Though not even halfway through the season, 2009 has seen 11 different race winners. That number is one short of the 12 different drivers who nabbed victory all of last season. The list of drivers who have yet to win in 2009 is an impressive one: Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer.

Coming off a win at Sonoma on June 20 – Jason Bowles heads this week from his home in Ontario, Calif., to the half-mile track in nearby Irwindale for the King Taco 200 on Saturday, July 4.

Steve David (Lighthouse Pt., Fla.) will be getting ready to defend his 2008 National High Point Championship. But what makes this opening race special is he will be doing it front of the fans and in the city that owns this boat.

Gary Lewis picked up where he left off one year ago at Pacific Raceway with another dominating road course victory on the ASA Northwest Late Model Tour.

If fans can’t get to any of the upcoming events, they can experience the excitement of the World of Outlaws Sprint Series live on DIRTVision.com through the DIRT Radio Network, where announcer Johnny Gibson keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the event.

Toyota’s third win in the last four races has pushed its lead in the manufacturers race to 13 points over the second-place Chevrolet.

With the unpredictable nature of a race at Daytona International Speedway (there have been seven different winners in the last seven races), no points standings position is secure.

NASCAR inaugural Hall of Fame class is set to be announced this week on SPEED and through its website.

A look at this week’s Top-12 heading into the Coke 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night.

According to Keith Danson, “I am continually amazed at how good a show  the racers put on, and how efficiently the staff at ERP keeps the action going.”

Jack Beckman drove his Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Charger to his second win of the season and moved to fourth in the Full Throttle Series points standings, by his nearly perfect .001 reaction time off the line against Bob Tasca.

Spokane County Raceway’s drag strip was open for business for two exciting days of side-by-side racing action. Complete results of both days provided.

Garry Brazier made his first start with the World of Outlaws since 1999 on Friday at U.S. 36 Raceway in Missouri. The multi-time Australian champion raced his way through the B-Main into the main event. He also competed at Knoxville on Saturday night, with his night ending in the B-Main. He plans to compete in a number of World of Outlaws events over the next few months.

Even though Joey Logano never challenged any of the race leaders, he raced his way back into contention after a blown tire and an untimely pit stop put him a lap down.

In other racing, Larry Dixon, Neff, Greg Anderson and Andrew Hines claimed No. 1 qualifying positions and will lead their respective categories into tomorrow’s 11 a.m. eliminations for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals. It is the 12th of 24 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event.

Gary Lewis once again showed his mastering of the road course. Every practice session he took part in he was the fastest. Lewis did skip the final practice not wanting to take any chances.

Valleyford, Wash. high school freshman Jake Bissett set fast time and started on the pole in his 50-lap Semi-Pro main event. Raceway Park’s Adam Bishop would pressure Bissett for the lead in the early going and finally move to the top spot on lap seven. Bissett settled in behind Bishop and the pair worked lap traffic with Bissett able to clear Bishop at lap 20.

Ron Hornaday led 175 of 201 laps on the .75-mile track. The driver of the Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet had a commanding lead over Brian Scott’s Toyota before a late-race caution forced a green-white-checkered finish.

NASCAR Nationwide Series points leader, Kyle Busch, picked up this win today at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Ron Hornaday Jr. won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Award for the MemphisTravel.com 200 Presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts with a lap of 22.947 seconds, 117.662 mph.

Joey Saldana led the most important lap, the final one en route to picking up his 11^th A-Feature win of the season and the 50^th of his World of Outlaws career, making him just the 10^th driver in the 30-plus year history of the series to accomplish the feat.

Joey Logano picked up the pole award for the NASCAR Nationwide Series Camping World RV Sales 200 presented by Turtle Wax. Series points leader, Kyle Busch starts ninth.

Larry Dixon drove his Alan Johnson Al-Anabi Racing dragster to a 3.882-second pass at 301.74 mph to become the provisional top qualifier in Top Fuel. If it stands it would be Dixon’s third No. 1 qualifier of the season, 34th of his career and a first at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader, Tony Stewart, starts on the pole for Sunday’s Lennox 301 as rain forced a cancelation of Coors Light Pole qualifying.

What do Wednesday and the Coke Zero 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race have in common? To anyone who works the traditional 40-hour week, it isn’t all that hard to figure out.

Since winning last year in Topeka, John Force has advanced to the semifinals five times but hasn’t been able to go any further. He hopes to change that Sunday.

