Kyle Busch continued his path of destruction within NASCAR Saturday night with a dominating victory at the Lady in Black. Busch, who has two top-tens in two starts at Gateway International Raceway, earned his eighth NASCAR win of the season at Darlington (three in the Sprint Cup Series, three in the Nationwide Series, and two in the Craftsman Truck Series). "Shrub" still hints that he could run the entire Nationwide Series schedule, which would put NASCAR's latest bad boy at GIR for the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 July 19th. Also finishing in the top-ten at Darlington Saturday was 2006 GIR winner and defending Nationwide Series champion Carl Edwards (second), two-time GIR winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. (fourth), 2006 Gateway NCTS pole winner and 2007 NNS rookie of the year David Ragan (fifth), former GIR polesitter Denny Hamlin (seventh), former GIR NCTS pole winner Travis Kvapil (eighth), and Dave Blaney (ninth), who had a successful test session here, a track refered to by many as a "flat Darlington," last fall.
Tony Stewart won his fourth Nationwide Series race of 2008 Friday Night at the Track Too Tough To Tame. Stewart, who has raced at Gateway International Raceway in the open-wheel ranks, came into the season with two prior NNS wins, both at Daytona, earned a third win there in the season-opener, as well as victories at Fontana, Talladega, and now Darlington. Clint Bowyer and David Reutimann, who are racing the full season in both the Nationwide and Cup Series this year, finished second and third respectively. Todd Bodine, the 2006 NCTS winner at Gateway, finished fourth, while Steve Wallace, son of St. Louis native and 1989 Cup Series champion Rusty Wallace, racked up his second-consecutive top-five finish. Another impressive finisher was Chase Miller, driving the Gillette-Evernham Motorsports Dodge. Miller had never been to Darlington, but racked up a ninth-place finish. Carl Edwards, who started the race on the pole, finished 43rd after an early accident.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to action Friday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Ron Hornaday, coming off a win at the most recent NCTS race in Kansas, is the defending race winner at Lowe's, earning the victory from the seventh starting position last year. The action starts at 6:30 p.m. Friday night on SPEED.
The NHRA POWERade Series took a weekend off after its visit to the St. Louis area for the O'Reilly Midwest Nationals, but is back this weekend at Bristol for the O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals. Tim Wilkerson, who won the Funny Car event from the top qualifier position at Gateway, comes to Bristol as the points leader in that division. Tony Schumacher, who lost to Rod Fuller in the finals at GIR, leads the points in Top Fuel; GIR top qualifier Jason Line leads in Pro Stock; and GIR winner Andrew Hines is at the point in Pro Stock Motorcycle. Qualifying will be aired on ESPN2 Saturday night at 5:30, with eliminations televised Sunday night at the same time.
Gateway International Raceway is hosting SPEED's PINKS: All Out June 27-28, the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series event July 19, and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and ASA Late Model Series Sept. 6. For ticket information to these and the more than 200 other events at GIR this year, call 866-35-SPEED or visit GatewayRaceway.com.
Tony Stewart won his fourth Nationwide Series race of 2008 Friday Night at the Track Too Tough To Tame. Stewart, who has raced at Gateway International Raceway in the open-wheel ranks, came into the season with two prior NNS wins, both at Daytona, earned a third win there in the season-opener, as well as victories at Fontana, Talladega, and now Darlington. Clint Bowyer and David Reutimann, who are racing the full season in both the Nationwide and Cup Series this year, finished second and third respectively. Todd Bodine, the 2006 NCTS winner at Gateway, finished fourth, while Steve Wallace, son of St. Louis native and 1989 Cup Series champion Rusty Wallace, racked up his second-consecutive top-five finish. Another impressive finisher was Chase Miller, driving the Gillette-Evernham Motorsports Dodge. Miller had never been to Darlington, but racked up a ninth-place finish. Carl Edwards, who started the race on the pole, finished 43rd after an early accident.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to action Friday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Ron Hornaday, coming off a win at the most recent NCTS race in Kansas, is the defending race winner at Lowe's, earning the victory from the seventh starting position last year. The action starts at 6:30 p.m. Friday night on SPEED.
The NHRA POWERade Series took a weekend off after its visit to the St. Louis area for the O'Reilly Midwest Nationals, but is back this weekend at Bristol for the O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals. Tim Wilkerson, who won the Funny Car event from the top qualifier position at Gateway, comes to Bristol as the points leader in that division. Tony Schumacher, who lost to Rod Fuller in the finals at GIR, leads the points in Top Fuel; GIR top qualifier Jason Line leads in Pro Stock; and GIR winner Andrew Hines is at the point in Pro Stock Motorcycle. Qualifying will be aired on ESPN2 Saturday night at 5:30, with eliminations televised Sunday night at the same time.
Gateway International Raceway is hosting SPEED's PINKS: All Out June 27-28, the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series event July 19, and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and ASA Late Model Series Sept. 6. For ticket information to these and the more than 200 other events at GIR this year, call 866-35-SPEED or visit GatewayRaceway.com.
