Jimmie Johnson gets second straight win with Dover domination

Jimmie Johnson had two late caution flags to deal with, but neither got in the way of his customary Dover excellence as he pulled away from Brad Keselowski on a restart with four laps to go to win his ninth race in 25 tries at Dover.

Oh, and it's his second straight win of the season. Told you that any "winless streak" chatter was a bunch of bunk.

After starting fourth, Johnson was never far from the front of the field and was the clear driver to beat after polesitter Kyle Busch retired because of a crash. From then on, while drivers like Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth spent some time at the front of the field, no one had a consistently good car like Johnson did.

It was a new car too, and one that crew chief Chad Knaus had faith in.

"He told me I'd love the car, and sure enough, we unloaded and he was right," Johnson said.

The only thing that might have gotten in his way was a Dover pothole. But instead of claiming Johnson, the chunk of concrete took out the front splitter of Jamie McMurray's car and stopped the race for over 20 minutes as track workers had to patch the hole.

Johnson was driving away from the field when a caution came out for debris with 35 laps to go. Johnson took four tires and restarted second behind Clint Bowyer, but made short work of him and ran away from the field once again.

When debris from a shredded tire from Casey Mears' car brought out the final caution, the drivers behind Johnson had yet another shot at him. But while it looked like Johnson glided through the final four laps, Keselowski pushed hard to no avail. He couldn't get close enough to the No. 48 to make a pass.

At one point in the second half of the race, all four of the Hendrick Motorsports cars were in the top five. However, Johnson was the only one to finish there. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was ninth, Jeff Gordon was 14th and Kasey Kahne was 19th.

Because of Gordon's finish, Kenseth, who finished third, takes over the points lead, two ahead of Gordon.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @NickBromberg

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/jimmie-johnson-gets-second-straight-win-with-dover-domination-212822073.html

John Cannon Eitel Cantoni Bill Cantrell Ivan Capelli

2014 NASCAR World Cup: It's Earnhardt Jr. and who else in Group C?

Throughout the summer we're running our second NASCAR World Cup. Will Carl Edwards repeat? Or will someone else take the title? Click here for a NASCAR World Cup explanation and a list of all the groups.

Group C: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (3rd in points, 2 wins), Austin Dillon (15, 0), Martin Truex Jr. (24, 0), Michael Annett (30, 0)

Michigan Matchups: Earnhardt Jr. vs. Truex Jr., Dillon vs. Annett

Sonoma Matchups: Earnhardt Jr. vs. Dillon, Truex Jr. vs. Annett

Kentucky Matchups: Earnhardt Jr. vs. Annett, Dillon vs. Truex Jr.

With the way Junior's season has gone, this is his group to lose. However, the presence of Sonoma could cloud that up just a bit. Junior's not the biggest fan of road racing and his career numbers at Sonoma aren't very good. In 14 career starts he has an average finish of 21.5 and no top 10s, though he's finished 11th-13th six different times. It may be a good thing that he avoids Truex, the defending champion of the race, in week 2.

If we assume Junior makes it in, it's a tossup at this point between Dillon and Truex for the second spot despite the nine-place difference in the standings. Dillon has made his points this season avoiding bad finishes; he's finished between 15th and 20th in each of the last five races. Since being in 30th five races into the season, Truex has moved up six spots and two spots after two-straight top 10 finishes in the past two weeks. If he keeps the improvement up, Kentucky may set up as a win-and-advance week.

Projected standings: Earnhardt Jr. 3-0, Truex Jr. 2-1, Dillon 1-2, Annett 0-3

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @NickBromberg

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/2014-nascar-world-cup--it-s-earnhardt-jr--and-who-else-in-group-c-183710897.html

Roberto Bussinello Jenson Button Tommy Byrne Giulio Cabianca

2014 World Superbike Championship Standings After Round 9, Laguna Seca, USA

Championship standings for round 9, 2014

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MotoGPMatters/~3/BSKzIa6WpTA/2014_world_superbike_championship_standi.html

Dave Charlton Pedro Matos Chaves Bill Cheesbourg Eddie Cheever

Carpenter Wins Pole At Indianapolis

Source: http://www.16thandgeorgetown.com/2014/05/carpenter-wins-pole-at-indianapolis.html

Clemar Bucci Ronnie Bucknum Ivor Bueb Sebastien Buemi

Unfiltered Race Notes: Texas 361 2014

Welcome to the Texas Firestone 361 (you can’t fool me Eddie…) unfiltered race notes! —Prerace— Did you know the official mileage for Texas Motor Speedway is 1.455 miles? The more you know… Interviews… interviews… interviews… JPM: every week is a … Continue reading →

Source: http://anotherindycarblog.wordpress.com/2014/06/07/unfiltered-race-notes-texas-361-2014/

Rene Arnoux Peter Arundell Alberto Ascari Peter Ashdown

Greg Biffle says no deal is done for an extension at Roush Fenway Racing

Greg Biffle said a contract extension with Roush Fenway Racing is not finalized.