Double-file restarts were introduced at the non-points NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race in May and the change was fully instituted for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series earlier this month at Pocono Raceway. Under the previous format, cars on the lead lap would restart in a single-file line while lapped cars would start in a line next to them. Now the format is coming to the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

With each Bissett brother accomplishing their goals of winning national championships in karting before making the transition to Legend Cars, they have a renewed focus that hits high gear this weekend. Joe, recently graduated from Freeman High School, and incoming freshman Jake head to Montana Raceway Park for the Eighth Annual Legends Thunder, which could earn the duo points toward a national championship in the Semi-Pro division.

Jason Sides has more than paid his dues, putting in countless hours over the years working on his own car, driving his own truck and trailer and persevering oftentimes with minimal crew help and just a faction of the budget that the bigger teams have. All of that dedication, along with a sheer love for the sport of sprint car racing is paying off this year.

Five races remain in the 2009 ASA NWLMT season. The road course will be very pivotal towards the fist ever series championship. The predominate circle track series has many in this seasons chase heading onto a road course for the first or second time in their respective racing careers.

The wind kicked up some, but that did not stop the racers from a great show. The Fever Four class broke the barrier and held the first B main of the year which led Chris McIlveen and Ryan George into the A main event.

This week’s stop for the NHRA Full Throttle series is in the state of Ohio where several drivers look to get back to winning ways and add to potential points championships in Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock.

Entering this weekend’s events, Donny Schatz holds a 59-point advantage over Joey Saldana in the series championship standings after 30 A-Feature events. Schatz has won eight times, while Saldana leads the series with 10 triumphs. Jason Meyers is third in points and has four victories, and 20-time series champion Steve Kinser is fourth and has won once so far this season.

When NASCAR introduced road course racing to its Northwest and Southwest Series schedules Gary Lewis showed his ability to adapt to right and left hand turns with wins at Portland International Raceway and strong runs at Sears Point’s Infineon Raceway and later Pacific Raceway

Unlimited Hydroplane series announces 2009 national sponsor for their ‘Crew Chief of the Year’ award.

8th Annual Legends Thunder event highlights intro to summer-filled events at Montana Raceway Park.

Under the guidance of crew chief Jimmy Walsh, Morgan Lucas, who at 25 years of age is the youngest racer in the nitro ranks, finds himself solidly in the running for the Countdown to 1 playoffs and a chance at the 2009 Full Throttle championship.

If fans can’t get to any of the upcoming events, they can experience the excitement of the World of Outlaws Sprint Series live on DIRTVision.com through the DIRT Radio Network, where announcer Johnny Gibson keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the event.

Ron Capps, a four-time titlist this season and points leader since the first event, slipped to third in the standings following his first-round exit in the last race in Englishtown and is just 26 markers behind leader Tony Pedregon and six points back of second-place Ashley Force Hood.

If the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup began now, Kyle Busch would be seeded first despite his current position of ninth in the standings. Mark Martin, currently 11th, would be seeded second. Those potential seedings are based on the number of victories each driver has achieved thus far in 2009.

Seven gentlemen have a shot to become the first NASCAR Nationwide Series driver to repeat at Loudon —  Jason Keller (No. 27 Kleenex Ford), Kenny Wallace (No. 28 U.S. Border Patrol Chevrolet), Kevin Harvick (No. 33 Copart.com Chevrolet), Carl Edwards (No. 60 Scotts/Ortho Ford), Derrike Cope (No. 73 Derrike Cope Inc. Dodge), Bobby Hamilton Jr. (No. 81 MacDonald Motorsports Dodge) and Joe Nemechek (No. 87 NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet).

David Garber continued his march towards the top of the Inland Northwest Super Stock Association standings by claiming the TRICK 100 main event last Saturday.

NASCAR Canadian Tire Series teams make a three-track swing through British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatoon during the month of July. All three stops are expected to be sell outs including the Vernon, B.C. stop that is just five hours north of Spokane, Wash.

Johnson defeated Greg Anderson with a perfect .000 reaction time off the tree to bank the $50,000 K&N Horsepower Challenge grand prize in 2008, but still walked away from his Norwalk visit with a nagging sense of unfinished business.

Stateline Speedway will offer reduced admission prices to their June 27 event which features the tracks Hot Rod Show and Festival.

10-Race Stretch Culminates Sept. 12 At Richmond International Raceway ‘Race To The Chase’ Sets Field For ‘Chase For The NASCAR Sprint Cup’

Donny Schatz used three Top-Five finishes over the weekend, including a win on Friday night at River Cities Speedway in his home state of North Dakota, in addition to two fast time honors to extend his lead in the World of Outlaws championship standings to 59 markers over Joey Saldana after the Duel in the Dakotas.

