photo credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images for NASCAR

“I’ve always enjoyed coming here,” McMurray said. “Certainly this is just one of those tracks that every driver would like to say they’ve been able to win at. Plus we only race here once a year so it makes it twice as hard to be able to have that. It’s a very special place, for sure.”

McMurray added another prestigious and coveted trophy beside his Daytona 500 crown with his second major win of the season Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He became just the third driver in NASCAR history to win the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same season -- right behind Dale Jarrett in 1996 and Jimmie Johnson in 2006.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKGeVVraHM8

The victory came after another devastating loss for teammate Juan Pablo Montoya. For the second consecutive year, Montoya lead the most laps but failed to secure a victory. Starting from the pole, Montoya lead early and often for a race-high 86 laps. Montoya lost the lead late in the race when his team opted for four tires and six others opted for two including McMurray. With 15 laps remaining, Montoya hit the wall and took Dale Earnhardt Jr with him in the crash. Montoya finished 32nd. Last year, Montoya lead a race-high 116 of the race’s 160 laps and was penalized for speeding on pit road late in the race. He wound up finishing 11th last year. It hasn’t bode well for polesitters to win at the Brickyard. Only two polesitters have gone on to win in now 17 races.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt4BMJM5Fv8

“I’m a big believer in fate,” McMurray said. “I really believe that this was Juan’s weekend. He had a really good tire test here. He ran so well last year, had a chance to win the race. I just think that things normally work themselves out. I’m looking with 15 or 20 laps to go and Juan is leading. Not that I was content, but, If this is the way it’s supposed to be, then that’s just the way it is. Then I was like, I’m going to be really happy for Chip and Juan and everybody at our team because this is really big. It’s just a major accomplishment what we’ve all been able to put together. That team, the 42 team, has had some really good cars. They just have had some bad luck and got put in bad position. So, I don’t know, it was unfortunate for them.”

Chip Ganassi became the first car owner to win the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same year.

“This is such a team sport,” Ganassi said. “Let me tell you how that other team helped us win today. There was 10 laps to go. For all yesterday and today, all the crew chiefs talk about is, What do you do with 10 to go? Four tires? They can point to the races where four tires have won, you can point to the races where two tires have won. We were in the enviable position of running 1-2. A lot of times when you’re running like that, you can do a split strategy so you have both sort of angles covered. I was behind the pit stand. Johnny Morris brought up to me, Maybe we ought to think about two. The 42 was going for four. I looked at Bono. I said, Do you think we should do the split strategy here? He said, Yeah, let’s go for two. I said, Okay. That was the call. The only reason we could do that is because we knew the 42 was going for four. As a team, we had sort of both strategies covered there, I guess. That’s the great thing about having a teammate.”

It was a good day for the points leader, a former Brickyard winner himself. Kevin Harvick lead five laps late in the race and restarted on the front row beside McMurray, but couldn’t get the advantage.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx5y7PE6KBQ

“It was a good day,” Harvick said. “We had a solid top-five car. We took a gamble there at the end to take two tires. On the first restart, it took off great. We were able to run Jamie down and pass him. Second restart, it didn’t take off so great. Just got tight. He drove around the outside of me. I guess just the first cycle on those new right side tires carried us through. We were just tight the whole second restart, but still a great day. Took a chance to try to win the race. All but capitalized on it and came up one short.”

Harvick extended his lead in the standings to 184 points ahead of 2nd place, Jeff Gordon. Gordon never played a factor in the race and finished 23rd.

Greg Biffle traded the lead with Montoya throughout the day. He lead the second highest amount of laps clocking 38 laps out in front. Biffle finished third.

“It was a pretty good day,” Biffle said. “Car ran really good. I was excited we could run with the 42 car. Last couple years he’s been really fast here. We could run with him today. Wish we would have done two tires at the end like everybody else. We thought more guys would do four, but wasn’t the case.”

