Kevin Richards kicked off the running of the NAPA Auto Parts Idaho 200 weekend with a win in the Friday night Inland Northwest Super Stock Association 100-lap main event.

Racers in Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Cars made their initial qualifying runs today along with the rest of the classes in competition.  All classes will make final qualifying and time trial runs on Saturday beginning at noon.

On tap for both Friday and Saturday night is a special exhibition featuring Nostalgia Nitro Funny Cars and Jet Cars. The Funny Cars will make two qualifying passes on Friday with three rounds of eliminations on Saturday night.

Rocky Mountain Challenge Series hits Stateline Speedway with a tight points battle for the 2010 championship. This is the third consecutive season the Boise-based touring division has been part of the NAPA Idaho 200 weekend.

Steve Kinser started on the outside of the front row and battled his teammate Donny Schatz in the early going, taking the top spot from him on the fifth lap as the pair exited turn four, using the low side of the four-tenths-mile to surge ahead. He would quickly pull away in lapped traffic. The native of Bloomington, Indiana would pace the final 31 circuits of the 35-lap contest to score his sixth A-Feature win of the season and the 558th of his amazing career.

Jet cars are part of this weekend’s big Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series stop at Spokane County Raceway. Mark Stevens and David Douthit lead the charge.

Officials ruled that Dave Villwock did not leave enough room for Steve David in the U-1 Oh Boy! Oberto to his inside as the two came through the final turn.  The one lap penalty on Villwock gave David and the Oberto team their third straight Columbia Cup victory.

Blake Williams continued his hot streak in late model racing with a win in the 75-lap Appleway Chevrolet Parts Center ICAR Series. Shane Brim nabbed a victory in the Northwest Outlaw Street Stocks main event all held at Stateline Speedway.

Allen Johnson picked up his third win in a four year stretch at Bandimere Speedway just outside of Denver, Colorado as the Mopar driver zoomed to victory in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Mopar Mile High Nationals Pro Stock finale.

It appeared that Chip Ganassi’s NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya would be the person to deliver a sweep of auto racing crown jewels for car owners, the Daytona 500, Indy 500 and Brickyard 400. Suddenly Montoya was forced to the sidelines with damage from a late race incident and as was the case in February-Jaime McMurray vaulted into history.

Steve David and Dave Villwock head into Sunday’s final rounds of hyrdoplane racing in Tri-Cities with fresh of victories in Saturday’s heat races. Both will have good starting positions as the Columbia Cup continues to narrow the field to this afternoon’s finale.

Kyle Busch continued to show the hot hand as he earned his 38th career victory on the NASCAR Nationwide Series. This time the checkers fell with Bisch in front at the famed O’Reilly Raceway Park in Clermont, Ind.

It’s only fitting that an NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event sponsored by Mopar that their Mopar sponsored Funny Car claims the No. 1 qualifying position.

Greg Hodnett dove under Paul McMahan in turn two on the 26th lap to take the top spot and would lead the final five circuits of the 30-lapper to pick up his 10th career World of Outlaws A-Feature win and his fourth in the last six races for the series at Williams Grove Speedway.

Ron Hornaday and his Kevin Harvick Inc. racing team got down to business Friday night and ended a winless streak that dated back to 2009.

AMA rider Joe Kopp of Mica and ICAR’s Blake Williams are both riding a big wave of momentum heading into their next events.

The stars of the NHRA’s top professional divisions rode into Denver with Ashley Force Hood among the top qualifiers.

Unlimited Hydroplane racing returned to the Tri-Cities with Dave Villwock and Steve David locked in a tight battle for the overall top qualifying position.

Big picture aside, Jacques Villeneuve’s immediate concern is trying to put Braun Racing’s No. 32 Toyota in the field during today’s qualifying.

Joey Saldana has one goal this season and that is to win his first World of Outlaws championship. He is halfway to achieving that feat, as a very strong first half of the 2010 season has him on top of the series championship standings on the strength of 10 wins along with 25 Top-Five finishes and 30 Top-10’s.

Patrick Long led by as much as 10 seconds in the first half of the race before making a green-flag stop for gas. He restarted on Lap 36 in 14th and picked up nine spots on the ensuing lap. He retook the lead for good from Greg Pursley on Lap 45

Gary Lewis, the three-time Idaho 200 champion, made a statement in Montana that this summer it may more of the same as he won the Montana 200 on Saturday night setting the stage for a run towards four straight Inland Empire crowns.

Despite a stiff neck that kept him out of Nationwide Series practice earlier in the day, Kevin Harvick, who won the pole on Friday before a power failure forced postponement of the race itself, cruised to his third victory in four NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts this season.

NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing actions continues on Sunday with final rounds beginning at 11 a.m. The event is televised on ESPN2.

Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski continued their heated fued at Gateway International Raceway on Saturday night with Edwards coming out on top once again.

Jack Beckman leads the qualifying standings for the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Funny Car division at their stop in Sonoma, Calif.

Three-time Coors Light Montana 200 champion, Gary Lewis, will lead the field to the green flag for the 20th running of the famed event. David Garber, the defending INSSA champion, lines up 18th. The race will be streamed live on montanaracewaypark.com with audio and video beginning at 5 p.m. PST on Saturday night.

The $10,000 win was Joey Saldana’s series leading ninth of the 2010 campaign and his 18th career triumph at Eldora, with nine of those coming in World of Outlaws events. With the victory, Saldana moved into sole possession of eighth-place on the all-time World of Outlaws win list with 68 A-Feature wins.