Though Richard Petty long refused to feature an alcohol or tobacco sponsor on any of his cars, that changed when Petty partnered with George Gillett to form Richard Petty Motorsports. The organization fields cars for four drivers, including Kahne, who wears the livery of Budweiser, his primary sponsor.

Ten races down, 15 to go in the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season. The series is known for its championship battle going down to the wire, sometimes to the last lap in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. This season appears no different than the those before. The points lead has changed for the fifth time following Milwaukee. Ron Hornaday Jr. takes over for the second time with a 36-point lead over Matt Crafton.

A look at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series top 12, along with other notable drivers, going into the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on June 28.

The iRacing.com American Speed Association Northwest Late Model Tour moves from its normal oval racing to the high speed 2.25-mile 10-turn road course at Pacific Raceways in Kent, Washington.

Enumclaw, Wash. native Kasey Kahne grabbed the checkered flag for Richard Petty Motorsports on Sunday–this first Petty-owned car to win a race in over 10 years.

A purse of $76,000 is available for the eight drivers competing in the K&N Horsepower Pro Stock Challenge. The winner of the 25th annual K&N Horsepower Challenge will earn $50,000. The runner-up will earn $10,000, the two semifinalists $3,000 each, and the four first-round finishers $2,500 apiece.

For Danny Lasoski, the victory was worth $10,000 and it was the 83^rd A-Feature win of his World of Outlaws career and his first triumph at Nodak Speedway in just his second start at the high-banked 3/8-mile.

Shawn Cowie went into eliminations from the No. 1 qualifying spot and squared off against No. 2 qualifier Joey Severance, Spanaway, Wash., in the final.  Cowie laid down a 5.370-second, 268.81 mph pass which was more than enough to cover Severance who slowed to a 16.152-second run at 52.69 mph.  Severance was also runner-up to Cowie at the division’s race last week at Spokane County Dragway.

The Saturday night field featured over 30 Northwest Pro 4 Alliance cars with drivers from Florida, California, Utah, Oregon, Idaho and Washington in the field. It was a hometown driver however who came away with the win and second straight feature for the division as Prosser, WA Rick Thompson captured the 60-lap Main Event.

Shane Mitchell nabbed the victory in the B-Modified Main Event after setting fast time in qualifying. Thomas Stanford (Youth Hornets) and Matt Henderson (NW Legends) also set fast time in their respective qualifying sessions. Stanford won the main event with Henderson matching Mitchell and Stanford as fast time winners to go along with main event victories.

After traveling over 2,000 miles to compete in the NASCAR Nationwide Series event at the famed Milwaukee Mile, Carl Edwards made sure the trip was worth his efforts en route to his first series victory in 2009.

Jason Meyers took the lead for the first time on the 10^th lap and held the point until the 23^rd circuit when Craig Dollansky got around him in traffic. Meyers retook the lead on the 25^th lap and would pace the field the rest of the way to earn the $10,000 win.

Juan Pablo Montoya will start 17th today but isn’t concerned about the traffic he’ll have to maneuver on his way toward the front. He won from the 32nd starting spot in 2007.

Qualifying has wrapped up for the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series stop at Pacific Raceway located in Kent, Wash.

Contact from Patrick Long’s car on Turn 11 of the final lap left Joey Logano spinning around and eventually finishing 17th. Long was subsequently penalized to the 23rd position in the final rundown, the final car on the lead lap, giving the win to Jason Bowles.

Ron Hornaday led 189 of the race’s 200 laps and easily beat MRD Motorsports’ Dennis Setzer. The race was postponed from Friday night after heavy rain struck the Milwaukee area.

For the North Dakota native, Donny Schatz, it was his second consecutive win at River Cities Speedway which is located in his home state.

Fresh off a dominating run in Spokane, Shawn Cowie outran the field at Pacific Raceway in Kent, Wash. with a 5.389-second, 268.12 pass that was just enough to put him ahead of No. 2 qualifier Joey Severance.  Severance ran 5.401 seconds at 264.70 mph.

Qualifying results and notes from the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

Jac Haudenschild looks to rebound after crossing the line second, but coming up light at the scales last season at Nodak Speedway relegating to a 24^th-place finish. He finished ninth at the track in 2007 as he looks to add to his two career wins in the state of North Dakota.

Guest columnist Cathy Elliott feels that the sport is in her words “awesome” even on a weekend like this where the teams are handling a road course versus the usual turn left enviroment.

Fans will see several improvements for 2009, including more grass-covered seating and safety improvements.

