NHRA Media PhotoWilkerson, Line and Hines also earn victories at Infineon Raceway

SONOMA, Calif. – Antron Brown became the seventh driver in NHRA history to sweep the Western Swing by racing to victory Sunday at the FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway.

Tim Wilkerson, Jason Line and Andrew Hines also were winners in their categories at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event.

Brown, who won at Denver and Seattle the last two weeks, powered his Matco Tools dragster to the win over Cory McClenathan in the final round. Brown posted a 3.990 second run at 299.06 mph to finish in front of McClenathan, who clocked a 4.002 at 290.82 in his FRAM Tough Guard dragster. It was Brown’s fifth win of the season and he increased his series lead to 199 points over Tony Schumacher.

“This doesn’t feel real especially after we had so much turmoil in the off-season,” said Brown, who joined Joe Amato (1991), John Force (1994), McClenathan (1997), Larry Dixon (2003), Greg Anderson (2004) and Schumacher (2008) on the short list of those who have won the trio of races in consecutive weeks.

Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 9 Budweiser Dodge, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the Infineon Raceway on in Sonoma, Calif. (Photo Credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images for NASCAR)By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

SONOMA, Calif.—How strange was it for Kasey Kahne to win a road-course race?

The driver of the No. 9 Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge had to ask his crew chief for directions to victory lane after taking the checkered flag in a green-white-checkered finish in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.

Kahne held off road-course ace Tony Stewart through a succession of four late-race double-file restarts, the final time after Scott Speed’s spin on Lap 108 caused the seventh caution of the day. After starting from the rear because of an engine change, Marcos Ambrose chased the top two finishers to the line to claim third place, matching the best result of his Sprint Cup Series career.

HANFORD, Calif. (April 30) – An early Memorial Day Weekend doubleheader takes the Rotating Right Wild West Southern Tour to Kings Speedway for Friday and Saturday, May 22-23 shows.

Both IMCA Modified main events at Hanford will pay $1,000 to win and are qualifiers for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot. National, ButlerBuilt Western Region and Smiley’s Racing Products State points, as well as special series points, will be awarded each day.

Pit gates open at noon on Friday and at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The draw closes at 3:50 p.m., hot laps follow 4 p.m. drivers’ meetings, the grandstand opens at 5 p.m. and racing starts at 5:30 p.m. both days.

Entry fee is $65 and includes the driver’s pit pass. Pit passes are $35 for Kings Speedway members and $45 for non-Kings Speedway members. Adult admission to the grandstand is $10. Seniors and military are $8 and kids 12 and under get in free.

More information is available by calling 559 587-1111 or by emailing kingsspeed@sbcglobal.net. Information about overnight accommodations and racers’ rates in the area is posted on the www.kingsspeedway.net website.

CORONA, CA (March 10, 2009) - In what is rapidly becoming a tradition, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and Brownstown Speedway are teaming up once again to present the 12th Annual "Indiana Icebreaker" on Saturday Night, March 21st at the South-Central Indiana facility. It will be the season opener for Brownstown Speedway, and with the stars of the LOLMDS on hand, it has all the makings of another action packed brawl for the checkers in front of a packed grandstand and pit area for the $10,000 to win event. The rain-date for the event is Sunday, March 22nd.

There will be a complete show for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, who will boast of one of their strongest lineups in their five-year history, and also kick off the Sunoco Race Fuels "Road to Wheatland" gets underway as 20 drivers will be eligible for the $700 winners circle program starting at Brownstown. The quarter-mile speedplant promoted by Tim Keithley will see PRC Time Trials, Heat Races, B-Mains and the $10,000 to win/$700 to start the 12th Annual "Indiana Icebreaker" which is sponsored by Rightway Construction and Outlaw Chassis and Fabrication.

Matt Kenseth leads the field en route to winning his second consecutive race, the Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway. (Photo Credit: Jeff Gross/Getty Images)By Reid Spencer Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
FONTANA, Calif.—Matt Kenseth is making up for lost time—with a lot of help from his friends on pit road.

Winless in 2008, Kenseth backed up his victory in the season-opening Daytona 500 by holding off Jeff Gordon in Sunday’s Auto Club 500 Sprint Cup race at Auto Club Speedway.

Matt Kenseth crosses the finish line to win the Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway. Kenseth leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings by 81 points over Jeff Gordon. (Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images)With a lightning-fast pit stop, Kenseth’s crew made sure his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford was first off pit road for a restart on Lap 216, after Kevin Harvick slammed the Turn 1 wall to cause the fifth and final caution of the 250-lap race.

By Phil Burgess, NHRA.com
Doug Kalitta and Ron Capps opened the 2009 Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season with wins in Funny Car and Top Fuel at the Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. Both had not won since the 2007 season, but got their new seasons off to a flying start with morale-boosting victories in Pomona.

Kalitta joined his uncle Connie (1967) and late cousin Scott (2005) as Winternationals winners and scored the first victory for Kalitta Motorsports since the tragic loss of Scott in a racing accident last summer. Kalitta, last year's Mac Tools U.S. Nationals runner-up who scored his most recent win in late 2007 in Richmond, defeated low qualifier Antron Brown in a tight match, 3.82, 308.57 to 3.84, 307.16, to collect career win number 31.

Kevin James, star of the movie Paul Blart: Mall Cop, drives the official pace Segway of the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown prior to the Camping World race. (Photo Credit: Robert Laberge/Getty Images)Earns Second Toyota All-Star Showdown title

By Jason Christley, NASCAR
IRWINDALE, Calif. - Matt Kobyluck is no stranger to wild finishes at the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown. Saturday night at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, he once again got the best of a three-car, last-lap free-for-all to end up in Victory Lane.

In the process, the Uncasville, Conn., driver became the first to win two NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdowns.

Joey Logano slid up into Peyton Sellers while going for the lead in Turn 4 coming to the checkered flag. Kobyluck, who was running third, came across the start-finish line a nose behind Logano. Logano was penalized for his move, though, giving Kobyluck a second NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown to go with the one he won in 2006.

“I saw it coming,” Kobyluck said. “So I laid up a little, got on the brakes and cut to the bottom so that I could miss it all.