Blogginisracin

Crossover driver wins in Top Fuel

O'Reilly NHRA Nationals
Houston Raceway Park, Baytown

Top Fuel: Antron Brown become the first driver in NHRA history to win races in Pro Stock Motorcycle and Top Fuel, beating Larry Dixon in the final Sunday. Brown also joined J.R. Todd as the only black Top Fuel winners. Brown, a 16-time winner in Pro Stock Motorcycle before making the jump to the 7,000-horsepower Top Fuel class this year, sped past Dixon in a terrific final, finishing in 4.605 seconds at 320.28 mph to Dixon's 4.621 at 309.06. “We've been plagued by the second round all season. The second round's been biting us, but today we bit back,” Brown said.

Funny Car: Del Worsham beat John Force in the semis and Ashley Force in the final, 4.933 at 316.60 to 4.971 at 302.62, en route to his 22nd career win, but only his first since Labor Day weekend 2005.

Pro Stock: Greg Anderson's win in 6.692 at 207.37 over a tire-shaking Kurt Johnson (13.425 at 64.01) was the 53rd of his career, which moved him one ahead of Joe Amato (52) into solo fifth on the NHRA POWERade Series' wins list.

Pro Stock Motorcycle: Matt Smith (7.060 at 187.76), sailed past Matt Guidera (7.140 at 185.03) to claim his first win of the season.

Full results and coverage can be found here.

-- The Associated Press

Hamlin wins in home state

It was a good day for Virginia natives at the little paper clip-shaped Martinsville Speedway. Denny Hamlin earned his first win at the half-mile track, just beating Jeff Gordon to the checkers. Jeff Burton, also from Virginia, was third after battling Hamlin for the lead late in the race. With the top-three finish, Burton took over the Sprint Cup points lead heading into the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, where he earned his only victory last season. Jimmie Johnson was fourth and Tony Stewart rounded out the top five. Full results can be found here. Unofficial points standings can be found here.

Sadler finishes despite back injury
Somewhat lost in the Hendrick Motorsports vs. Joe Gibbs Racing vs. Richard Childress Racing hype on Sunday was Elliott Sadler's bad back. Sadler, also a Virginia native (notice a trend here?), mysteriously injured his back recently and had Dennis Setzer standing by in case he needed to exit his No. 19 Dodge. Sadler endured, however, and finished 15th and on the lead lap. In fact, ESad finished ahead of his non-ailing Gillett Evernham Motorsports teammates Kasey Kahne (17th) and Patrick Carpentier (29th).

Top 35 shuffle
Jamie McMurray was in an uncomfortable spot on Friday, having to qualify his No. 26 Ford on time because he had slipped outside the top 35 in points after a 43rd-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway. McMurray qualified comfortably in fifth and finished eighth Sunday to climb to 30th in the standings and out of danger. The plot took a turn for the worse, however, for Sam Hornish Jr. and David Reutimann, who dropped to 36th and 37th in owner's points following Sunday's race. Hornish finished 28th and three laps down, and Reutimann was 39th after retiring his car with gear problems.

-- Michele Vincze

Sprint Cup Goody's Cool Orange 500 lineup

At Martinsville Speedway, Martinsville, Va.
Lap length: 0.526 miles
Race length: 263 miles/500 laps
TV: KDFW/Ch. 4, 1 p.m.
(Car number in parentheses)
1. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 96.288 mph.
2. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 95.757.
3. (8) Aric Almirola, Chevrolet, 95.733.
4. (6) David Ragan, Ford, 95.569.
5. (26) Jamie McMurray, Ford, 95.492.
6. (9) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 95.487.
7. (49) Ken Schrader, Toyota, 95.463.
8. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 95.347.
9. (20) Tony Stewart, Toyota, 95.271.
10. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 95.213.
11. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 95.208.
12. (07) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 95.208.
13. (12) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 95.079.
14. (28) Travis Kvapil, Ford, 95.060.
15. (44) David Reutimann, Toyota, 95.036.
16. (55) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 95.032.
17. (21) Bill Elliott, Ford, 94.951.
18. (22) Dave Blaney, Toyota, 94.874.
19. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 94.870.
20. (2) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 94.832.
21. (38) David Gilliland, Ford, 94.832.
22. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr, Chevrolet, 94.770.
23. (96) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 94.713.
24. (31) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 94.637.
25. (19) Elliott Sadler, Dodge, 94.637.
26. (77) Sam Hornish Jr, Dodge, 94.637.
27. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford, 94.600.
28. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 94.595.
29. (42) Juan Pablo Montoya, Dodge, 94.595.
30. (84) Mike Skinner, Toyota, 94.562.
31. (70) Jeremy Mayfield, Chevrolet, 94.543.
32. (43) Bobby Labonte, Dodge, 94.538.
33. (01) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 94.486.
34. (00) Michael McDowell, Toyota, 94.406.
35. (15) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 94.369.
36. (66) Scott Riggs, Chevrolet, 94.312.
37. (10) Patrick Carpentier, Dodge, 94.298.
38. (41) Reed Sorenson, Dodge, 94.139.
39. (5) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 93.966.
40. (83) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 93.664.
41. (7) Robby Gordon, Dodge, owner points.
42. (1) Martin Truex Jr, Chevrolet, owner points.
43. (40) Dario Franchitti, Dodge, 94.078.
Failed to Qualify
44. (45) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 94.078.
45. (34) John Andretti, Chevrolet, 93.506.
46. (08) Tony Raines, Dodge, 93.460.
47. (78) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 93.230.