After a successful event at Spokane County Raceway the teams of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series for Division 6 invade the beautiful Pacific Raceway complex just East of Seattle.

Two paved ovals, a karting facility, mud bogs and much more are running this weekend across the Inland Norhtwest.

The trio of World of Outlaws races kicks off with the Duel in the Dakotas at River Cities Speedway on Friday, June 19, followed by the finale of the annual event at Red River Valley Speedway on Saturday, June 20. The series will then head across the state to wrap up the weekend on Sunday, June 21 at Nodak Speedway.

We have received several comments from readers regarding our coverage of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event at Spokane County Raceway and have posted two that stood out. Thank you for your readership and for the comments.

MotoConcepts Racing, a Spokane-based AMA Motocross team, picked up a pair of top-20 finishes in last weekend’s Lucas Oil outdoor series.

Kraig Kinser continues to close in on his first win of the 2009 campaign. He picked up his 12^th Top-10 of the season in the finale at Dodge City Raceway Park last season. He is solidly in the Top-10 in points as he continues his second season driving for Tony Stewart Racing. In his career at Red River Valley Speedway, the third generation driver has six Top-10 finishes.

Rick Brown qualified fifth quick of the sixteen winged sprint cars with a 13.098.  In a special Trophy Dash to honor the memory of Casey Diemert, Brown started second and promptly moved to the lead to take the win. In his heat race he started fourth and moved to second for the checkers.

While Jeff Fenton has been Mr. Consistent, many of his top ten competitors have either posted DNF’s or weren’t able to make the show.  Two-time champion, Dave Garber, in his Concrete Cutters Pontiac, has been slowly reeling Fenton in while making his bid for a third title. 

Craig Dollansky won at River Cities Speedway in 2000. The native of Elk River, Minnesota has finished eighth or better in all four of his career starts at the track. He is currently sixth in points on the strength of 19 Top-10 finishes as he seeks his first win of the year driving for Kasey Kahne Racing.

Juan Pablo Montoya was one of the world’s premier road racers prior to joining the stock car ranks. He won seven Formula One races, the 1999 Champ Car title and 11 open-wheel races, including the 2000 Indianapolis 500, prior to making his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut for Chip Ganassi in the 2006 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Brad Keselowski hasn’t just climbed back into the title picture, he’s forced points leader Kyle Busch (No. 18 Combos Toyota) and second-place Carl Edwards (No. 60 Save A Lot Ford) to pay close attention to his whereabouts on the track.

The first two events of the 2009 season were won by 2007 INSCA Champion, Tony Berry, and therefore the track and club worked together to place a “bounty” on the driver of the #53 car. It didn’t take long in qualifying to determine that several drivers were up to the challenge on this night.

Northwest Early Stocks and Late Model 4s were on the schedule last Saturday along with the iRacing.com ASA NWLMT 125 at Stateline Speedway. Great racing action in the support divisions kept the crowd on its feet.

The twisting Infineon Raceway, which hosts the first of three road- course events on this year’s NASCAR Camping World Series West schedule, is one where David Mayhew spent much time early in his racing career.

The Northwest Pro4 Alliance is a compilation of the three major four cylinder late model groups in the Northwest, working to provide the race fans, competitors, tracks and sponsors large fields of cars, exciting racing, and an overall good time for all.

The two combatants currently on the Chase bubble – Jeff Burton and David Reutimann – have vastly different experiences at Infineon Raceway, site of Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350.

Heading into the weekend, Donny Schatz holds a 50-point lead over Joey Saldana in the series championship standings, with 20-time series title winner Steve Kinser third and Jason Meyers fourth.

A look at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series top 12, along with other notable drivers, going into the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway on June 21.

Saturday, June 20, also will mark Ron Hornaday’s 51st birthday. On his birthday in 1998, Hornaday won at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series after starting from the pole and leading 187 of 200 laps, driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI).

Ephrata Raceway Park is set to host another round of Motocross action on June 20. Over a dozen classes will be available for potential riders to take part in throughout Saturday nights racing under the lights.

The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series makes its way to Vernon, B.C. in July and features live pits stops and stars such as former Indy Car driver, Andrew Ranger, who picked up a win on Saturday. Also running the series are Kevin Harvick Inc. development driver, Cale Gale, KHI’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver, JR Fitzpatrick and NASCAR Nationwide Series driver, DJ Kennington.

More than 300 teams took part in the Lucas Oil series, which featured new timing lights from NHRA stalwart Brainerd, Minn., which hosts an NHRA Full Throttle National Event and included track personnel such as Livingston working to keep the track clear of debris and the show moving smoothly.

