TOLEDO OH - Michael McDowell, in Eddie Sharp’s Z Line-Make A Wish-Beck Dodge, earned his third consecutive SIM Factory Pole Award and fourth of the 2007 season Saturday afternoon at Toledo Speedway.

 

The Phoenix, Arizona native starts on the point for Sunday’s Hantz Group 200 presented by Federated Car Care at Toledo.

 

Justin Allgaier qualified second in the AG Tech Chevrolet. Phillip McGilton, in the Midwest Equipment Ford, qualified third.

 

Next-generation ARCA RE/MAX Series racers’ Brian Keselowski and Billy Leslie qualified fourth and fifth respectively.

 

Eight-time series champion Frank Kimmel wrecked in practice and qualified 16th in a back-up machine.

 

Ken Schrader, who opted to skip the Nextel Open at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in favor of ARCA RE/MAX Series qualifying, qualified 10th in his own Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet.

 

The race is scheduled to air LIVE on SPEED Sunday, May 20th beginning at 12 Noon Eastern. SCR

 

Starting Grid

 

 

 

Kevin Harvick held off a last lap move by Jimmie Johnson on his way to winning the Nextel All-Star Challenge and the $1 million prize Saturday night. Harvick crossed the line 14/100 of a second ahead of Johnson for the win. Johnson finished second followed by Mark Martin in third. Jeff Burton and Tony Stewart rounded out the top five.

 

The Busch boys, Kurt and Kyle got together on the second lap of the final segment and wrecked each other out as Kyle went low to get around Kurt. Kurt said after the incident “I’m not eating any Kellogg’s anytime soon,” playing off of his younger brother’s primary sponsor. Kurt finished 19^th and Kyle 20^th.

 

Finishing sixth Saturday night was one of the two drivers that race their way in from the open race Johnny Sauter. Matt Kenseth finished seventh after restarting last on the fourth segment after a speeding penalty on pit road, Kenseth won the third segment. Eighth went to Ryan Newman he was followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his DEI teammate Martin Truex Jr. in ninth and 10^th.

 

11th through 21^st went to Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, Brian Vickers, Kasey Kahne, and Greg Biffle finished 15^th. Fan vote winner Kenny Wallace came home 16^th, he was followed by Denny Hamlin, Casey Mears, Kurt and Kyle Busch and Bobby Labonte wrecked out early in the third segment and finished 21^st. SCR

Matthew Blaylock

 

 

 

 

Kenny Wallace driver of the No. 78 Chevrolet was voted in by the fans to race in tonight’s Nextel All-Star Challenge. SCR

Matthew Blaylock

 

 

Nextel Cup News

 

Martin Truex Jr. and Johnny Sauter passed Carl Edwards with three laps to go to finish first and second and transfer to the Nextel All-Star Challenge. Edwards who led 37 of the 40 laps of the Nextel Open complained that his car was getting tight before being passed finished third. SCR

Matthew Blaylock

  

   

 

 

Roush Racing Ford’s took the two poles Friday for Saturday night All-Star events at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway (LMS) in Concord, N.C. The No. 17 Ford driven by Matt Kenseth will lead the field to the green flag in Nextel All-Star Challenge for the $1,000,000 prize and his teammate Carl Edwards will lead the field to the green in the Nextel Open race where two drivers will race there way into the All-Star Challenge race.

 

Kenseth ran three laps around LMS and had a four tire pit stop in 2 minutes and 1.40 seconds on his way to overtaking Jimmie Johnson for the top spot. Johnson who will start second was over two seconds slower than Kenseth. Rolling off third Saturday night will be Kurt Busch he will be followed by the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) teammates of Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton in fourth and fifth.

 

Edwards who will lead the field to the green in the Nextel Open race won the pole with a speed of 187.487 mph (Regular qualifying was used to set the field for the Nextel Open). Starting on the outside of Edwards will be his Roush Racing rookie teammate David Ragan. The front row will be followed by Dave Blaney rolling off third, David Gilliland fourth and rookie Juan Pablo Montoya fifth. SCR

Matthew Blaylock

 

 

 

 

Richard Childress team owner of Richard Childress Racing (RCR) and Teresa Earnhardt team owner of Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) announced today that they have merged there engine programs to create Earnhardt-Childress Racing Technologies (ECRT).

 

With the creation of the new ECRT engines will be built and located in a shop between the DEI and RCR facilities. Construction on the new ECRT shop will begin this summer with an anticipated competition date of mid 2008.