Dixon wins IndyCar opener

Scott Dixon got his IndyCar season off right with a win in the Gainsco Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. But it didn't look like his race to win. Tony Kanaan came out of the last round of green flag pit stops in the lead and appeared to have the victory in hand until rookie Ernesto Viso punctured a tire and spun seven laps from the finish of the 200-lap race. Kanaan tried to duck around the sliding Viso, but his right-front tire was left askew after clipping Viso's machine. That gave Dixon the lead and his second win at the 1.5-mile oval. Marco Andretti finished second and defending race winner Dan Wheldon was third after starting the race 22nd. Read more about the race here.

-- Michele Vincze

Texan qualifies No. 1 in Top Fuel

O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals
Houston Raceway Park, Baytown

Top Fuel: Odessa native Alan Bradshaw's time of 4.526 seconds at 323.50 mph set on Friday held up to give Bradshaw the No. 1 spot for Sunday's elimination rounds.
Funny Car: Cruz Pedregon's 4.834-second pass at 314.97 on Friday night was good enough for the No. 1 spot. In fact, Pedregon was the only one who came close to beating his own time with a 4.86-second pass in Saturday's first session. His reward for dominating qualifying in the ultra-competitive Funny Car class will be a first-round matchup Sunday with four-time world champion Gary Scelzi. “Bring it on. I feel like if we're going to be successful, we're going to have to beat guys like that,” said Pedregon, who will enter Sunday's final eliminations in second place after points-leader Robert Hight failed to qualify.
Pro Stock: Kurt Johnson's 6.638-second pass at 208.42 mph from Friday was good enough to earn him the No. 1.
Pro Stock Motorcycle: Matt Smith led the two-wheelers with a 6.929-second pass at 191.38 mph that was set on Friday and held up Saturday.
More info can be found here. 

Pruett, Rojas earn second straight win

Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas extended their points lead in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series on Saturday, winning their second straight race by taking the Grand Prix of Miami. The duo combined to lead 51 laps at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the No. 01 Lexus Riley Daytona Prototype, including 41 for Pruett, to win the 99-lap race by 1.645 seconds for the Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates team. Defending Grand Prix of Miami co-winner Bill Auberlen finished second in the No. 23 Porsche Crawford with teammate Joey Hand. Hand led 14 laps before losing the lead to Pruett on lap 78. The No. 99 Gainsco Auto Insurance Pontiac Riley fielded by Dallas business man/racer Bob Stallings and piloted by Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty finished sixth. Get your full results here.

Setzer wins emotional Truck series race

Dennis Setzer, left, has won at Martinsville Speedway before, but Saturday's victory in the Craftsman Truck Series Kroger 250 was surely the most emotional for the veteran driver. Setzer outlasted several late-race cautions to win Dodge's first race since the late Bobby Hamilton won at Mansfield, Ohio, in 2005. In a twist of fate, Setzer won in the No. 18 Ram 1500 co-owned by Hamilton's widow, Lori. Matt Crafton finished second, followed by Rick Crawford, Ken Schrader and Erik Darnell. Read more about Setzer's win here.

-- Michele Vincze

Qualifying roundup

With so many series running this weekend, here's a quick roundup of Friday's qualifying sessions, courtesy of The Associated Press:

IndyCar Series
Scott Dixon took the pole position for the first race of the new, unified era of American open-wheel racing. Dixon, who lost last year's IRL IndyCar Series championship to Dario Franchitti when he ran out of fuel on the last turn of the last lap of the season, got off to a good start Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, winning the first Indy-style qualifying outside of the Indianapolis 500. Over the winter, the IRL announced that it would adopt the unique four-lap qualifying format used at Indy for all of its oval races in 2008. Dixon took advantage with a four-lap average of 213.341 mph in his Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara, earning his ninth career pole. Ed Carpenter will start second and native Texas A.J. Foyt IV will line up third for Saturday's Gainsco Indy 300. A full lineup can be found here.

NHRA
Odessa native Alan Bradshaw raced to the provisional No. 1 qualifying position in Top Fuel during the first day of qualifying Friday for the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown. Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car), Kurt Johnson (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) rounded out the provisional No. 1 qualifiers through the first two of four rounds of qualifying. More info can be found here.

Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series
David Donohue took the pole position Saturday's Grand Prix of Miami, the first time the Brumos Porsche team has topped qualifying since the 2005 event. Donohue, the son of late racing great Mark Donohue, set a Daytona Prototype track record on the 2.3-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway infield road course with a time of 1:13.022. He averaged 113.390 mph in the No. 58 Brumos Porsche Riley. Canada's Michael Valiante qualified second in the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Pontiac Dallara at 1:13.305 (112.953 mph). Valiante's qualifying session came in the car's first official on-track activity. Get all your sports-car racin' love here.