Three-time Inland Northwest Super Stock Association champion David Garber will lead the pack into the 20th Annual Montana 200. Garber has been running the entire Lucas Oil Super Late Model schedule in Kalispell on his off weekends. The Spokane native will have some sibling rivalry going this weekend as his brother, Dan, has been signed to drive the Hilliard Enterprises Chevrolet for Todd Havens.

The grandson of famed NASCAR race team owner, Richard Childress, broke through for his first career victory on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Joey Saldana used the win to extend his lead in the World of Outlaws championship standings to 32 markers over 20-time series champion Steve Kinser as he chases his first title. In addition to leading the series in wins with eight, Saldana tops the leader board in Top-Five finishes with 23 aboard the Budweiser Maxim.

Mid-Season championship racing was on tap in Ephrata with five winners crown led by 360 Sprint Car winner, Mike Fought of Othello, Wash.

David Reutimann’s only victory on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series prior to last evening was in a rain shortened race. At Chicagoland Speedway Reutimann showed that when it counts without the weather he can rise to the occassion.

Doug Kalitta earned his first No. 1 qualifying position on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series since 2006. The run came near the end of final round qualifying in the Northwest Nationals being held in Seattle, Wash.

Race fans from the region are familiar with Tony Berry’s exploits on the Inland Northwest Sprint Car Association (INSCA) circuit but a foray into NSRA racing is a step up in competition, speeds and determination. The teams running the NSRA come from across the Pacific Northwest and featuring winning drivers such as Craig Deavor, Jeff Montgomery and Matt Hein.

One of the region’s biggest late model events, the 20th Annual Montana 200, has 44 drivers pre-registered with six from the Inland Empire led by three-time INSSA champion, David Garber.

Robert Hight stormed to the top of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Funny Car qualifying ranks. Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel) and Jason Line (Pro Stock) also took top qualifying honors.

Kyle Busch beat his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Joey Logano, Friday night at Chicagoland Speedway located just otuside of Chicago, Illinois. The win is Busch’s seventh on the NASCAR Nationwide Series in the 2010 season.

Joey Saldana started sixth and quickly moved to the front. He challenged Paul McMahan on a number of double file restarts, taking the top spot on a lap-22 restart. He charge into the lead in turn one, with McMahan battling back and taking the lead down the backstretch, with Saldana powering off turn four to move in front again. He would lead the remaining 14 laps en route to his seventh A-Feature win of the season and his first career triumph at LaSalle Speedway.

Kevin Harvick maintained contact with the leaders throughout the evening and when it counted powered up his Chevrolet for a charge to the front and a win on the NASCAR Sprint Car Series at Daytona International Speedway.

Jason Meyers used a strong double file restart on the low side of the track with four laps remaining to edge Donny Schatz, after the pair had a great battle on a previous restart only to have the caution fly, setting up the final restart. For Meyers, the $10,000 win was the 42nd of his World of Outlaws career.

The much anticipated NSRA Northwest Super Shoe sprint car race invades Stateline Speedway on Saturday, July 10. Featuring some of the top sprinters in the region the house will be packed for the NSRA’s first appearance of 2010 in Post Falls.

Dave Villwock has won just about everything out there for an Unlimited Hydroplane driver to capture. He comes into this weekend’s series stop in Madison, Ind. as the defending champion and qualified second to Steve David in Friday’s speed runs.

Steve David powered his championship winning hull to the top of the speed charts in quaifying for the Lucas Oil Indiana Governor’s Cup being held in Madison, Ind.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s emotional win was the result of a collaboration between owner Richard Childress, Teresa Earnhardt, JR Motorsports and Hendrick Motorsports, which supplied the engine for the famed No. 3 car.

The Northwest’s premier late model stock car event, the Coors Light Montana 200, has over 40 drivers pre-registered with more still to come. Gary Lewis has won three consecutive Montana 200 races but will be challenged this year with drivers coming from as far as Colorado to dethrone the champion.

Two-time NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Champion, Eric Holmes, looks to increase his points lead with a victory in the King Taco ‘200’ Saturday night. Holmes and the No. 20 NAPA Toyota team with crew chief, Matt Goslant is ready to get the win that has eluded Holmes. It’s also a track in which Holmes has been the pole winner twice in the West Series and twice in the NASCAR Elite Division, South West Tour but has yet to record a win competing in the West Series.

27-year-old Jonathan Gomez from Twin Falls, Idaho has become a NASCAR championship contender, moving himself into a solid fourth position in the drivers standings with five events complete of a 12-race schedule.

Sammy Swindell took the lead from Lucas Wolfe on the 30^th lap. Coming to the white flag, Steve Kinser took the lead off turn four as the duo charged down the front straightaway, with Swindell battling right back and retaking the top spot in turn one. He would work his way through lapped traffic on the final lap around the high-banked bullring en route to the $10,000 triumph which was 270^th of his illustrious World of Outlaws career.

Kraig Kinser and the rest of the World of Outlaws will return to North Central Speedway this weekend on Saturday, July 3 to help celebrate the Independence Day Weekend with a full night of racing.

Brenden Tarr was on a roll Wednesday night as he won two of three main events contested at the Post Falls facility (Fever 4 and Road Runners). John Hollingsworth picked up a win in the Bump to Pass class.