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.

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.

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.

Mechanicsburg, PA— May 15, 2009—Greg Hodnett had not been to Victory Lane with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series in nearly five years entering this week's event at Williams Grove Speedway in Pennsylvania. He also hadn't reached the winner's circle at the famed half-mile since the 2007 campaign. He changed all of that, after battling Stevie Smith and Cody Darrah for the $10,000 top prize on Friday night, leading the final 10 laps to pick up the win.

For Hodnett, the 1993 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award winner, it was his seventh career A-Feature win with the World of Outlaws and his second with the series at Williams Grove Speedway.

“It has been a long, long time since I won an Outlaws race,” said Hodnett in Victory Lane. “Anytime you can win an Outlaws race is great and when you can win it in front of your home fans, it's even better. All the Pennsylvania guys did really well and we are proud of them. We are very fortunate to be standing up here.”

Mechanicsburg, PA—May 12, 2009—With the early part of the 2009 season being of the most competitive in the history of the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, the level of competition will be ratcheted up even more as the series heads to the legendary Williams Grove Speedway this week for two full nights of racing as they take on the always tough Pennsylvania Posse.

Donny Schatz leads the World of Outlaws to the half-mile on Thursday, May 14 and Friday, May 15, after picking up his fifth win of the season last Saturday night at Eldora Speedway and taking the lead in the championship standings as well. The three-time and defending champion won once at Williams Grove last season and has 15 career victories at the track.

Steve Kinser, the 20-time World of Outlaws champion, won last spring at Williams Grove to earn his 38th career victory at the track. He made his debut at the track in 1979 and has nearly 100 Top-Five finishes over that span. He has one win this year and is currently second in points, less than 20 markers behind Schatz.

SARVER, Pa. — April 30, 2009 — For the first time in history, the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series will run two A-main events on the same day at the same track, each for $15,000 to win. Lernerville Speedway is giving its fans two 30-lap races for the price of one on July 21 at this year's Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup.

The huge single-day event on the World of Outlaws circuit will begin with a 30-lap, $15,000-to-win, full points-paying feature race. Moments after the checkered flag waves, an inversion of at least lead lap cars will be set for a non-points 30-lap slugfest for another $15,000.

With no points at stake, imagine the chances drivers will take for a second shot at $15,000? It'll be downright scary on that 60th lap of A-main racing.

“The Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup has long been one of the World of Outlaws and Sprint Car racing's premier events,” said Lernerville General Manager Gary Risch Jr. “Making it twin features this year will no doubt turn it into one of the most exciting single nights of racing in Lernerville's 40-year history.”