by Fr. Dale Grubba for RacingOnline – March 10, 2009
Matt Kenseth won at Daytona and in California, a dramatic turnaround from 2008 when he didn’t win a race. Then he finished last at Las Vegas. Known as a realist, that may be his reason for being cautious about where he will finish at the end of 2009.

Asked before the season got underway, Kenseth said he never makes decisions about what he is going to do. He hoped to get back to victory lane, make the Chase, and be a series contender. Those were his goals. He’d be disappointed if he didn’t. With two victories under his belt as the season gets underway he is off to a good start in accomplishing his goal.

Looking back he found the 2008 season disappointing. “The bright spot,” Kenseth observed, “was we made the Chase. We ran a couple of races good enough to win and didn’t. It was the worst season we’ve had since 2001.”

A slightly banged up No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, is driven in reverse on the track by its driver Kurt Busch in celebration of winning Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt Tools 500 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. (Photo Credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)HAMPTON, GA. -- The other Busch won this one. Big Brother. Kurt. The Busch that won a championship before his little brother hit the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series scene a few years ago.

Last week in the Busch Brothers' hometown, Las Vegas, it was young Kyle winning the race.

Sunday, in Atlanta, it was Kurt's day to shine and shine he did. Literally driving the wheels off his Miller Lite Penske Dodge, Kurt led a whopping 234 of the 325-lap Kobalt Tools 500, banging into the outside retaining wall several times in the process.

1995 ASA Champ will run for the ASAMT Championship

By Kevin Ramsell
BURLINGTON, WI (Monday, March 9, 2009) - American Speed Association Kwik Trip Midwest Tour presented by ECHO Outdoor Power Equipment officials have announced that the 1995 American Speed Association Champion and 1996 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Rookie of the Year is returning to the Midwest to compete this season. Bryan Reffner can’t wait to get back on the Midwest tracks behind the wheel of a Super Late Model.

Listen to the RacingOnline.com Interview with Bryan Reffner

Reffner has been busy putting together his Hamke Chassis Ford Fusion for the season opener on April 25 at Dells Raceway Park, “Its definitely my own team and we are going to be sponsored by raceteamgear.com and The Swiss Colony, our two major sponsors,” Reffner recently stated. “We are working on some associates. We have a limited schedule and we are trying to improve on that. We are going to run a Ford engine 9:1 and a Hamke chassis we got through Steve Strasburg’s Race Car Help.”

Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M's Toyota, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Shelby 427 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday. (Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)By Reid Spencer Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
LAS VEGAS (March 1, 2009) — So the last shall be first, and the first last.

For biblical scholars, that was Matthew 20:16. For NASCAR fans, it was Sunday’s Shelby 427 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Starting from the rear of the field because of an engine change during Friday’s practice session, pole winner and Las Vegas native Kyle Busch worked his way to the front throughout a race punctuated with a record 14 caution periods and streaked to a .411-second victory, his first of the season and his first at Las Vegas.

Matt Kenseth, first in the series standings entering the race, finished last, after his engine blew six laps into the race. That ended Kenseth’s bid to become the first driver to win the first three races in a Cup season.

Trickle’s first car had a rake wheel welded in it for a roll bar and a grader blade on the driver’s side for his own protection. Since tat time, his cars have gotten progressively quicker, enabling him to win a record sixty-seven races in one season.By: Father Dale Grubba
“From the beginning of time we have been able to run with the best of them. It is like Koekuk, IA, with Ernie Derr, Ramo Stott, and Don White,” Jere O’Day says as he pulls his right leg up on the back ar at his pub and reflects on three generations of Wisconsin Rapids area racers and the legacy they helped fashion.

By: Kevin Ramsell
PORTAGE, WI (Thursday, February 26, 2009) – The popular racing website www.racingonline.com recently reached a plateau of over 1,000 members on its popular forum message board. The new message board debuted on January 26, 2009.

The ROL Forum has long been a popular site on the internet for fans to communicate amongst one another. When ROL Marketing Partners, LLC took over the site last month, they felt it was time to have the forum under a new format. This required everyone who has been a member in the past on the old Delphi forum to register under the new program.

“It’s really not a surprise that we reached this milestone within its first month, but the rapid growth and traffic easily exceeded our expectations,” Scott Lofquist, ROL Technical Director stated. “The forum has had a popular following and its encouraging seeing that those people have embraced the new format and have signed up as quickly as they did.”

Golden Sands Speedway has added some new events to our 2009 season schedule.

In May we will be featuring an Air-Bag Demonstration and a Motorcycle Wheelie Contest. Also along with the Mid-American Touring Series on May 22nd, we will have Armed Forces Night, in which all Military personnel showing their Military ID will receive one $5 grandstand admissions.

The Wisconsin Challenge Series Memorial 100 will race on Memorial Day, May 25th, featuring Wisconsin Sport Trucks, Vintage Cars, Cruisers, and our very first Figure 8 Race. May 29th will be Chicken Night! Drivers will be paired up with fans for a driver/fan egg toss contest, specials on chicken sandwiches, and many prizes.

By Matt Panure
It may have taken Jake Finney almost three and a half years to find victory lane, but once the 2006 Mid-American Stock Car Series Rookie of the Year did, he proved just how far he has come in such a short amount of time.

Finney had an incredible run in the Tisler Salvage Red Race at Wisconsin International Raceway in June, holding off a pair of three-time Mid-American champions in James Swan and Bill Prietzel to pick up his first ever MASCS win.

Proving that the win was no fluke, Finney and his team returned in August and dominated the Vercauteren Memorial Tisler Salvage Blue Race. In his short career, Finney has marked this as his biggest accomplishment.

“That’s something I can take with me anywhere,” said Finney who studies Business Administration at De Vry University. “When I look at the names on the trophy and the fact that I’m on it now is kind of a shock at first but now really feels me with gratitude.”

Certainly Finney should be proud to be mentioned in the same breath as MASCS champions Prietzel, Swan, Pete Hernandez and Eddie Hoffman.

Matt Kenseth leads the field en route to winning his second consecutive race, the Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway. (Photo Credit: Jeff Gross/Getty Images)By Reid Spencer Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
FONTANA, Calif.—Matt Kenseth is making up for lost time—with a lot of help from his friends on pit road.

Winless in 2008, Kenseth backed up his victory in the season-opening Daytona 500 by holding off Jeff Gordon in Sunday’s Auto Club 500 Sprint Cup race at Auto Club Speedway.

Matt Kenseth crosses the finish line to win the Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway. Kenseth leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings by 81 points over Jeff Gordon. (Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images)With a lightning-fast pit stop, Kenseth’s crew made sure his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford was first off pit road for a restart on Lap 216, after Kevin Harvick slammed the Turn 1 wall to cause the fifth and final caution of the 250-lap race.