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 6 cautions for 25 laps and 14 lead changes among 10 drivers: J. Montoya 1-16; L. Cassill 17; K. Conway # 18; J. Nemechek 19; J. Johnson 20; J. Montoya 21-37; M. Martin 38-47; G. Biffle 48-49; J. Montoya 50-62; G. Biffle 63-98; C. Edwards 99; J. Montoya 100-139; J. McMurray 140-144; K. Harvick 145-149; J. McMurray 150-160

There’s no other way to put it. Champions do well on the historic 101-year old race track.

photo credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

A former, reigning or future champion has gone on to win fourteen races in NASCAR’s sixteen year history there. The winner of this race has gone on to win the championship during the same year eight times thus far.

Jimmie Johnson is the defending race winner. He is the winner of the past two Brickyard races and three of the last four races there.

“I think any kid that races thinks of the Indianapolis 500 as an event they want to compete in, especially from the generation that I was in,” Johnson has been quoted as saying. “It may be a little different in today’s world where people think more of the Daytona 500. But in my generation it was the Indy 500. To have my career path lead me toward stock car racing I knew that I wouldn’t have a chance to race in the Indy 500. But with stock cars racing at the Brickyard it’s the next best thing.”

Between Johnson and Tony Stewart, they have the past five races at the Brickyard.

“It’s my home race, obviously,” Stewart said. “Growing up in Indiana and every year watching the Indy 500 and the whole month of May leading up to it, a race at the Brickyard is more than just a regular points race. It’s always been a big race to all of the Cup drivers, but then when you grow up in Indiana, it just makes it that much more important.”

Regardless of whether the race this Sunday is at the legendary Brickyard, it’s back to thinking of the points-picture after an off-week. This Sunday’s race marks the fourth one in “The Race to the Chase”, the 10-race stretch before “The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup” championship begins.

“What do we have to do to win more races before the Chase starts,” points leader Kevin Harvick explained as his team’s mindset. Harvick leads the standings by 103 points over 2nd place driver, Jeff Gordon. Harvick has a win at Indy under his belt coming in 2003. Actually, Harvick along with Ricky Rudd, the 1997 Brickyard winner, are the only two winners who’ve won a race at the Brickyard and have yet to win a championship.

“When I think about Indy, I think about a lot of tradition,” Harvick said. “Indy is one of those places where everybody wants to win.  Next to Daytona, it is kind of the second place where you check it off as one you want to win.  We’ve been fortunate to win there, and we know what that feels like.  I grew up as a fan of Indy cars, and I really wanted to race open wheel cars, so to be able to win there and just to compete there, is pretty cool.”

Jeff Gordon leads all drivers with four wins at the Brickyard. It places him second on the all-time win list at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears. Formula One driver Michael Schumacher is tops on the list with five wins.

“The Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy 500 — guys like Rick Mears and A.J. Foyt, Johnny Rutherford, Al Unser — all those guys were heroes of mine that I aspired to be,” Gordon said. “Living in Indiana, racing around Indiana, Indianapolis Raceway Park, the fairgrounds, Bloomington, all over the place, it was every short-track, open-wheel, Sprint Cup driver’s dream to race at Indianapolis one day. To be able to do that in the very first ever NASCAR stock-car race there in 1994, win it, then go on to win it three more times is something that I probably put up as the highest accomplishments of my career.”

Chip Ganassi could make history on Sunday as the only car owner to win the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 all in the same year. His drivers, Jamie McMurray and Dario Franchitti, won the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500, respectively.

“So many times you have drivers who are good at a particular type of track,” Ganassi said. “Fortunately, our guys are good at the tracks that have the big races. Believe me, that’s a big help, and it’s no small thing.”

Jamie McMurray has posted one top-five and three top-10 finishes at the track in his seven starts there, but it’s Juan Pablo Montoya that came close to winning last year after leading 116 of 160 laps. Montoya was penalized for speeding on pit road with thirty-five laps remaining and could only notch an 11th place finish. He’s also a former Indianapolis 500 winner (2000).

TV coverage of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway begins at Noon on Sunday on ESPN.

