his career here. … It just didn’t work out that way and we understand.”
Now Gibbs Racing moves on and it appears 18-year-old potential star Joey Logano might move on to the No. 20 car next season.
Joe Gibbs wouldn’t commit to that Saturday but did say that Logano was a candidate for almost anything.
“I think for us it’s early to say exactly what’s going to happen,” Joe Gibbs said. “This has kind of come on us kinda quick.”
But Logano, who drives on the Nationwide Series, is the logical choice, if you listen to the elder Gibbs.
“We try to put him in everything we can,” Joe Gibbs said. “He wouldn’t have done anything that would have impressed us more. He is 18, but I think he’s very mature as a racer. … Obviously he’s a huge part of our future. I think right now we just have to make sure we work through all these things.”
Joe Gibbs also said Stewart hadn’t asked for advice about ownership and didn’t expect him to do so.
“Tony is a pretty confident guy and owns other race teams,” Joe Gibbs said. Stewart has some ownership in sprint car teams and grassroots race tracks.
But being an owner can be demanding, just like being an NFL coach. Joe Gibbs know that well.
When he first became interested in NASCAR ownership, he said he paid a visit to Richard Petty to see what he thought about the possibility. (more)
Team News on the Wire:
Suit: NASCAR workers exposed themselves
Two NASCAR officials tied to lawsuit on…
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 Photos of the Week
 
Indy Car Trackside News:
Kanaan Prevails
By Dave Lewandowski
RICHMOND, Va. - Tony Kanaan knew it would be difficult to maneuver the No. 11 7-Eleven car to Victory Circle on the confining Richmond International Raceway with 26 starters - half of whom were making their first appearance on the 0.75-mile oval - and 300 laps ahead.
But this tough?
Kanaan kept the Honda-powered Dallara clear of multiple mishaps to claim his first victory since Belle Isle last September and his first on an oval since Kentucky in August. He held off Team Penske's Helio Castroneves, who advanced 16 positions through a combination of furious driving and attrition for his fourth second place of the season, in the SunTrust Indy Challenge.
Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon overtook teammate Dan Wheldon on the final lap for third and KV Racing Technology's Oriol Servia finished a career-best fifth on an oval.
The 300-lap race (lengthened 50 laps from '07) under the lights was marred by 102 caution laps over nine yellow flags. The IndyCar Series record is 116 at Nazareth Speedway in 2002.
"A lot of action and definitely a lot of yellows," said Kanaan, who led a field-high 166 laps. "We benefited from being in the front. That's just a typical Richmond race -- very difficult, very long. At one point, I looked, it was Lap 245, and I just wondered if it was five laps to go like last year, but I knew we still had 55.
"It was a tough race. I think we had a strong car. Marco did, too. We did split the strategies just to try to cover both bases, and finally the luck was on my side."
Kanaan inherited the lead from Andretti, who started on the front row in the No. 26 Blockbuster car, on Lap 206 when his Andretti Green Racing teammate had to make a green flag pit stop. Andretti had gone 135 laps, many as the leader and under yellow, on a 22-gallon load of ethanol. He led 90 laps, but wasn't able to recover and finished ninth.
Team News on the Wire:
Oval marker
Kanaan prevails
A real page-turner
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.jpg) Kyle Busch Watch
Kyle Busch celebrates with his team after winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series Dollar General 300 auto race Friday, July 11, 2008, at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill.
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NOPI Racing News:
Notice of Cancellation of NOPI Colorado and NOPI Utah Events
ATLANTA, Georgia – June 12, 2008 – Effective immediately, NOPI Motorsports is forced to cancel two upcoming NOPI Events located in Colorado (Drag Race and Car Show) previously set for June 21st and 22nd as well as the Utah event (Drag Race, Drift and Car Show) previously set for July 18th and 19th of 2008. NOPI Motorsports has faced extreme weather at their past 8 events, which has affected NOPI events in a great way. Each event the NOPI staff has pushed through these adversities to accommodate all of its sponsors, racers and fans in the best way possible given the circumstances. Many times events have been postponed and made up at a future event due to weather shutting down tracks and making it unsafe to run on.
This unfortunate turn of events has placed a major financial burden on NOPI Motorsports, which already faces an extremely challenging economy. With fuel costs at a record high, people are watching all of their extracurricular activities, and taking a chance at attending an event that would possibly be affected by weather plays a negative roll. “We have been running top notch events for years now,” said Michael Meyers, President of NOPI Motorsports. “I have never been faced with anything like this. We are having incredible support from racers and fans this year, in fact some of the best action we’ve ever seen has taken place here in 2008. There was no way to forecast any of this. We are working through all of it to see how we can make these events up. I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused to everyone. This is a major setback for NOPI Motorsports and new territory for all of us.”
Makeup events have not been announced for the two cancelled events located in Colorado and Utah. The NOPI Motorsports staff is working on the possibility of makeup rounds, as well as determining points towards the 2008 championships. Each of these issues will be addressed here shortly.
The next NOPI event will take place at the New England Dragway on August 2nd and 3rd. Please stay tuned for future news and events from NOPI Motorsports for the 2008 season. If you have any questions, you may contact Jesse Poole at Theory Communication and Design at jpoole@theoryconcept.com or 954.428.1800.
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