The fireworks started early

Holy hell, what a finish last night in the Grand-Am Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona. Scott Pruett edged out Alex Gurney it what would be the closest finish in Grand-Am series history. Heres the vid:



Jeff Segal also had a nasty flip towards the end of the race when his Mazda collided with Bill Lester's Lexus:

Weekend Preview: June 21-22

F1: The Formula 1 circus is back in France this weekend and Robert Kubica is looking to continue his streak of momentum after winning for the first time in Montreal two weeks ago. Meanwhile Ferrari and McLaren are looking to get back on track after a disappointing showing in Canada that included an embarrassing pit road collision between Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen. Hamilton got a 10 place grid penalty and will start 13th on Sunday. Raikkonen meanwhile scored pole and will start next to teammate Felipe Massa on Sunday. The will be televised at 1 pm eastern, Sunday on FOX.

NASCAR: The Sprint Cup Series makes its first right turns of the year at the road course in Somona, California. Kasey Kahne scored his first pole on road course last night and streak of momentum spanning back a month to a win in the All-Star race in Charlotte. But the big story of the weekend will be the road ringers who have invaded the Sprint Cup series, some have come for glory and others have come in to bail teams out of a dangerous situation. But whatever their cause there are people out there who do not care much for the road ringers. All I can say to those people is since they're racing in northern California is would you like some cheese with that whine? The race will be on TNT starting at 3:30 pm eastern on Sunday

Indycar: The Indycar Series comes to a Iowa Speedway in a area that has been soaked by lots of rain and many people are still trying to recover from the floods. Meanwhile, the Indycar circus hopes that this race won't be the total wreckfest like it was last year. Scott Dixon also hopes that he can continues his momentum and score his fourth win of the year. The race will be on ABC starting at 1 pm eastern.

Grand-Am: Hey, there’s sportscar racing too, this weekend. The Rolex Sportscar Series is in Mid-Ohio for the EMCO Gears Classic and Brumos Porsche pairing of David Donahue and Darren Law is on pole, but everyone will have the eyes on the 01 Chip Ganassi Lexus with Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas behind the wheel. The pairing have won three races this year. The #72 Autohaus Ponitac is on the GT pole. The race is today at 5 pm eastern on Speed Channel.

Dixon domination continues

Scott Dixon last night continued his path to a second Indycar Championship with another win in the Bombardier Learjet 550k. Dixon passed Marco Andretti with six laps to go to take his third victory of the year. Helio Castroneves finished second, Ryan Briscoe, Dan Wheldon and Tony Kannan rounded out the top 5.

"We're riding a wave at the moment," Dixon said. "We're just trying to keep it going. From the middle part of last year until now, we've won a serious amount of races.

"Over the winter, these guys spent a lot of time making these cars super fast. You've got to put this down to the many people back at the shop who have worked on these cars non-stop."

"At the end, he left it wide open. I don't know what he was doing. Marco's car was good on the high line, so maybe he couldn't sit on the bottom. If it was me, I wouldn't have given up that much room."

Unfortunately for Marco Andretti he wouldn't keep second place as he and Ryan Hunter-Reay tangled with six laps to go:

Marco was not too happy about the crash. "There are some guys you can run close with and some guys you can't," Andretti said of Hunter-Reay. "He clearly hit the white line, and that is that. We ran well today, but to me, that doesn't matter. We need to bring home results. It's very disappointing."

Meanwhile Scott Dixon extends his points lead over Helio Castroneves to 35.

Dixon wins again in texas (Autosport.com)

In other action yesterday:

Scott Dixon and Memo Rojas took victory in the Six hours of the Glen.

Ricky Stenhouse, Jr held off a late charge from Scott Speed to take his second ARCA victory of the year at Pocono

And Brad Keselwoski took his first Nationwide victory at Nashville last night passing Clint Bowyer with 5 laps to go.

Grand-Am Preview: Watkins Glen

The Grand-Am series is back after a little break and its time for one of their biggest races of the season the six hours of Watkins Glen. For over forty years the circuit in Watkins Glen has featured a classic endurance that has pitted man and machine against the clock. This weekend after a two week break for the GT cars and almost a month off for the Daytona Prototypes, the cars of the Grand-Am series have returned for battle.