Jimmie Johnson dominated most of the LifeLock 400 and took the lead from Greg Biffle six laps from the end as Mark Martin watched the duel from third place.

On a green/white/checker restart Jay Sauls (Puyallup, WA) moved to the inside of the second row on the commit cone restart. With the front two Kevin Richards (Newman Lake, WA) on the inside and Jared Vorse (Olympia, WA) on the outside mixing it up on the restart.

Tony Pedregon powered his Q Horsepower Chevy Impala SS to a 4.246-second run at 260.56 to grab the win. It’s Pedregon’s second consecutive win of the season, 42nd of his career and second win in Englishtown.

Local winners walking away with the coveted Wally trophy included Mike Strickland, Moses Lake, Wash., in Top Sportsman and Sportsman Motorcycle racer Buff Kobs of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

The Thunder/Hobby Challenge couldn’t run in Wenatchee so they loaded up and added to Ephrata Raceway Park’s evening of fun. 

The huge crowd erupted when Mark Martin’s CARQUEST/Kellogg’s Chevrolet passed first Johnson, then Biffle to grab his third win of the year.

Joey Saldana has four career wins at Dodge City to lead all drivers and also leads the series this season with 10 A-Feature wins in 2009.

Logano’s No. 20 Toyota was strong, and he easily moved through the field, getting to second place with 93 laps to go. After a caution and red flag with 15 laps remaining, Logano closed in on Kyle Busch after the restart and slipped under him heading into Turn 3 on Lap 190.

Alex Lessor held strong the final 15 laps for his second late model victory of 2009 which added to his US Army Super Late Model points lead in the chase for the 2009 championship.

Finding winners circle can be hard to do at ASA sanctioned Yakima Speedway but for 5 drivers on Saturday night victory was hard fought and well earned.

After two days of intense qualifying, there were no changes to these following No.1 spots from Friday’s top competitors. Rob Harrison, N. Vancouver, B.C., remained at the top of the Comp Eliminator class alongside Super Stocker Byron Setters of Red Deer, Alb., and Bill Edgeworth of Tacoma, Wash., in Stock

On Lap 77 of the Michigan 200, Colin Braun took advantage of a rare mistake by Kyle Busch. With Busch’s momentum slowed through Turn 2 by the lapped truck of Norm Benning, Braun passed the No. 51 Toyota for the lead and sailed home in clean air the rest of the way.

Tony Schumacher kept the top position in Top Fuel while Ron Krisher and Hector Arana were able to move in to the top spots in their respective categories before rain showers hit at the 11th of 24 events on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

Take a look at Cathy Elliott’s latest column courtesy of NASCAR

For Joey Saldana, the $10,000 triumph was his ninth win of the season, which matches his car number. He now has 48 career World of Outlaws wins and is just three victories out of the eighth spot on the all-time win list and two short of 50 A-Feature victories.

Certainly, Joey Logano is capable of becoming the first driver to win back-to-back Nationwide races at Kentucky. He’s driving Joe Gibbs Racing’s formidable No. 20 Toyota, a car that dominated the series with multiple drivers last year, and he’s far more experienced at the top levels of NASCAR.

Ashley Force Hood drove her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang to a 4.071 at 303.37 to take the provisional No. 1 spot. If it stands, it would be Force Hood’s fourth No. 1 qualifier of the season, seventh of her career and third in the past four races.

Today kicked off the first NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event at Spokane County Raceway in over 37 years.

There will be a fundraiser for the bounty where SCR fans can contribute directly to this fun but worthy cause that will assist Cory Mackay. Any INSCA Sprint Car driver that can beat the B&B machine to the checkered flag will receive half of the funds with the other half of the proceeds being given to a very special cause that the B&B team has been supporting this season.

Brian Vickers, driver of the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota, posted the fastest lap in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying this afternoon at Michigan International Speedway for the LifeLock 400.

Some great auto racing events are being held in the Inland Empire this weekend as the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series comes to Spokane County Raceway for the first time in 37 years while the iRacing.com ASA Northwest Late Model Tour returns, this time with a stop at Stateline Speedway.

Ashley Force Hood, a rising star in NHRA drag racing, hopes to add to the Force family legacy with a win at Englishtown.

Scott Kalitta, a two-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion will be remembered first on Friday during the first Funny Car qualifying session. Jeff Arend, who is now piloting Kalitta’s DHL Toyota Solara, will make the first qualifying run as a single in the left lane in honor of Kalitta.

Trees Planted For Each Green Flag At NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Races Will Store Emissions Goal Is To Plant 20 “Green” Acres Per Year.