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The Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series will also be in action from the Indianapolis area. Both races will take place about 20 minutes down the road and under the lights at the O’ Reilly Raceway Park, or ORP for short.

Ron Hornaday Jr is the defending race winner in the truck series. He leads the series with three wins there. He went on a tear last summer around the time of this win and won five consecutive truck races.

“It was really strange,” Hornaday said. “I knew when we won that race that we had done something incredible but the impact of it did not sink in really with any of the No. 33 team members until later. I think we were all riding the victory high. Then it ended after Nashville, but we went on to win the championship so we were content with that. Looking back on it this season I can’t believe we were ever in that position to begin with. The competition is so tough and it is any driver’s race week-in and week-out. (Mike) Skinner probably should have won that race last year but we pulled it out somehow. I just continue to be reminded how lucky I am to be with such a competitive team.”

It might be hard to believe Hornaday is on a 22-race losing streak for just the second time in his career.

Todd Bodine leads the standings now by 101 points. It might be hard to believe that he has never won at the famed short track.

“O’Reilly Raceway Park is a flat track that’s real easy to overdrive,” Bodine said. “The goal of practice is to be sure the Germain.com Tundra can turn good through the center of the corners and keep from getting loose off the corners. The goal for the driver in the race is to practice something no race car driver ever wants to practice, patience.”

TV coverage of the AAA Insurance 200 presented by J.D. Byrider at O’ Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis begins at 8 this Friday night on SPEED.

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Kyle Busch is one of six drivers planning to pull double duty at ORP. He has won a series leading seven Nationwide Series wins already this season even though he’s only running a partial schedule in the series. It’s bad news for the rest of the field this Saturday night, but he’ll be there to race.

“Obviously, ORP has been a great place for me,” said Busch. “I started my first ever NASCAR race there back in 2001 when I was just 16. I won there in a Hendrick car when I was a Nationwide Series rookie, when our crew chief made a great call to pit off sequence. In 2008, I think we led all but three laps and won in the Z-Line Designs Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. It’s a fun track and I think we’ll be pretty strong there and I’d obviously like to get my Truck Series win at ORP. We’ve run well there in the past and hopefully we can put the Toyota Tundra in victory lane and get some owner points.”

While Busch is a threat to win, it continues to be the Brad Keselowski vs. Carl Edwards show for the championship. Keselowski continues to lead the standings, while Edwards continues to be his closest competitor. This week, NASCAR penalized the two drivers for rough racing in last Saturday’s race which saw Edwards in victory lane while Keselowski wrecked after leading the most laps. This week, Keselowski leads the standings by 168 points after Edwards was also penalized 60 championship driver points.

“We’ve been strong on the short tracks this season,” Keselowski said. “I think ORP is a great place for us to regain some of the momentum we have lost over the last couple of races. We had a pretty big lead in the points heading into Chicago and we’ve seen that dwindle a bit. When you have two weeks like we’ve had it makes you thankful that you had a big lead. It would be different if we weren’t competitive over the last few weeks, but that’s not the case. Paul Wolfe and all the guys continue to give me fast Discount Tire Dodges. We’re definitely not in a slump, but we need to get back on track.”

By the way, Edwards is the defending race winner.

“To be coming back there Saturday night as the defending race winner means a lot to me,” he said. “Hopefully we can have a good run at what I think is one of the greatest race tracks in the country.”

TV coverage of the Kroger 200 benefiting Riley Hospital for Children at O’ Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis begins Saturday night at 7:30 on ESPN.

photo credit: Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

NASCAR placed both drivers on probation until December 31st. Edwards was also  penalized with the loss of 60 Nationwide Series championship (driver) points and fined $25,000. In addition, Edward’s car owner, Jack Roush was penalized with the loss of 60 series championship owner points.

Was it just a case of “hard racing” or did Edwards wreck race leader Brad Keselowski for the win?

Keselowski and Edwards lined up 1-2 for the final restart and as the green flag waved, they raced side-by-side, trading the lead back and forth until contact between the two sent Keselowski spinning.

Edwards: “I just couldn’t let him take the win from me. My guys work way too hard for that.”

