Racing Results: July 7-9, 2006

It was kind of a quiet weekend, with many of the big series taking a well-deserved break. NASCAR was, of course, in action with the Nextel Cup and Busch series at Joliet, Illinois’ Chicagoland Speedway, while the Craftsman Truck Series was at the popular Kentucky Speedway. Meanwhile, the Champ Car World Series and Atlantics were at the Toronto street course, where the open-wheel cars have been a popular attraction for the past two decades.

NASCAR: Gordon Bumps and Runs to Win at Chicagoland

With five laps to go at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday, it looked like Matt Kenseth was on his way to his third victory of the year. He had played his cards right to get the front and led the most laps in the race. But it all went wrong when four-time series champ Jeff Gordon bumped the 2003 series titlist out of the way and went on to claim his second win of the season, on one of the four tracks on which he has never won. It was Gordon’s 75^th career win, moving him one behind the late Dale Earnhardt, who is sixth on the all-time list.

It was déjà vu all over again for Kenseth, who dominated this race last year but got beat on a late-race two-tires-vs.-four-tires decision in which Dale Earnhardt Jr. took two and won. To make matters worse after being punted by Gordon this year, Kenseth was in ninth place initially but then ran out of fuel, then tangled with rookie David Stremme at the checkered flag and pounded the wall, plummeting down the order to a 21^st-place finish.

There was no question that Gordon had a good car, coming up through the pack from 13^th on the grid and running in the top five throughout the race. Polesitter Jeff Burton led through the first round of pit stops at Lap 60, but Gordon beat him out of the pits to lead nine laps. On the first yellow, at Lap 69, various strategies played out as Gordon and Burton pitted and Kevin Harvick took the lead for 38 laps. As pit stops came around again, a number of drivers led laps before Kenseth took command at Lap 174. He led, except for the final round of stops, through Lap 264 and tangled with Gordon on the next lap.

Burton wound up second, ahead of Kyle Busch, Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Points leader Jimmie Johnson, Reed Sorenson, Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer and J.J. Yeley filled out the top 10.

Two-time and defending series champ Tony Stewart was in position for a third-place finish but ran out of fuel in the closing laps and wound up two laps down in 32^nd.

Had Kenseth won, he would have taken the points lead from Johnson, but Johnson now has a 48-point lead over Kenseth with eight races remaining until the cutoff for the Chase for the Championship. Burton’s second-place finish vaulted him to fourth in the points behind Earnhardt, and Kasey Kahne dropped one position to fifth.

The teams will be back in action next weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway.

NASCAR Nextel Cup Top Five:

1) Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, 270 laps

2) Jeff Burton, No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo, 270 laps

3) Kyle Busch, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, 270 laps

4) Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, 270 laps

5) Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, 270 laps

Driver’s Championship: 1) Jimmie Johnson, 2651; 2) Matt Kenseth, 2603; 3) Dale Earnhardt Jr., 2394; 4) Jeff Burton, 2327; 5) Kasey Kahne, 2303.

Complete Race Results

NASCAR Busch Series: Mears Gambles and Wins His First at Chicago

Casey Mears captured his first victory in a major NASCAR series on Saturday by winning the Busch Series race at Chicagoland Speedway. His team took a gamble on fuel to get track position at the front of the pack, where he could run in clean air, and it paid off nicely. In fact, the fuel calculation was so close that Mears rolled to a stop on the cool-off lap with an empty tank.

Kurt Busch and polesitter Carl Edwards dominated most of the race, with Busch leading the most laps, but Busch got mired in traffic late in the race and Edwards made a late run on Mears but couldn’t get past.

Edwards had to settle for second ahead of Jeff Burton, points leader Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth. Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer, Reed Sorenson, Tony Stewart and J.J. Yeley completed the top 10. This race did little to quell the ongoing fuss about Cup series drivers in the Busch Series, as full-time Cup drivers claimed the top 16 positions.

There was no change in the top five in the points standings, although Edwards did shave just a few off the margin to Harvick, who now leads by a still-massive 323 points.

The series will accompany the Nextel Cup teams to New Hampshire next weekend.

NASCAR Busch Series Top Five:

1) Casey Mears, No. 42 Chip Ganassi Motorsports Dodge Charger, 200 laps

2) Carl Edwards, No. 60 Roush Racing Ford Fusion, 200 laps

3) Jeff Burton, No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, 200 laps

4) Kevin Harvick, No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, 200 laps

5) Matt Kenseth, No. 17 Roush Racing Ford Fusion, 200 laps

Driver’s Championship: 1) Kevin Harvick, 2922; 2) Carl Edwards, 2599; 3) Clint Bowyer, 2540; 4) Denny Hamlin, 2502; 5) J.J. Yeley, 2494.

Complete Race Results

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: Hornaday Comes From Behind to Win

Two-time (1996, 1998) NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday picked up his second victory of the year at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday night, working his way through the pack from a 22^nd-place starting position. It was his 29^th series win, a series record, and the biggest Truck Series comeback in history at Kentucky.

