In a green-white-checker finish, Johnson seemed poised for a showdown and Gordon, who dominated all day, each eager to give Hendrick Motorsports . . . → Read More: Ryan Newman Wins @ Martinsville Speedway]]> Ryan Newman bagged victory at Martinsville Speedway and ended his 22-race winless streak by grabbing the lead when a three-wide accident took out leading teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson with two laps to go.

In a green-white-checker finish, Johnson seemed poised for a showdown and Gordon, who dominated all day, each eager to give Hendrick Motorsports its 200th victory. At last, with two laps to go at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Clint Bowyer provided an opening.

Bowyer’s aggressive move allowed Newman to slide into the lead, as Bowyer out race leaders Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon entering the first turn. Bowyer held off South Bay native A.J. Allmendinger and third-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. on an additional restart for his first triumph in 23 NASCAR Sprint Cup races.

Allmendinger came second, Earnhardt in third, followed by Matt Kenseth and Martin Truex Jr. The finish overshadowed what had been a stirring duel between a seven-time winner on the 0.526-mile oval, Gordon and a six-time winner, Johnson.

On the 356th lap, Johnson first took the lead when he passed Gordon. On pit road, he lost it and the passed Denny Hamlin to lead again on lap 393. with about 30 laps to go, he held off a modest challenge by Gordon and then he dueled side-by-side with his teammate.

Gordon was the leader and he had just nudged in front of Johnson before the yellow flag came out, with Johnson second and everyone behind them heading to pit road for tires.

Kasey Kahne’s No. 5 Chevrolet suffered an engine problem after 200 laps and his horrendous luck continued. During a lap 246 caution, Kahne entered the garage and remained there until lap 300. He spun in his own oil entering pit road as his engine finally expired and brought out a caution 15 laps. He finished 38th. This season, it was Kahne’s fourth finish of 29th or worse. His car is now in the danger zone of falling outside the top 35 in points. He also is falling out of a guaranteed starting spot in each race.

Kahne has not led a lap this year, although he was qualified twice. On the first lap, he was passed by Kevin Harvick and by teammate Earnhardt Jr. in the March 11 race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

On the official entry list released Monday, Raikkonen’s name was displayed in the No. 87 under the ownership of NEMCO Motorsports run by Nemechek. To . . . → Read More: NASCAR Ride for Kimi Raikkonen]]> Stock-car racing debut was made by Ex-Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen in Friday night’s N.C. Education Lottery 200. He will be entering Saturday’s Nationwide Series Top Gear 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

On the official entry list released Monday, Raikkonen’s name was displayed in the No. 87 under the ownership of NEMCO Motorsports run by Nemechek. To make the deal work, Nemecheck formed an agreement with Busch.

For Kyle Busch Motorsports, Raikkonen made his NASCAR debut in Friday night’s Truck Series race, finishing 15th^. Busch acknowledged that a car was in his shop even though he does not have a Nationwide license to run one and Raikkonen hinted then about the likelihood of running in the Nationwide race.

Raikkonen was allowed to drive Nemechek’s car that is guaranteed a spot in the field ranked 19th in owner’s points.

In the Truck Series event, Raikkonen got for the most part, positive reviews for his performance, including his own self-evaluation.

His contact with the SAFER Barrier outer retaining wall earlier did not do serious damage and Raikkonen was able to motor on without losing a position. He came off Turn 4 of the challenging Charlotte track.

Raikkonen joined a slew of F1 drivers who in the past several years have moved over to NASCAR. in 2006, Juan Pablo Montoya, Raikkonen’s former McLaren teammate made his first NASCAR start. In 2008, Scott Speed did the same. Last year, both Nelson Piquet Jr. and Narain Karthikeyan made the switch, although Karthikeyan is back in F1 this season.

