NASCAR: Carl Edwards/Austin Dillon Checker Nashville

Racin’ with Russ—Carl Edwards had a relatively easy time nailing down his latest Nationwide win in Nashville, while young Austin Dillon brought home yet another truck trophy, winning on Friday night at the same track.

With a very strong Dodge Challenger, Brad Keselowski took the pole earlier in the day and led the field to the green with Carl Edwards not far behind. Edwards' Ford was stout, but not stout enough to zoom on by until around lap 60.

Not long after, Keselowki’s Dodge starting exhibiting engine problems, more specifically valve train issues, slowing the Penske driver to a 12th-place finish, next to last on the lead lap.

Edwards night was not without problems either as NASCAR officials felt the Roush-Fenway Ford driver sped on pit road, sending the No. 60 Mustang to the back of the pack.

Unfazed, Edwards got up on the wheel and came through the pack quickly enough to later regain the lead from Dillon. Edwards went on to claim his fifth Nationwide win of the season and 34th career trophy.

Crossing the line not far behind the rapid Ford were his teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Dillon, Justin Allgaier and Aric Almirola.

With Elliott Sadler breaking a rear end gear after a pit stop, the points leader fell two spots to third, while Reed Sorensen and Stenhouse take over the top two spots in the points.

Truckin’

Timothy Peters led a bunch of laps in the Friday night’s truck race in Nashville, as did Johnny Sauter, but no one had anything for Austin Dillon’s strong Chevy truck as the 21-year-old driver took his second win of the season in front of a sweltering hot crowd.

Sauter took second followed by Peters, Nelson Piquet Jr and Parker Kligerman. 

Open Wheel News

The Indy Car series returned to Edmonton with some slight course changes and Will Power in victory lane. Takuma Sato took his second pole of the season and did lead for a while, only to be spun out by Ryan Hunter-Reay mid-race.

Others in the top five included Helio Castroneves, points leader Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan and Justin Wilson. 

Across the Pond

The Formula One race in Germany saw Lewis Hamilton jump out front from the get-go and managed to hold off advances from Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber to earn his second trip to victory lane this year.

leader Sebastien Vettel struggled on and off the track to finish fourth, yet maintains a huge lead in the overall points standings.

From Rumorville

A lot of rumors are flying around concerning Carl Edwards moving over to Joe Gibbs Toyota for next year and beyond. I don’t buy it. I think Carl will return to Roush-Fenway and rack up more wins and perhaps a title or two along the way. What about you? What do you think? Drop me a line.

--- Ryan Newman’s Modified win last week in New Hampshire was taken away after NASCAR officials deemed the rapid offset car illegal after discovering engine issues. It seems that someone drilled the intake manifold bolts, filled them with wax which would melt once the engine was hot, allowing more air to enter the engine. More air, more gas, more power. Fines and penalties were doled out and we may not see Newman compete in this class again.

--- It sounds as if next weekend’s Brickyard 400 race will not be sold out. Once again, higher gas prices, an economy still struggling and lackluster racing points to smaller crowds.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the Nationwide and truck action from Lucas Oil Speedway in Indiana, while across town, the Cupsters enjoy the big festivities at the Brickyard. Other racing results from around the globe will be included.