Mike Skinner, the 1995 series champ, looked to have the truck to beat but was involved in a crash with Dennis Setzer on Lap 129 of 150 that opened the door for Hornaday. Rick Crawford finished second for the second week in a row, ahead of Brendan Gaughan, Johnny Benson and rookie David Ragan. Ted Musgrave, Matt Crafton, David Starr, Erik Darnell and points leader Todd Bodine completed the top 10.

Australian rookie Marcus Ambrose, who finished a career-best third last week at Kansas, started from his first pole position and led 49 of the first 51 laps, the most laps led by any driver. His truck showed good speed but his pit stops did not, eventually miring him a lap down in 19^th.

Bodine’s points lead was reduced to 112 over Benson, who jumped over David Reutimann to second in the standings.

The series heads to Memphis Motorsports Park next weekend for a little short-track action.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Top Five:

1) Ron Hornaday, No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet Silverado, 150 laps

2) Rick Crawford, No. 14 Circle Bar Racing Ford F150, 150 laps

3) Brendan Gaughan, No. 77 Orleans Racing Dodge Ram, 150 laps

4) Johnny Benson, No. 23 Bill Davis Racing Toyota Tundra, 150 laps

5) David Ragan, No. 6 Roush Racing Ford F150, 150 laps

Driver’s Championship: 1) Todd Bodine, 2043; 2) Johnny Benson, 1931; 3) David Reutimann, 1898; 4) Ted Musgrave, 1807; 5) Rick Crawford, 1806.

Complete Race Results

Champ Car: Allmendinger Scores Hat Trick at Toronto

A.J. Allmendinger’s hot streak continued on Sunday at Toronto, where the impressive young American scored his third straight win in the Champ Car World Series, holding off his Forsythe Championship Racing teammate Paul Tracy to claim the victory.

Allmendinger started second alongside former RuSport teammate Justin Wilson, and the duo ran in qualifying order for the first nine laps until a quartet of rookies tangled and stopped at Turn 1. Most of the leaders pitted at that time, and Allmendinger’s crew got him out ahead of Wilson. Nelson Philippe, Oriol Servia and Bruno Junqueira chose not to pit and led the field on the restart, but it was just a matter of time before they had to pit and Allmendinger got to the lead.

Tracy charged up through the field past Wilson and Bourdais to take second to make it a 1-2 finish for Forsythe. Two-time and defending series champ Bourdais and RuSport teammates Wilson and former series titlist Cristiano da Matta (driving Allmendinger’s former car) filled out the top five. Team Australia teammates Alex Tagliani and Will Power, Bourdais’ teammate Bruno Junqueira and Mi-Jack Conquest teammates Charles Zwolsman and Andrew Ranger (both a lap down) completed the top 10.

With the win, Allmendinger leap-frogged into second in the championship standings, and now lies 23 points behind Bourdais with eight races remaining. He also became the first American driver to win three consecutive races in the series since Al Unser Jr. did it in 1994.

The series continues their Canadian sweep with a visit to Edmonton next weekend.

Champ Car World Series Top Five:

1) A.J. Allmendinger, No. 7 Forsythe Championship Racing Lola/Ford-Cosworth, 86 laps

2) Paul Tracy, No. 3 Forsythe Championship Racing Lola/Ford-Cosworth, -1.851sec

3) Sebastien Bourdais, No. 1 Newman-Haas Racing Lola/Ford-Cosworth, -2.433sec

4) Justin Wilson, No. 9 RuSport Lola/Ford-Cosworth, -4.169sec

5) Cristiano da Matta, No. 10 RuSport Lola/Ford-Cosworth, -6.761sec

Driver’s Championship: 1) Sebastien Bourdais, 191; 2) A.J. Allmendinger, 168; 3) Justin Wilson, 165; 4) Alex Tagliani, 110; 5) Andrew Ranger, 110.

Complete Race Results

Miscellaneous:

Pikes Peak: We were remiss last week by not reporting the results of the 84^th annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Nobuhiro Tajima and Leonard Vahsholtz were declared co-champions after inclement weather curtailed Saturday’s runs to just nine miles up the road to the summit of the 14,110-foot Colorado mountain. Tajima had been hoping to break the 12-year-old all-time record for the 12.42-mile course with his 1,000hp, twin-turbo V6-powered Suzuki Grand Vitara, but was thwarted when race officials were forced to restrict the afternoon session. Peak veteran Leonard Vahsholtz and his son Clint continued to dominate their respective classes, with Clint winning the Super Stock Division for the 11th consecutive year while his dad topped the Open Class at 12:06.59 despite heavy rain and snow. After the elder Vahsholtz’s run – the fastest of all cars to complete the full distance – race officials closed down the upper portion of the course. Other class winners included Wally Dallenbach in Open Wheel and Charles McDowell in Baja ProTruck.

Atlantics: Robbie Pecorari won his first race in the Champ Car Atlantic Championship on Sunday, moving from fifth to first on the opening lap as the top four qualifiers got involved in on-track mishaps. Polesitter Graham Rahal got taken out on the first lap for the second time in three races. Jonathan Bomarito came home second ahead of Ryan Lewis. Simon Pagenaud and Champ Car refugee Alex Barron. Pagenaud leads the points, 153-144, over Andreas Wirth, with Rahal third at 136.