A local driver with vast knowledge at Stateline could upset the current ASA Northwest Late Model Tour points chase. Kevin Richards (Newman Lake, WA) has so many wins at his home track they have lost count.

The BULLDOG CONTRATERS night will be the talk of the week with the “Wednesday fans” with everyone looking to next week to catch more excitement.

NASCAR has its Camping World West Series running at Portland (Oregon) International Raceway in July-a seven hour drive from the Inland Empire. Those interested in seeing NASCAR stars D.J. Kennington, JR Fitzpatrick and Cale Gale who are development drivers for some of NASCAR’s top teams and former Indy Car driver, Andrew Ranger, can head to Vernon, B.C. in July-a five hour drive north. The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series runs the half-mile Sun Valley Speedway complete with live pit stops in the A&W Crusin’ The Dub 300.

Check out the latest news from the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series which is home to Kennington, Gale, Ranger and Fitzpatrick.

The West Coast’s premier late model event, the Montana 200, has ticket and entry information posted on its website.

Spokane-based MotoConcepts Racing Team rider Weston Peick grabbed a top-10 finish in Freestone Texas last weekend.

This is the fifth installment in an occasional series of 2009 releases highlighting some of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ most renowned car numbers and their performance heritage. This installment takes a look at the No. 21.

Skagit Speedway drivers, fans and officials will take part in a fund-raiser for Relay for Life on Saturday night.

Drivers excited as the cameras from SPEED will be on hand at Dodge City, Kan. for both nights of racing to capture all of the action for a future broadcast.

Tony Berry, the current points leader and 2007 Inland Northwest Sprint Car Association (INSCA Champion picked up the win May 16th at the season opening event at Spokane County Raceway.

With two consecutive Idaho 200 victories, an ARCA West pole to go along with a runner-up finish, Gary Lewis sees Stateline Speedway’s ASA NWLMT event coming at just right the time in his season.

Kurt Johnson is looking to capture his first win of the season at the Englishtown quarter-mile, and he is confident that the moves being made now to improve his car’s performance will deliver long-term benefits for the remainder of the season.

Modifieds from around the Northwest region will take to the track for a special Modified Challenge exhibition race.

The apparent home track advantage could most benefit David Ragan, who is struggling coming off a promising 2008 campaign. Ragan has just one top-10 finish after scoring 14 last season. He currently sits 31st in the points standings.

Expected entrants for this weekend’s race are the famed Red Perkin’s owned gold machines of the 65 with 2006 and 2008 INSCA Champion Kevin Burck driving and the 65-1 with Ephrata racer, Donnie Kudrna behind the wheel. Also expected is current points leader, Tony Berry.

Craig Dollansky led seven laps last season at Dodge City en route to finishing second. In his career he has finished ninth or better at the track in seven of his nine starts there. He is currently fifth in points this season on the strength of 17 Top-10 finishes as he looks for his first win since joining Kasey Kahne Racing.

With 14 races in the books, Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman, competing in their first year as teammates in Stewart’s new ownership collaboration with Carl Haas, find themselves first and fourth in the current point standings.

Over the last three years, David Gilliland (2006), Stephen Leicht (No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet) and Joey Logano (No. 20 GameStop Toyota) have all won at the 1.5-mile track, overcoming fields that included nearly six double-duty drivers on average.

With Budweiser recently announcing that they will not return in 2010 after 30 years of primary sponsorship with the Kenny Bernstein team, new sponsorship is being actively pursued.

Bob Tasca, a sophomore in NHRA Funny Car competition, raced to his first career victory earlier this season at the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway in Flordia. It was an emotional scene as he celebrated with is Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Ford Mustang crew. If he’s able to win at Englishtown, the celebration would be off the charts.

Eddy McKean started in the sixth position and quickly made his way to the front to pace the field most of the race. The victory came in only his eighth career series start as he has been concentrating his efforts on track ownership (Magic Valley Speedway) the past couple of years.

You really have to hand it to Kyle Busch. The most exciting young racer to come along in many years, he has demonstrated his determination to the world by tackling pretty much every racing series you can think of, and beating all of them at their own game.

INSSA champion, David Garber, followed up a win at Stateline Speedway with his second series victory of 2009 this time at Spokane County Raceway.

The chase for the first ever ASA NWLMT championship is a battle by the top 10. Only 90-points separate first through tenth. Current point leader Brent Harris (E. Wenatchee, WA) has a slim 6-point edge on Gary Lewis.

The ASA Northwest Sprint Car Association heads to Roseburg, Ore. this week for thier third race of the 2009 season.