Earlier in June, the Charlotte Observer reported that Biffle would sign a contract extension with the team and an official announcement could come as early as the week after the June 8 report. That hasn't obviously happened.

Biffle spoke about his contract with the AP on Friday at Sonoma.

Biffle tells me: "My deal is definitely not done. I'm trying to negotiate an extension. Nothing has changed." #NASCAR

? Jenna Fryer (@JennaFryer) June 20, 2014

Roush President Steve Newmark alo said that the two parties hadn't agreed to anything officially yet.

Working hard to put together a package for the 16 program in the future but nothing to report yet. Hope to have some news soon.

? Steve Newmark (@NewmarkRFR) June 20, 2014

If Biffle stays at Roush Fenway, sponsor 3M is expected to stay with the team too.The team has Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. signed for next season in the Cup Series, but the contracts of Biffle and Carl Edwards are up after the season. Edwards has given no indication of his future plans.

After winning titles in the Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series, Biffle moved up to the Sprint Cup Series full-time in 2003 and Roush is the only team he's driven for. He has 19 Cup Series wins, though he hasn't been very close this season. While Biffle has been consistent in 2014, Roush has lacked speed. Through 15 races, he has just four top-10 finishes.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @NickBromberg

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/greg-biffle-says-no-deal-is-done-for-an-extension-at-roush-fenway-racing-202523551.html

Kevin Cogan Peter Collins Bernard Collomb Alberto Colombo

Thank you Barney!

I grew up listening to Barney Hall on MRN, and just wanted to say thank you! An iconic voice that will be missed every week. For more on Barney’s retirement, click here. (MRN Photo) TheNASCARInsiders.com Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!

TheNASCARInsiders.com

Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheNascarInsiders/~3/HC2iiim2YK0/

Tony Bettenhausen Mike Beuttler Birabongse Bhanubandh Lucien Bianchi

Clint Bowyer is chasing a win, but knows that points matter too

Finding the right balance of weighting wins and points in the Sprint Cup Series has been hard at times. While ultimately, wins do matter when it comes to Chase qualification, points are pretty important too. Through 15 races, 10 drivers have a race win. That means six drivers are currently going to qualify for the Chase based off their points position.

Could more drivers win? Sure. At the current rate, it's possible that more than 16 drivers could have wins. But given the pattern of repeat winners in the Cup Series ? the last four races have been won by drivers already with a win�? it's unlikely to happen.

Clint Bowyer knows the importance of points. He also knows the importance of wins. He wants a win to get into the Chase, but wins certainly aren't everything.

?I wasn?t one of the ones that was saying, ?It?s all about winning, it?s all about winning,?" Bowyer said Friday at Kentucky. "Common sense tells you to look at the past history and the math shows you that points are always going to prevail. He who has the most points is always going to win the championship. You?ve always been able to race your way into the Chase and I think it still will today, but right now we need a win.� We?re at the point in our program with our 5-Hour Energy Toyota that we?re desperately in need of a win and we need to throw it all out there and go for it and try to get ourselves a win somewhere. We were definitely in the hunt and after one in Sonoma.� We had a lot of confidence going in out there and we had a fast race car and by all means we were chasing a win big time.?

Right now, Bowyer is in the Chase. He's one of the six winless drivers who would make the Chase at this point, but he's not in comfortably. He's fifth of those six and 23 points ahead of Kasey Kahne and 25 points ahead of Tony Stewart. If he was in the top 10 in points, a win may not be as big of a priority. But Bowyer is 14th.

Both Stewart and Kahne are powered by Hendrick equipment, engines that Bowyer also acknowledged have been far superior to the rest of the Sprint Cup Series field. For non-Hendrick cars to currently catch up, it's all about finding the right balance.

(And no, there aren't 37 Hendrick-powered cars, Bowyer was having some fun. There are 11, and five of them are ahead of him in the standings.)

?Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick split me going down the front straightaway at Michigan and cleared me and raced each other�? had a heck of a race getting into (turn) one afterwards. I guess that?s my best way to explain superior. Once I got in the corner I could join the battle again and it was a lot of fun.� You have to enjoy that because it always comes full circle and in all fairness to the sport and everything that we do�? the engines are something that we all get to enjoy from time to time and right now that Hendrick camp, which there is like 37 of them anymore seem like they are enjoying it quite a bit.?

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @NickBromberg

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/clint-bowyer-is-chasing-a-win--but-knows-that-points-matter-too-172834430.html

Fernando Alonso Giovanna Amati George Amick Red Amick