Keselowski: “He turned left into me and wrecked me on purpose. I gave him the lane, and he still wrecked me.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZY-ZeQU9yg

Edwards scored a series-leading third win at Gateway International Raceway and first of the season. Keselowski spun across the finish line as he was hit by oncoming traffic, finishing 14th, after having the dominant car through the race and leading a race-high 136 of 200 laps.

We know it’s not the first time the two have tangled. Edwards served a three race probation in March after wrecking Keselowski at the March Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta.

photo credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

Was it a case of “hard racing” or did Carl Edwards intentionally wreck Brad Keselowski to win Saturday night’s race?  It’s not the first time the two have had on-track shuffles.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz9OXptTwVQ

Edwards: “I just couldn’t let him take the win from me. My guys work way too hard for that.”

Keselowski: “He turned left into me and wrecked me on purpose. I gave him the lane, and he still wrecked me.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHYFzueLki8

Edwards served a three-race probation after the following on-track incident this past March at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCb7iIOY-PA

Keselowski: “To come back and just intentionally wreck someone, that’s not cool. He could have killed someone in the grandstands.”

Edwards: “I know Brad has made his career on being super-aggressive. We both had a part in it and it’s not his fault, but it’s just a little too aggressive overall, I think, for that early in the race and caused us to wreck.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hsUsjqx9sk

It shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. Chevrolet has played a major role in the movie franchise. The first Transformers movie, released in 2007, helped re-launch the auto maker’s Camaro model line as a central character, Bumblebee, transforms first into a 1976 Camaro and later into today’s redesigned update.

The Michael Bay-directed and Steven Spielberg-produced action flick will open nationwide on July 1, 2011.

Footage courtesy of Screen Rant. To read more, click here (screenrant.com)

photo credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR

Reutimann led 52 laps during Saturday night’s Lifelock.com 400 including the final 31 after passing Jeff Gordon for the position. Over the final 10 laps, Reutimann had to hold off a fast charging Carl Edwards to cruise to Victory Lane.

“We had a really good car from the time we unloaded,” Reutimann said. “The worst, we got really free that last run. The 99 (Carl Edwards) started gaining on us. We kept pedalling. Thankfully he didn’t have enough time to get to us.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCBMrJvdUQs

This is the second win for Reutimann in 118 Sprint Cup Series races. His first cup win came at Charlotte after a rain shortened 2009 Coca-Cola 600.

“I felt like there was a cloud over it (the 600 win), no pun intended, but a dark cloud hanging over our head with that win at the 600,” Reutimann said. “Everybody just says, Yeah, you guys won, but. Rodney Childers (crew chief) won me that race. He made the right calls. He won me the race tonight. We win and lose as a team. Now I’m just wondering like, Okay, here you go, just leave me alone. We won the race. We did a good job. Everybody did a good job. Everybody around me worked together to get us where we are.”

The Margin of Victory? Reutimann beat Carl Edwards to the finish line by 0.727 seconds.

“It’s second, you know what I mean. It’s okay, but it’s not winning,” Edwards said. “But the good thing is that we had the fastest car at the end of the race. If you have the fastest car at the end of the race every week, you’ll win plenty of races. If we can just do this more often, we will have turned the page and we got a lot of good things to look forward to. Hopefully we can go back, look at what we did tonight and apply it for the races to come.”

“Man, just kept getting bigger in the windshield and I didn’t have enough laps. I was trying so hard to catch him. I want to say a special congratulations to David. He is a class act, a really great guy. You guys know that. It’s cool to see how happy he is.”

Jeff Gordon was out in front for 47 laps and looked strong throughout the night, but once again couldn’t get to victory lane.

“We just fought between loose and tight all night long,” Gordon explained. “Early in the race, we were just real loose on throttle on the exit. We tightened the car up. Didn’t really help the exit. Seemed to tighten it up everywhere else where it was at least drivable. When that top groove came in, that worked pretty good for me. There at the end, that top groove just wasn’t working for me. I had to run around the bottom. Then we got loose everywhere. The last run, Carl was saying the same thing. They got loose, too. I don’t know if the track loosened up, what it was. Everybody seemed like they were really fighting loose at the end.”