It has been a . . . → Read More: Optimistic Hamlin Pumped Up for Darlington weekend]]> Denny Hamlin is an optimistic mood as he comes to The Lady in Black, where he will race in Friday’s Royal Purple 200 Nationwide event and Saturday’s Southern 500 Sprint Cup race, after a triumph in last Friday’s Nationwide race at Richmond, followed by a second-place run in Saturday night’s Sprint Cup race.

It has been a benchmark in Hamlin’s career as the “Track Too Tough To Tame” is considered by many to be the toughest stock car circuit ever built. From probing the defending Southern 500 winner’s record there, it might not seem that way. He has four top-10s and a most horrible finish of 13th, in five Sprint Cup starts.

In the Nationwide Series there, he hasn’t finished outside the top 10, including an eighth in the first start of his career at the egg-shaped 1.366-mile South Carolina oval and victories in his past three starts (2006, ’07 and ’10). South Carolina oval where running inches from the wall is mandatory.

Darlington is inconsistent and erratic, although as much as any track on the Cup tour. In the last 16 races, ten different active drivers have won there, with only Jeff Gordon (twice each), Greg Biffle and Jimmie Johnson winning more than once during that span.

On Friday, cup teams will practice twice and qualify, and then on Saturday night, they will run 367 laps for 501 laps at 7:30. On Friday morning, Nationwide Series teams get one practice session, qualify in the afternoon and run their 147-lap, 200-mile race at 7:30 on Friday night.

In the online betting market, the odds for NASCAR drivers are – Jimmie Johnson 37/13, Kyle Busch 4, Carl Edwards 9/2, Kevin Harvick 8 and Denny Hamlin 12.

Meehan’s goal for Go Canada Racing is to struggle full-time on . . . → Read More: Canadian Steve Meehan Launches All-Canadian NASCAR Team]]> The latest all-Canadian NASCAR contender, Go Canada Racing formally starts up with a Canadian owner, businessman Steve Meehan, and a Canadian driver, rising Canadian NASCAR star J.R. Fitzpatrick in NASCAR. Go Canada Racing becomes the only existing NASCAR national series team to do the same.

Meehan’s goal for Go Canada Racing is to struggle full-time on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series tour and become the first fully Canadian team to do so. At Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, the team raced two weeks ago and it will make its official debut this Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway.

In some Sprint Cup events this year, the team is looking to immerse its toe and as a possible debut on the top circuit, it is aiming the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway in August. The next year, the team plans to ramp up to a full Sprint Cup team in 2013 and to run a split Nationwide and Sprint Cup series schedule.

As an 18-year-old, Fitzpatrick won a CASCAR series championship in 2006 and he was placed second on the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series last year. To become a full-time rider in the Sprint Cup, the product of Cambridge, Ont., is thrilled about the drive. For any juvenile driver, the prospect of rubbing paint with proven NASCAR stars like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmy Johnson and Kyle Bush could indeed be an overwhelming one. However, Fitzpatrick is essentially looking forward to pick their brains and meet up with the circuit’s best.

At Charlotte next month, Raikkonen is apparently planning to enter a Truck Series race at Charlotte. He would follow Montoya, Scott Speed and Nelson Piquet Jr., if he does try NASCAR; he would . . . → Read More: Kimi Raikkonen Ready for Charlotte]]> Former Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen is headed to NASCAR. This was the rumor, which Juan Pablo Montoya said he had heard on Friday.

At Charlotte next month, Raikkonen is apparently planning to enter a Truck Series race at Charlotte. He would follow Montoya, Scott Speed and Nelson Piquet Jr., if he does try NASCAR; he would be the latest of former F1 drivers to move to America’s most liked motorsports series. In the past several years, Raikkonen will join a slew of F1 drivers who have moved over to NASCAR. Narain Karthikeyan was another driver, who made the change last year.

Raikkonen is at present 31-year-old and he is from Finland. Since leaving F1 after the 2009 season, he has raced the World Rally Championship. In his concluding years in F1, he drove for Ferrari from 2007-09. He had united Citroen’s Red Bull-backed junior team in WRC. He said he could be in NASCAR if he desired to, but he was not a fan, when he was asked in ’09 about following former teammate Juan Pablo Montoya and ’97 world champion Jacques Villeneuve to NASCAR.

