by Candida Benson, NHRA.com
Antron Brown took over the top spot on the Top Fuel ladder during the single qualifying run Saturday at the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway. The other three classes remained unchanged with Ashley Force Hood (Funny Car), Mike Edwards (Pro Stock), and Hector Arana (Pro Stock Motorcycle) staying in front. Interestingly, all four low qualifiers lead their fields in No. 1 starts this season (Brown, Force Hood, and Edwards hold that distinction on their own, while Arana is tied with Andrew Hines for the most).

(Left to right) Crew chief Darian Grubb and Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Old Spice Swagger Chevrolet, talk on the grid Monday at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa. for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500. Their strategy forBy Reid Spencer (Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service)
LONG POND, Pa.— As it turned out, Denny Hamlin was right ... but not without a struggle, and not without a heavy heart.

Having said Friday that he expected to win the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway, Hamlin charged to the front from the sixth position with 13th laps left in Monday’s rain-postponed race and ended a 50-race drought in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series.

After beating Juan Pablo Montoya to the checkered flag by .869 seconds, Hamlin wept in victory lane, overcome with emotion in the aftermath of the recent deaths of his grandmother, Thelma Clark, and the mother of tire specialist Patrick Mullen at Joe Gibbs Racing.

Mechanicsburg, PA—July 24, 2009—It's no secret that the Pennsylvania Posse were at the top of their game in May when the World of Outlaws made their first stop of the season at the famed Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and defended their turf, picking up nine of the Top-10 spots in the final rundown, including the win, with Greg Hodnett, who was the World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year in 1993, coming out on top.

LOUDON, N. H. -- Sometimes, the sun shines even though it's raining.

Ask young Joey Logano. A late-race rainstorm stopped the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 after 273 of the scheduled 301 laps, giving Logano his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory.

The 19-year-old rookie, who turned 19 on May 24, was probably the only happy driver when NASCAR announced the race official, but veterans of the sport would quickly tell the youngster to enjoy his win because "there's no telling how long it might be before he wins another one."

Crew chief Greg Zipadelli, Logano's mentor and crew chief on the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota, a veteran of this sport's tremendous emotional peaks and valleys, probably told his rosy-cheeked driver, "You take em any way you can get 'em, kid."

Even though Logano never challenged any of the race leaders, he raced his way back into contention after a blown tire and an untimely pit stop put him a lap down.

He eventually was the "Lucky Dog," which put him back on the lead lap and in position to gamble on fuel mileage as reports of impending rain rolled through the pit area like tumbleweeds.

by Phil Burgess, NHRA.com
Larry Dixon, Mike Neff, Greg Anderson, and Andrew Hines finished qualifying atop their fields Saturday at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk. The event is the 12th of the 24-race 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series and marks the midpoint of the season schedule.

Anderson, disappointed by being denied in the final round of the K&N Horsepower Challenge, at least had the satisfaction of putting his Summit Pontiac atop the Pro Stock pack at his sponsor's event at the racetrack that bears their name and to have teammate Jason Line third. Hines, too, had to be proud as he and teammate Eddie Krawiec also finished the day Nos. 1 and 3.

Dixon and crew chief Jason McCulloch remained atop the Top Fuel field with a steady dominance that included the only three-second pass on a hot and tricky track. Although their 3.979 in the first session was almost a tenth shy of their Friday-leading 3.882 with the Al-Anabi machine, they were the class of the field.

NHRA Media PhotoTony Pedregon picked up his second consecutive win of the season in Funny Car at the 40th annual United Association NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

Larry Dixon picked up his fifth win in Englishtown, while Jeg Coughlin and Craig Treble also win in their respective categories.
Pedregon powered his Q Horsepower Chevy Impala SS to a 4.246-second run at 260.56 to grab the win. It’s Pedregon’s second consecutive win of the season, 42nd of his career and second win in Englishtown. Pedregon also moved past points leader Ron Capps to take the top spot in the Funny Car points standings with the win.

by Candida Benson, NHRA.com
Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), Ashley Force Hood (Funny Car), Allen Johnson (Pro Stock), and Craig Treble (Pro Stock Motorcycle) paced their respective fields during the opening day of action at the United Association NHRA SuperNationals, the 11th of 24 races on the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series schedule.

Force Hood is very familiar with the top spot in the flopper class; she enters the Englishtown event with three No. 1 starts — Atlanta, Bristol, and Topeka — in the last five events. Surprisingly, Schumacher has not yet qualified No. 1 this season, but he is well on his way to doing so after he led both of Friday’s sessions. Johnson and Treble are also seeking their first top starts of the 2009 season.

Though he has three wins this season, Schumacher is lacking a No. 1 start, but after a strong Friday showing in Englishtown, it looks likely that will change. After opening the day with a 3.932 that was best of the first Top Fuel session, Schumacher wheeled his U.S. Army dragster to a 3.818 in the night session to take the top spot heading into Saturday.

NHRA Media PhotoENGLISHTOWN, N.J. – Bob Tasca’s mail is delivered to his home in Rhode Island, but he can think of no better place to haul the mail than the track that he considers his home away from home, just a short blast down I-95 in New Jersey.

Tasca has been going to races at venerable Old Bridge Township Raceway Park all of his life.

He watched his grandfather race there. It’s where he was bit by the drag racing bug himself and the place where he won his very first NHRA national event – in Top Alcohol Funny Car during his sportsman racing days.

Now he is focused on earning his first professional victory there, and second overall, June 11-14 at the United Association NHRA SuperNationals. Tony Schumacher, Tim Wilkerson, Greg Anderson and Chip Ellis are the defending winners in their respective categories at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event, which will be televised by ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD.

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after coming from the back of the field to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pocono 500 on at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Penn. The last time an drive/owner woBy Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

LONG POND, Pa. (June 7, 2009) — Perhaps more amazing than Tony Stewart’s first victory as an owner/driver was his victory celebration Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

Actually, what was amazing was that Stewart could even manage a celebration at all, after using every trick in the book — including shutting down his engine entering Turn 1 at the 2.5-mile triangular track — to save enough fuel to win the Pocono 500.

The win was Stewart’s 34th in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series and his first since acquiring an ownership interest in Stewart-Haas Racing before the 2009 season. This is the first Cup win by an owner/driver since Ricky Rudd won at Martinsville on Sept. 27, 1998.

The American Canadian Tour (ACT) announced today that the Ford S347JR crate engine has been approved for competition starting immediately.

For the past eighteen months the engineers from Ford Racing in Dearborn, Michigan have been working in conjunction with ACT motor builders Butler & MacMaster of Hallowell, Maine on the research and development of a Ford crate engine that will be compatible with the GM ZZ4 crate engine.