Joey Saldana and Donny Schatz, who lead the series with eight and seven wins respectively both won at Dodge City last season. Schatz, who is chasing his fourth consecutive series title, has a 68-point lead in the championship standings over 20-time series champion Steve Kinser.

Certainly, Knaus has paid his dues and climbed the NASCAR ladder steadily to get to his current spot on the top rung. From 1993 to 1997, he worked with Ray Evernham on Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 team at Hendrick Motorsports before leaving to take a job at (then) Dale Earnhardt, Inc.

A look at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series top 12, along with other notable drivers, going into the LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway on June 14.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points leader, Matt Crafton, is one of the series’ most consistent drivers, having completed each of the eight races’ 1,254 laps. He’s finished among the top 10 in seven of eight races and no worse than 11th.

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.

NHRA Division 3 won the overall JEGS competition, but, Liberty Lake resident Tom Manfred did make it to the semi-final round in Super Street.

Spencer Massey, who drives for NHRA legend Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, just edged category points leader and event No. 1 qualifier Antron Brown at the finish line. Massey’s U.S. Smokeless/United Association dragster posted a performance of 3.856 seconds at 308.35 mph to take the win over Brown, whose Matco Tools/DirecTV dragster trailed with a 3.870 at 301.54.

The 50-lap ICAR feature started with 14 cars taking the green on the high banked .25-mile oval. The Main event saw side by side action throughout the event with just two cautions.

Mike Longton was able to pull away late in the race to win at his home track. Following up his win at Mission Valley Speedway, Longton moves closer to top of the point ladder for the 2009 ASA NWLMT championship.

Forced to go to a backup car for Sunday’s race, Stewart must drop to the rear before the field takes the green flag. The backup car is chassis No. 450, which Stewart drove to a 26th-place finish (his worst of the year) at Las Vegas.

Kyle Busch led four times for 173 of the 225 laps around the 1.33-mile concrete track, giving up the lead only for pit stops. He led the final 24 laps and beat Brad Keselowski by 0.891 seconds.

To start off the evening, Mike Longton set fast time in qualifying blistering the pavement at 18.887 seconds, one of only two drivers in the 18-second bracket all evening. The trophy dash went to Owen Riddle, a former Late Model Champion himself at Yakima Speedway.

Eric Holmes’ third win of the season increased his series points lead to 36 points over Jason Bowles, who finished second. David Mayhew was third, followed by Mike David and Moses Smith.

NHRA Northwest division racers will head to Spokane County Raceway June 12-14 for the track’s inaugural NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event.  The race is the third of seven in NHRA’s Northwest division.

Tony Pedregon powered his Q-Horsepower Chevy Impala to a 4.079 second run at 304.39 mph to earn his third top qualifying effort at the dragstrip located just south of Chicago. He will face current Funny Car points leader Ron Capps in the opening round. Capps squeezed into the field at 16th with a time of 4.228 seconds in his NAPA Dodge Stratus.

It was Donny Schatz’s seventh win of the 2009 campaign and the 95^th of his World of Outlaws career as he looks to become just the fifth driver in the 30-plus year history of the series to win 100 A-Feature events.

Stateline Speedway, Spokane Karting and Spokane County Raceway will all be open and racing Saturday night.

Thanks to a qualifying rainout Friday at Pocono Raceway, Tony Stewart will start on the pole for a NASCAR Sprint Cup race for the first time since Oct, 23, 2005, at Martinsville.

Todd Bodine became the first driver in the history of the series to have five victories at one track, Texas Motor Speedway. They’ve all been accomplished in a Toyota for Germain Racing. It was Bodine’s 17th career victory in trucks, also all with Germain.

Antron Brown posted a performance of 3.826 seconds at 317.94 mph in his Matco Tools/DirecTV dragster to take the top spot at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago, while local favorite Tony Schumacher, winner of three of the last five events, was second in his U.S. Army dragster with a 3.848 at 311.34.

Joey Saldana took the lead on the 20^th lap from Terry McCarl in lapped traffic exiting the fourth turn and would lead the remainder of the 35-lap contest to pick up the $10,000 top prize aboard the Budweiser Maxim.

Tom Manfred and his wife, Valerie, are in Chicago for the NHRA national event where the 61-year-old Liberty Lake resident will compete in the JEGS All-Star Showdown for Super Street Sportsman drivers.

John Dillon, a former NASCAR NW Tour champion, has his eyes set on another championship and has been the hottest RMCS driver as of late, winning the series finale at Magic Valley last season and picking up the win two weeks ago at Salt Lake City.