Submitted résumé of Raikkonen has been cleared by NASCAR and he is allowed to race in the Camping World Truck Series at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.

The 2007 Formula One World Champion said that he is really looking forward to getting there to become more renowned with the world of NASCAR. He added that it will be immense fun for him and he is aware of the fact that it is a very hard and open series. He said that it feels great to be engaged in American spirit of racing and he loves the same.

Both drivers, MucMurray and Dixon traveled east to Talladega. There, Dixon drove a few laps around the 2.66 miles tri-ovala track by climbing into McMurray’s No. 1 Bass Pro Shops . . . → Read More: McMurray Drove Dixon’s No. 9 Target Honda for Promotion]]> NASCAR’s Jamie McMurray and Indy Car’s Scott Dixon traded rides. In Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, McMurray drove Dixon’s No. 9 Target Honda around a few laps.

Both drivers, MucMurray and Dixon traveled east to Talladega. There, Dixon drove a few laps around the 2.66 miles tri-ovala track by climbing into McMurray’s No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet.

For races at both tracks, the car exchanging was part of a promotion. On April 10 is the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, which is followed by the Aaron’s 499 down I-20, a week later.

In a much bulkier Tahoe before the runs, the drivers drove each other around their individual tracks and they exchanged plenty of tips and observations. McMurray said that by watching clips on YouTube, he practiced for the Birmingham track. For Chip Ganassi, McMurray and Dixon drove and both brought his cars back to pit road intact.

On Turn 10 at Barber, McMurray did have a low-speed spinout when he said he was going about 30 mph. It was not exactly a Talladega-style crash.

McMurray said that he believed the bizarre part of driving Dixon’s car was not having a cage or windshield, but for him that was an easy adjustment. 1997 version of Ganassi’s at a Christmas party was the only previous time he had sat in an open wheel car.

Dixon had to adjust the challenge of squeezing in and out of a Sprint Cup car and adjusted to roof and a windshield.

The upcoming Sprint Cup race, Food City 500 will be held at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 20, 2011. The Internet Sportsbooks odds for the race are Jimmie Johnson 11/4, Kyle Busch 6, Carl Edwards 7, Denny Hamlin 8 and Jeff Gordon11.

Patrick’s Nationwide tour was announced and with the race at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 19, the tour . . . → Read More: NASCAR: Danica Patrick Happy With 2011 schedule]]> Danica Patrick will drive in 12 NASCAR Nationwide Series races for JR Motorsports, along with competing in all 17 events on the Izod IndyCar Series calendar for Andretti Autosport. From last season’s racing schedule, she will not deviate much.

Patrick’s Nationwide tour was announced and with the race at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 19, the tour will begin. The first four races on the schedule are Phoenix International Raceway on Feb. 26, Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 5 and Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on March 19.

The rest of Patrick’s stock car run will include the race at Chicagoland Speedway on June 4, return to Daytona on July 1, street circuit event in Montreal on Aug. 20, Richmond International Raceway on Sept. 9, Kansas Speedway on Oct. 8 and the Nov. 5 Texas Motor Speedway, Nov. 12 second Phoenix race and the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 19.

She is happy and optimistic with the schedule and hopes that this year will be better than last. She said that this year is going to be an exciting one. With her team, she had a year to work and there is a comfort level that comes after returning to some of these tracks. She added that in this spot, it is obvious that experience goes a long way.

Patrick struggled at every venue last year, amidst over-the-top media and NASCAR hype and hoopla. 19th was her season-best finish at Homestead. In the 20s, she had five finishes and seven in the 30s in her other 12 races. Homestead was her only lead-lap finish, where she led four laps during an exchange of pit stops. In the IndyCar series in 2005, Patrick won the pole in her first appearance at Kansas Speedway and has had three top-10 finishes, including a career-best fifth in 2010.