LOUDON, N. H. -- Sometimes, the sun shines even though it's raining.

Ask young Joey Logano. A late-race rainstorm stopped the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 after 273 of the scheduled 301 laps, giving Logano his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory.

The 19-year-old rookie, who turned 19 on May 24, was probably the only happy driver when NASCAR announced the race official, but veterans of the sport would quickly tell the youngster to enjoy his win because "there's no telling how long it might be before he wins another one."

Crew chief Greg Zipadelli, Logano's mentor and crew chief on the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota, a veteran of this sport's tremendous emotional peaks and valleys, probably told his rosy-cheeked driver, "You take em any way you can get 'em, kid."

Even though Logano never challenged any of the race leaders, he raced his way back into contention after a blown tire and an untimely pit stop put him a lap down.

He eventually was the "Lucky Dog," which put him back on the lead lap and in position to gamble on fuel mileage as reports of impending rain rolled through the pit area like tumbleweeds.

NHRA Media Photoby Phil Burgess, NHRA.com
Larry Dixon, Jack Beckman, Jason Line, and Andrew Hines collected victories at the third annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park. The race was the 12th event of the 24-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

The victories by the Pro winners were crucial in many aspects. Dixon used his fourth win of the season in Top Fuel to move to second in standings, while Funny Car champ Beckman moved into fourth place. Line was able to move up a spot as well, into third in Pro Stock, while Hines also took one step forward and into second place behind his teammate and fellow finalist Eddie Krawiec.

There was a lot at stake for Dixon in the Top Fuel final as a win would propel him into second place and a loss would drop him to fourth behind opponent Brandon Bernstein. The race ended early though when Bernstein smoked the tires and watched Dixon zoom away to a 3.98, 294.05-mph victory, the 47th of his career. Dixon remains perfect on the season with four wins in four finals.

Knoxville, IA— June 27, 2009—Terry McCarl had been in contention a number of times for wins this season with the World of Outlaws and came up just short in each of those bids. He entered Saturday night's event at his home track of Knoxville Raceway with three runner-up finishes with the series in 2009 and also had three second-place finishes at the legendary half-mile.

McCarl put all of those near misses behind him with a dominating performance in the World of Outlaws final stop of the season and the famed track on Saturday night leading flag to flag to pick up his eighth career A-Feature win with the series in a race that was completed in less than seven minutes and ran caution free.

“It felt good to come home and win tonight and to hold off Donny Schatz,” said McCarl. “I always feel like these are good tune-ups for the (Knoxville) Nationals. We almost won this race last time and he got us late in the race. I feel like we are a contender if we keep our stuff together.”

by Phil Burgess, NHRA.com
Larry Dixon, Mike Neff, Greg Anderson, and Andrew Hines finished qualifying atop their fields Saturday at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk. The event is the 12th of the 24-race 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series and marks the midpoint of the season schedule.

Anderson, disappointed by being denied in the final round of the K&N Horsepower Challenge, at least had the satisfaction of putting his Summit Pontiac atop the Pro Stock pack at his sponsor's event at the racetrack that bears their name and to have teammate Jason Line third. Hines, too, had to be proud as he and teammate Eddie Krawiec also finished the day Nos. 1 and 3.

Dixon and crew chief Jason McCulloch remained atop the Top Fuel field with a steady dominance that included the only three-second pass on a hot and tricky track. Although their 3.979 in the first session was almost a tenth shy of their Friday-leading 3.882 with the Al-Anabi machine, they were the class of the field.

Concord, NC--June 24, 2009—After two thrilling races at U.S. 36 Raceway in Missouri in the World of Outlaws first two visits to the high-banked, ultra fast bullring in 2006 and 2007, Mother Nature was victorious last season. With sunny skies and warm temperatures expected this week, the World of Outlaws are set to return to U.S. 36 Raceway for the Missouri High-Banked Nationals on Friday, June 26.

Jason Meyers won the event in 2007, leading all 40 laps in a dominating performance to win over Tim Kaeding and Jac Haudenschild, who was victorious in the World of Outlaws debut at the track in 2006.

U.S. 36 Raceway is one of just three tracks on the World of Outlaws schedule with a single digit track record. Paul McMahan set the mark of 9.846 seconds in 2006.

Entering the event, Donny Schatz holds a 59-point advantage over Joey Saldana in the series championship standings after 30 A-Feature events. Schatz has won eight times, while Saldana leads the series with 10 triumphs. Jason Meyers is third in points and has four victories, and 20-time series champion Steve Kinser is fourth and has won once so far this season.

Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 9 Budweiser Dodge, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the Infineon Raceway on in Sonoma, Calif. (Photo Credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images for NASCAR)By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

SONOMA, Calif.—How strange was it for Kasey Kahne to win a road-course race?

The driver of the No. 9 Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge had to ask his crew chief for directions to victory lane after taking the checkered flag in a green-white-checkered finish in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.

Kahne held off road-course ace Tony Stewart through a succession of four late-race double-file restarts, the final time after Scott Speed’s spin on Lap 108 caused the seventh caution of the day. After starting from the rear because of an engine change, Marcos Ambrose chased the top two finishers to the line to claim third place, matching the best result of his Sprint Cup Series career.

West Fargo, ND— June 20, 2009—Jason Meyers mentioned prior to the main event on Saturday just how much he enjoys racing on high speed half-mile tracks like Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo, North Dakota and how many different facets of a driver's abilities are tested on those types of tracks. He especially enjoyed his visit to Red River Valley on Saturday night, after winning a thrilling battle with Craig Dollansky in the 30-lap contest that pit the leaders in heavy lapped traffic for most of the race at breathtaking speeds to score his fourth win of the season.

Meyers took the lead for the first time on the 10th lap and held the point until the 23rd circuit when Dollansky got around him in traffic. Meyers retook the lead on the 25th lap and would pace the field the rest of the way to earn the $10,000 win, which was the 29th of his World of Outlaws career, tying him with Dollansky and Daryn Pittman for 14th on the all-time list.

Grand Forks, ND— June 19, 2009—Donny Schatz nearly had a perfect night at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks on Friday night. After setting fast time in qualifying, he won the first heat race and wrapped up the night by dominating the 40-lap A-Feature event to score his eighth win of the 2009 campaign. The only blemish on the night for the three-time and defending World of Outlaws champion was a second-place finish in the Crane Cams Dash.

For the North Dakota native, it was his second consecutive win at River Cities Speedway which is located in his home state. It was the 96th A-Feature win of his World of Outlaws career, as he looks to become just the fifth driver in the 31-year history of the series to cross the century mark in wins.

“Anytime you can win in front of your fans at home is great,” said Schatz. “This is just like being at home sweet home. I'm glad to get this Armor All car to Victory Lane here tonight.”