Scenes from Infineon Raceway - Sunday (More Added)

  by Bob Heathcote

Acura: To LMP1 or not to LMP1

  David Phillips
One of the big questions of this year’s American Le Mans Series figures to be resolved at this weekend’s Detroit Sports Car Challenge Presented by Bosch, namely, Acura’s plans for the 2009 season, in particular whether Acura will join the LMP1 fray. And if so, with which team or teams and how many cars?

Hoo-rah and Wazz-up from NASCAR Nation

  by Dave Grayson
Let's start our racing week out with a rarely issued combination HOO-RAH/WAZZ-UP. First off HOO-RAH for the alleged impending rivalry between NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch following last Saturday night's Bristol race. This has already evolved into more fun than any NASCAR fan could expect. It's now become apparent that Edwards' late in the race bump and run was actually pay back for a similar bumper thumping moment from Busch during a Nationwide Series race at Richmond.

Infineon: Castroneves waltzes to easy IndyCar win

  by Mark J. Cipolloni
Polesitter Helio Castroneves won the Peak Antifreeze & Motor Oil Grand Prix of Sonoma County at Infineon Raceway from pole Sunday, 5.3 seconds ahead of his Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe.  Tony Kanaan came home third for the AGR team.  Castroneves gained some valuable points toward the championship on Scott Dixon who finished 12th.

Audi prevails at Mosport

  ALMS
Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner captured their third straight overall victory, Audi went 1-2 overall and Acura took the top two spots on the LMP2 podium for the first time since Sebring in 2007 on a thrilling day at Mosport International Raceway. Luhr crossed the finish line 21.392 seconds ahead of teammate Emanuele Pirro as Gil de Ferran ran out of fuel on the last lap while leading in class. That sent David Brabham and Scott Sharp to their fourth class victory of the season.

Valencia: Massa wins easily from pole

  by Mark J. Cipolloni
Ferrari's Felipe Massa repeated his performance two weeks ago in Hungary by dominating the weekend, but this time his Ferrari engine did not blow up and he won the European Grand Prix F1 race in Valencia, Spain comfortably over McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.  Massa took off from pole and never looked back, controlling the pace at will.  BMW's Robert Kubica finished where he started, third. Quotes | Press Conference

'Concrete Carl' Edwards wins 2nd in row at Bristol

  Sprint Cup Series
'Concrete Carl' Edwards has a knack when it comes to concrete race tracks.  On Saturday night bumping him on the cool-down lap at the high banked concrete Bristol 1/2-mile oval Edwards bump-passed race leader Kyle Busch after the last restart to win his 9th race on a concrete track, 2nd race in a row and 2nd race at Bristol.  Busch, who dominated the race in his Toyota was an unhappy 2nd and he let Edwards know it by bumping him on the cool-down lap.  Denny Hamlin was third.

Scenes from Infineon Raceway - Saturday

  by Bob Heathcote

Valiante and Angelelli dominate at Infineon

  Grand-Am
The No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Daytona Prototype (DP) driven by Michael Valiante and Max Angelelli won round 12 of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 at Infineon Raceway today.  The No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac of Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney came home in second giving Pontiac a one-two finish.

Capello leads record-breaking day at Mosport

  ALMS
Audi Sport North America’s Dindo Capello made Mosport International Raceway the fastest circuit in the American Le Mans Series with a stunning lap time of 1:04.318 (138.116 mph) in qualifying Saturday for the Mobil 1 presents the Grand Prix of Mosport. Capello smashed his own previous record at the track by 1.735 seconds, one of 10 cars to go under last year’s pole time.

Infineon: Castroneves wins IndyCar pole, Penske 1-2

  by Mark J. Cipolloni
Team Penske teammates Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe will start 1-2 Sunday for the Peak Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma County Indy Car race after topping the final fast-6 qualifying session on Saturday.  Castroneves and Briscoe were the only drivers to break into the 1m16s bracket, both finishing 1/100th of a second apart.  KV Racing Technology's Will Power will line up 3rd ahead of Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon and Oriol Servia.

Some positive can come out of new IndyCar TV deal

  by Mark J. Cipolloni
To most people, the new IRL TV deal is a complete and utter disaster because it takes the IRL off of the #1 channel for sports fans and places it on a channel that only the most dedicated IndyCar fans will bother to watch.  If TV ratings drop because of the deal, the concern is that sponsors will flee, engine manufacturers won't sign on and the league as a whole will lose more money than the $12 million they saved by switching to VERSUS for 13 of 18 races.  However, let's try to put a more positive spin on things.