UPDATE: Scott Dixon won the IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio. Dario Franchitti was second and Ryan Hunter-Reay finished third. Alex Tagliani was Montreal was sixth.
James Hinchcliffe of Oakville finished 20th but led 26 laps of the 85-lap race. There have been rumours for several weeks that "Hinch" doesn't have any sponsorship money left and wasn't expected to drive for Newman-Haas Racing past the race in Edmonton.
But it was reported on the telecast that Hinchcliffe was in the second team car today because of the largesse of one of the team's owners. Whether his Indy car career will continue at this time is the question.
Meantime, the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono was suspended because of rain. Joey Logana was leading with Jimmie Johnson second and Denny Hamlin third.
Earlier, lots happening – and has already happened – this weekend, so let’s get right to it.
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway Saturday night, courtesy of his teammate, Carl Edwards.
Stenhouse was leading and was coming out of the fourth turn on the last lap when his engine let go. Edwards came up behind him and rammed him, pushing him across the finish line in the process.
As NASCAR.com reported: "Edwards, who led 109 of the race's 250 laps, actually lifted Stenhouse's car as they approached the finish line. Both cars were out of control as they crossed the line. Edwards' car came to rest against the outside of the pit road wall."
Neither driver was injured. Pole-sitter Elliott Sadler was third.
– First off the mark today will be the rain-postponed NASCAR Camping World Series truck race from Pocono International Raceway. Held over from Saturday, it will get the green flag at 9 a.m. or shortly thereafter and can be seen on SpeedTV. Kevin Harvick is on the pole. UPDATE: Harvick won the race Sunday morning.
– Joey Logano is on pole for the NASCAR Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono International Raceway today in a race that can be seen on TSN starting with the pre-race show at noon. Kasey Kahne will start second with Martin Truex Jr. third.
Nothing like a little pressure to make a guy perform, eh? The word was that if Carl Edwards left Jack Roush Racing to go with Joe Gibbs, Logano would be cut loose. Edwards decided to stay put but that doesn’t mean Logano is home free and has to either win or run really well to keep his job.
- Meantime, for what it’s worth, Kyle Petty doesn’t think Danica Patrick is ready to make the jump to Sprint Cup.
Okay, but – err, Kyle – the yet-to-be-announced move will be that Patrick will run a full season of Nationwide Series races with a couple of Cup starts thrown in – oh, and the Indy 500, of course.
That doesn’t sound to me like she’s going to go straight to Cup, which seems to be what you’re objecting to.
Now, I like Kyle Petty because he’s done a lot for charity. I think he has a good heart. And he’s a good talker and that’s why he’s good on TV.
But for a guy who was a colossal failure as a racing driver to be passing judgment on anybody else’s ability to drive a racing car is just a bit much. Petty was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and lasted as long as he did simply because of his name.
In 30 years he started nearly 850 Cup races and won exactly eight of them.
Wow.
He spent no time at all in the minors. His first start was an ARCA race at the Daytona Speedway, which he did win. He went to Winston Cup shortly thereafter and crashed a lot – from the beginning of his career to the end.
The guys who count here – the Dale Earnhardt Juniors, the Tony Stewarts and the Ryan Newmans – acknowledge she was super talent and needs seasoning. She knows that too. That’s why she’s going Nationwide.
Maybe Kyle Petty might have been a better racing driver if he’d spent some time in the smalls before jumping straight to the bigs.
– Scott Dixon won the pole Saturday for today’s IZOD IndyCar Series race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, while Justin Wilson suffered a back injury in a crash and will be replaced by Simon Pagenaud.
Ryan Briscoe will start second in the race with Dario Franchitti third.
James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, driving for Newman-Haas, will start seventh beside the second Canadian in the race, Alex Tagliani of Montreal. It's Hinch's best road-course starting position.
Simona de Silvestro is the fastest woman, qualifying 14th.
Wilson went off the track during morning practice Saturday and suffered an anterior compression fracture of the fifth vertebra and will travel to Indianapolis today for treatment. Pagenault auditioned for a 2012 seat with Sam Schmidt Motorsports at the Mid-Ohio course this week so was up to speed to take over from Wilson. He qualified 19th.
This race can be seen this afternoon live on TSN2 at 2 p.m.
– At the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres, Andrew Ranger of Roxton Pond, Que., won the pole Saturday for today’s NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race that can be seen live on TSN at 5 p.m. Ranger, by the way, has won the last three stock car races at the temporary road circuit.
Scott Steckly of Milverton, Ont., will start beside Ranger on the front row while defending series champion D.J. Kennington of St. Thomas, Ont., qualified third.
– Esteban Guerrieri will start from pole for today’s Firestone Indy Lights race at Trois-Rivieres. Up-and-comer Conor Daly will start second with Peter Dempsey third. Lone Canadian in the field is David Ostella of Markham, who will go off 12th.
– In the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Series race Saturday at Trois-Rivieres, Nick Wittmer of Hudson, Que., won the Super Touring Class with Richard Boake of King City, Ont., second and Dean Fantin of Amherstburg third.
In Touring Class, Jacques Belanger – who was been racing for 20 years – scored his first victory. Jocelyn Hébert of Becancour, Que., was second and Alain Lauziere of Vaudreuil-Dorion was third.
On Friday night, the Touring Cars raced after sundown in front of packed grandstands and Matthieu Audette of Ste-Anne-des-Lacs, Que., was the winner, with Wittmer in second and Sasha Anis of Mississauga third.
In Touring Class, Lauziere was first, with Tom Kwok of Markham second and Hébert third.
The race ended with a red flag as Touring Class drivers P.J. Groenke of Toronto (who’s been hotter than a pistol lately) and Michel Sallenbach got together while Groenke was trying to pass and he wound up rolling his car and sliding down the backstraight on his roof.
Although the car was demolished, Groenke was not hurt and drove in Saturday’s race, finishing fifth.
– Jordan Szoke of Brantford will start from pole for today’s Canadian Superbike Championship by Parts Canada round at Atlantic Motorsport Park in Shubenacadie, N.S. Series points leader Brett McCormick of Saskatoon will start second and Andrew Nelson of Kars, Ont., will go off third.
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