Gordon’s winless streak has now extended to 48 races, the longest of his career. However, Gordon is currently second in the point standings. A great position to be in with six more races remaining until The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup begins.

Jimmie Johnson shot out of the gate strong and lead the first 92 laps, the most among all of the night’s leaders. Several mishaps set Johnson back to finish 25th, one lap down. First, Johnson missed the entrance to pit road during a green-flag pit stop on lap 93 and then he spun on the backstretch on lap 136 after racing close to Martin Truex Jr. The trouble wasn’t over for the driver of the #48 after a flat right front tire sent him down pit road on lap 169, trapping him two laps down at that point. “I felt like we could still salvage a top five or something and I cut a right front tire down and then just got in the wall,” Johnson said. “Between sliding through the grass and touching the wall, it messed up the body and the nose started dragging pretty bad there for the final run or two.”

Points leader Kevin Harvick suffered engine problems throughout the entire night which had him in the garage for repairs. Harvick struggled to complete 251 of 267 laps. Regardless of his 34th-place finish, Harvick maintains the lead in the standings by 103 points over Jeff Gordon.

Clint Bowyer finished fourth followed by the polesitter Jamie McMurray, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Burton, Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart and Paul Menard rounded out the top-10.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 4 cautions for 21 laps and 10 lead changes among 7 drivers: J. McMurray 0; J. Johnson 1-92; J. McMurray 93-164; J. Gordon 165-200; D. Reutimann 201; J. Gordon 202-212; D. Reutimann 213-231; C. Bowyer 232; C. Edwards 233-234; J. Montoya 235; D. Reutimann 236-267

The Sprint Cup Series will enjoy an off-week before heading to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, July 25th.

photo credit: Chris Trotman/Getty Images for NASCAR

“(I’m) Happy with that,” McMurray said. “It is a lot of pressure when you are good in practice and then try to repeat when it comes time to qualify. But Bono (Kevin Manion, crew chief) did a really good job. He made the right changes. That is just all the faster we could go. We had a lot of grip and the balance is good.”

McMurray went out fifteenth to qualifying and his lap of 183.542 mph topped all. “It is just a product of the way the draw works,” said McMurray. “Sometimes you get to go late and sometimes you go early. I’m happy with that. Every single weekend you have to start towards the front, it doesn’t seem to matter what track we go to, you need to start toward the front. Certainly with the way we are going to start in the sunlight and then race in to the night time, we really hope our car is setup for night time. It will be nice to start up front and be able to survive until the sun goes down.”

The Daytona 500 winner has yet to win a race from the pole. It’s his first at Chicagoland and the sixth of his career in 277 Sprint Cup Series races.

Jimmie Johnson was the twenty-third driver to hit the track and came close to the polesitter’s speed. Johnson turned a lap of 183. 281 mph, good enough for the front row.

“We are real happy with race trim,” Johnson said. “Thought we would have a good shot at the pole and came close, just a few hundredths off the time that the #1 (Jamie McMurray) ran. Left a little on the table in turn one, the car was a little uncomfortable down there but nailed three and four and had a good lap with this Lowe’s Impala.”

The reigning series champion became a father for the first time on Wednesday when his wife, Chandra, gave birth to a baby girl. Johnson was planning to head home to North Carolina after qualifying to be his family. “We planned for everything. We didn’t expect her to come this early so that was a bit of a surprise,” Johnson said. “It is just an extremely amazing experience and Wednesday was the best day of my life. It was awesome.”

Johnson has yet to win at Chicagoland.

Tony Stewart will line-up third followed by Greg Biffle, Sam Hornish Jr, Jeff Gordon, David Reutimann, Martin Truex Jr, Paul Menard and Juan Pablo Montoya. The points leader, Kevin Harvick will start 27th.

For the starting line-up, click here (nascar.com)

There were no major incidents during two practice sessions Friday.