The last time we saw the Daytona Prototypes was back in May at Laguna Seca and it was the little team that could in SAMAX Motorsports with drivers Ryan Dalziel and Henri Zogab that took victory in the Daytona Prototype class. The last two races in the GT class at Laguna Seca and Lime Rock have been won the Banner Racing Ponitacs with drivers Paul Edwards and Kelly Collins behind the wheel, extending Pontiacs winning streak in the GT class to 5, which is a great difference to last season when the Pontiacs only had one win coming into the six hour race in a season that was dominated by Porsche and Mazda. Now Porsche comes into the Watkins Glen race without a victory since last August at Montreal.

Dry streaks have been apparent throughout the Daytona Prototypes also as teams like Bob Stallings and Suntrust Racing have yet to find victory in this Grand-Am season. Suntrust has had especially lots of bad luck throughout the year including crashes and even a fire that destroyed their hauler en route back to the shops after the race in Laguna Seca. The season though has been dominated so far Chip Ganassi Racing who has three wins and the points lead with drivers Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas.

The race will be one to look forward to as we will see if either struggling teams will get back on track or we’ll see the same teams before dominate once again.

Taylor receving help after transporter fire

Here's a heartwarming story for you. After the race in Laguna Seca Wayne Taylor Racing's transporter en route to the team's shop in Indianapolis burned to the ground just outside Amarillo, Texas. The team lost just about everything, from important race data, to spare parts, tools and even a copy machine.

"This all has been so devastating," Taylor said, emotion choking his words

"The only thing (spared) was a Dallara frame, and it's back at the shop in Indy. Everything we had for an entire racing season was on that truck, and it's all gone. Everything we possibly could need to run a race, repair or replace other parts was on that trailer; everything for the entire season."

And then like something seen only in some sort of Chirstmas Special came help from the friends and rivals of Wayne Taylor Racing.

"People have offered cars, parts, transporters, whatever we need," he said. "I've gotten calls from Bob Stallings, Bill Riley, Kevin Doran, Mike Shank, Gene Sigal. Timmy Keene at Chip Ganassi Racing (in Indianapolis) has just been utterly phenomenal with his help."

"It's just so remarkable that every one of these people would do all they can to beat us on the track and yet do everything they can to get us back on it."

"Jim France and the SunTrust people have been on the telephone throughout the day with me, asking and doing what they can to help. Their just being there for us has been utterly incredible and comforting."

Again fighting to express words that his brain wished to convey but at which his voice balked, "It's just remarkable, this Grand-Am community - competitors and fans, alike - how they've rallied to my aid. I just don't think there is any other racing community like it anywhere. I've certainly not encountered anything like it before in all my decades of racing."

"I'm just so proud to be among them and have friends who've gone well beyond being only my competitors."

Now after some doubt that they would be able to make the 6 hour classic at Watkins Glen, Wayne Taylor said that they would be able to make the race on June 7th.

Makes you just want to go volunteer at the nearest Goodwill doesn't it?

DC chats with Wayne Taylor: Suntrust on Fire (Motorsport.com)

Sportscar preview: Grand-Am in Laguna Seca and ALMS in Salt Lake City

Sportscar Racing in America is back again with the Rolex Grand-Am Series racing in Laguna Seca and the American Le Mans Series in Salt Lake City.

Grand-Am: David Donahue took pole for RumBum.com 250 in his Brumos Porsche Daytona Prototype, the 99 Bob Stallings Gainsco with Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty behind the wheel will start outside pole.
But the big story is the return of Cristiano da Matta. Sidelined from racing after a collsion with a deer in a test at Road America in 2006, Christano will compete in his first race since the crash. Teamed with good friend Jimmy Vasser in a second Gainsco sponsred Bob Stallings Ponitac, Cristano will start 6th in the race. Nick Ham and the Speedsoruce Mazda team are on pole in the GT class. The race will be run later today, but will shown tommrow at noon eastern on Speed Channel.

Grand-Am Starting Lineup

ALMS: In Utah, another racing legend is making his return to racing. Gil de Ferran, in the 66 Panasonic Acura teamed with former Champ Car driver Simon Pagenaud, is making his first competive start since retring from Indycar racing 2003. The former Indy 500 winner is looking forward to the event. "Everyone has put in a lot of hours in creating this team and it is great for all involved to see the fruits of our labors become a reality. We have already completed a test at Miller Motorsports Park and we are as prepared as we could have hoped for, considering the short life span of the team", de Ferran said. "For me, the weekend will be very emotionally charged but after five years out of the seat, it has been a bit like putting on an old comfortable pair of shoes -- in a way this will be an exercise in trying to pretend that the last five years didn't happen."

The race will take place at 3 pm eastern on Speed.

De Ferran Motorsports Preview