The annual NASCAR Camping World Series West race is a companion event as part of the big NASCAR weekend with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at the road course in Sonoma, Calif.

Not only has Rib America joined the Thunder on the Ohio event, event organizers have added the Old National Bank Race Fan 4-Pak.

10-race season includes July stop at Spokane County Raceway-one of only two races in Eastern Washington in 2009.

Two more strong runs this past weekend in the World of Outlaws return to the Midwest have Sam Hafertepe excited to visit the reconfigured Lawrenceburg Speedway in Indiana on Friday, June 5 and Saturday, June 6 for two full nights of racing.

Johnny Sauter nabbed the top spot in Keystone Light qualifying on Thursday and will lead the field to the start of the Winstar World Casino 400 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Ron Capps arrives in Joliet, west of Chicago, holding a 119-point margin over second-place Del Worsham, following his win last Sunday at Heartland Park Topeka. He’s the 2005 Funny Car titlist at Route 66 Raceway and the 2007 runner-up at one of his favorite tracks on the circuit.

Tickets are now on sale for the 2009 United States Sprint Boat Association sanctioned races scheduled for Webb’s Slough, located in St. John, Wash.

Johnny Sauter nabbed the top spot in Keystone Light qualifying on Thursday and will lead the field to the start of the Winstar World Casino 400 at Texas Motor Speedway.

NASCAR recently used the “double-file” format for its non-points NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, which produced an unpredictable finish. The format will be adapted for the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in the near future.

The ASA Northwest Sprint Car Racing Association ran a two-day event last weekend in Idaho and will highlight an upcoming race night at Spokane County Raceway.

Coming off a subpar performance in Ronan, Mont. on Memorial Day weekend in which havoc in the motor and on the racetrack led to a 10th place finish, Gary Lewis is ready to get back to his winning ways beginning this weekend in the Better-All Auto Sales 125 at Yakima Speedway.

J. Michael Kelly has been named to drive the U-7 Unlimited hydroplane for the 2009 season. Kely is a world-class driver with wins across the globe.

Lucas Wolfe, the reigning Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year and third-year driver Sam Hafertepe Jr., will both make their debut at Lawrenceburg Speedway this weekend. Wolfe is currently 10^th in the series standings and has three Top-Five finishes this season, with all three of those being fifth-place runs.

The Better-All Auto Sales 125 will feature the best super late model racers in the Northwest. The .500-mile Yakima Speedway oval has always proven to be an excitement rich track for the super stars to strut their stuff.

With win at Topeka NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel driver, Larry Dixon, moved to fourth place in the 2009 points standings heading to this week’s stop in Chicago.

Tony Stewart is the first owner-driver in the series to lead the series championship standings in 17 years. The last time an owner-driver led the series points was on November 15, 1992, when Alan Kulwicki won the series championship over Bill Elliott.

Stand-alone races offer series-only regulars a prime opportunity to shine — and win — since the majority of double-duty drivers who would race at combo events don’t make the back-and-forth trips to the different tracks.

If fans can’t get to any of the upcoming events, then you can experience the excitement of the World of Outlaws Sprint Series live on DIRTVision.com through the DIRT Radio Network, where announcer Johnny Gibson keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the event. To listen to the audio broadcasts, log on to www.DIRTVision.com and click on the DIRT Radio Network logo. Listeners will need Windows Media Player 9 or higher to listen to the DIRT Radio Network.

All NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Pocono have been scheduled for 500 miles. By design, the inaugural race was run to a length of 480 miles due to the energy crisis.

After an early season that saw six races stretched over nearly three months, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams head to Texas Motor Speedway for the second race of a five-weekend swing that takes teams from Dover, Del., to Texas, Michigan, Wisconsin and Tennessee.

Tom Manfred of Liberty Lake, Wash. is among an elite group of of NHRA racers that have earned the right to race for the prestigous JEGS Allstars race to be held at Route 66 Raceway just outside of Chicago, Illinois.

Bill McAnally Racing’s brightly-colored blue and yellow car, adorned with a giant NAPA logo on the hood, has been in Victory Lane in five of seven annual visits to the Roseburg, Ore., track since 2002.

Tony Schumacher won’t admit it, but his body language says otherwise: that a championship title this season would mean way more to him than any of the others, including his unlikely first in 1999 and the five-straight that he and super-tuner Alan Johnson reeled off together during a remarkable run from 2004-2008.

A look at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series top 12, along with other notable drivers, going into the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway on June 7.

The latest information from Ephrata Raceway Park can be found here.