First Practice | Top Speeds:
1.  Joe Nemechek, 177.078 mph
2.  Casey Mears, 176.725 mph
3.  David Stremme, 176.355 mph
4.  Jeff Gordon, 176.298 mph
5.  Jimmie Johnson, 175,970 mph

Happy Hour Practice | Top Speeds:
1.  Juan Pablo Montoya, 181.002 mph
2.  Jamie McMurray, 180.355 mph
3.  Greg Biffle, 180.180 mph
4.  Jimmie Johnson, 180.018 mph
5.  Carl Edwards, 179.952 mph

TV coverage of the Lifelock.com 400 starts at 6:30 Saturday night on TNT.

photo credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images

Coming off of a win last week, Kevin Harvick remains on top of the point standings. “With our current situation in the points,” Harvick said. “We are going to do all we can to give ourselves an opportunity to win each week.”

Harvick has held onto the points lead after the past eight races. At the half-way point of the season, Harvick has scored 2 wins, eight top-5 and thirteen top 10-finishes plus he is on a streak of four top-5 finishes in the past 5 races. In addition, he’s the only driver to average a top-10 finish (8.1) this season.

Harvick excels at Chicagoland. In his 9 races there, he has posted two wins, five top-5 and six top-10 finishes. “Every time we go back there it seems like it just fits our program and my driving style and everything that we do,” Harvick said.

Winning races will be important to Harvick over the next seven races. Following the Richmond night race, the top-12 drivers will be locked in to compete for the championship. Once that happens, points will be reset based according to wins first. At this time, Harvick would be ranked third behind Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin, who have both scored a series leading five wins this season.

There hasn’t been a repeat winner in the past 5 races. Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart are the only two drivers with multiple race wins at Chicagoland. Harvick won the first two races held at the track in July of 2001 and 2002. Stewart won in July of 2004 and 2007.

TV coverage of the Lifelock.com 400 starts at 6:30 this Saturday evening on TNT.
400.5 miles = 267 laps
2009 Pole Winner: Brian Vickers
Defending Race Winner: Mark Martin
Qualifying is scheduled for Friday at 5:05 pm

The Nationwide Series also has reached the mid-point of the season after 17 races. Brad Keselowski currently leads the standings by 277 points over 2nd place driver, Carl Edwards. Keselowski and Edwards are both driving full-time in the series. Kyle Busch has a series leading six wins this season, but has decided not to pull “double-duty” and race in both series. Still, Busch is fourth in the series standings. On a side note, the Nationwide Series doesn’t have a play-off system like the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

And yes… Danica Patrick will race in the series this Friday night at Chicagoland. It will be her fifth race of the thirteen she’s planning to run this season.

TV coverage of the Dollar General 300 powered by Coca-Cola starts at 7:30 this Friday night on ESPN.
300 miles = 200 laps
2009 Pole Winner: Joey Logano
Defending Race Winner: Carl Edwards
Qualifying is set for Friday at 3:05 pm

Weekend Weather Forecast for Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, IL:
Friday: Partly Cloudy with a Hi 85 and a Low 63
Saturday: Mostly Sunny with a Hi 85 and a Low 63
Sunday: Party Cloudy with a Hi 87 and a Low 67

courtesy of Weather Bug (click here for full weather forecast)

2010 Season Stats (after 18 races):

• 7 different race winners
• 12 different Coors Light Pole winners
• 46 drivers led at least one lap
• 31 drivers have scored at least one top 10
• Average Margin of Victory of 1.294 seconds
• 11 races with an Margin Of Victory under 1 second
• Average of 12 leaders per race
• Average of 28 lead changes per race
• Average of 43 green flag passes for the lead all along the track (highest through 18 races since the inception of Loop Data in 2005)
• Average of 3,613 green flag passes per race (highest through 18 races since the inception of Loop Data in 2005)
• 50% of the cars finished on the lead lap
• 78% of the cars were running at the finish
• All four manufacturers are in the top 12; three have won at least one race