 

“With the direction this sport has taken over the last few years, Teresa and I began talking about ways we could partner together to gain a competitive advantage and, at the same time, expand our resources,” said Richard Childress, President and CEO of Richard Childress Racing.  “Both RCR and DEI have proven that a three-car team can build its own engines and compete at the top, and combining the resources of both companies gives us even greater efficiencies and the competitive advantages we’re looking for.”

 

Until completion of the new shop all engine work will be split between the DEI and RCR shops. They expect to run all six cars the two teams field will run the same common engine for the first time in July at Daytona. SCR

Matthew Blaylock

 

 

 

 

Mechanicsburg, PA - Donny Schatz could have easily written himself off after qualifying 35th of the 55 cars that were on hand at Williams Grove Speedway on Thursday night, but he did not. The reigning World of Outlaws champions put his head down and drove as hard as he could each and every lap and by the end of the night, found himself in the winner’s circle for the fifth time this season.

 

Schatz started the A-Feature in the third position and patiently followed Greg Hodnett and Jeff Shepard in the early stages of the race. On the 16th lap, he shot around Shepard to move into the runner-up spot. He continued to chase Hodnett as the pair got into lapped traffic with the laps winding down. With just three laps remaining, Schatz used the low side of the track to take the lead from Hodnett.

 

Joey Saldana made a late charge, also getting around Hodnett and closing in on Schatz as the checkered flag flew, to finish second.

 

Hodnett, the 1993 World of Outlaws Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year held on to finish third ahead of Jason Meyers, with Kenny Jacobs rounding out the Top-Five.

 

“We’re glad to get back to victory lane and get everyone’s confidence back up on the team,” said Schatz, driver of the ParkerStore J&J. “Hopefully we can keep this going and win some more races this weekend.”

 

Schatz started his march to victory in the third heat as he lined up in the ninth position, needing to get to at least fifth to transfer to the A-Feature. An early red flag moved him up a couple spots on a restart, and he wound up racing his way into the second position to earn a spot in the Crane Cams dash, where he finished third.

 

“That is good racing that the fans want to see, with cars coming from the back,” Schatz said in Victory Lane. “If we wouldn’t have made it through the heat race, we would have been in the C-main or in the back of the B-Main. It was a great feeling to get through that heat race and into the dash. We passed some good cars to do it. That made our night a little easier, starting toward the front.”

 

While he could have said the car was not working right or the crew made a mistake, Schatz himself squarely took the blame for the slow start to the night in time trials, and more than made up for it as he won for the 10th time overall at Williams Grove.

 

“I made a big mistake qualifying and I needed to push harder,” said the winner. “Usually Williams Grove does not have that big of a curb and it is not that fast early in the night. I think you saw that the guys that were super fast in qualifying on the ledge, did not make it that far later in the night. The harder you pound that ledge the more trouble you get into later in the night. I can’t run 25 laps on a cushion like that, so I don’t do it. Smarts is probably the biggest key here. Knowing that I cannot run the cushion is probably a benefit. That helps me to move around in traffic and be there at the end of the race.”

 

Schatz is excited to return to the track on Friday for another full night of racing, when the event will be 30 laps and pay $12,000-to win. He now has led 217 laps at the half-mile, and has finished in the Top-Five in nine of the last ten events he has competed in at the track.

 

“The cars are getting better the longer they go, and that is good to see,” said the defending Knoxville Nationals winner. “I’m glad they get faster as they go. I assume the track will be slower tomorrow, and I look forward to that. Hopefully we can come back and get ourselves in a position to qualify at the front of the feature and win another race. It’s all about winning races.”

 

Saldana made a valiant charge late, after falling back to ninth on the second lap of the 25-lap event, after staring in the seventh spot. He gained five spots over the last nine laps of the race. He passed several strong cars late in the race, including: Meyers, Hodnett, Shepard, and Jacobs.

 

“We were good,” said Saldana, driver of the Open Joist Mopar-powered JEI. “I haven’t really been that good here in the past. The car was really good. The yellows hurt me a little bit. I needed some longer green flag runs. I just could not get going. Once we got going we were good. We ran a little short. It was a very good run and the team is working well.”

 

The native of Brownsburg, Indiana had one of the fastest cars on the track as the laps wound down. The runner-up finish was his 14th Top-Five finish of the season as he continues to be locked in a classic dual with Schatz for the championship points.

 

“I wish we had the five extra laps tonight,” lamented Saldana. “For me, I think we have the car to run the five more laps. The car just keeps getting better and better.  The five laps would have helped us tonight, but then again the other guys will learn from what they did tonight and will probably get better as well. It will be a tough deal and you have to qualify well to get into the dash to give yourself a shot.”

 

Early in the race Hodnett looked like he was well on his way to his eighth World of Outlaws victory, bu