The 2012 racing season continues to wind down as more racetracks held their final shows of the season this past weekend and several more champions were crowned north of the border.

The Brockville Ontario Speedway in Quebec held the final races of the DIRTcar 358-modified and pro stock series on the tiny 1/3-mile d-shaped track. Rochester‘˜s Danny Johnson won the 100-lap battle but Cortland‘˜s Dale Planck won the war while a former champion went out on a high note as he gets ready for a move up in 2013.

Johnson moved around local legend Stephane LaFrance on lap 21 and held off Syracuse winner Brett Hearn early on and surging North Country driver Billy Dunn in the
closing laps for his third win this year on the series.

à¢â‚¬Å“I‘˜m very fortunate to have a great hot rod here at the end of the season,à¢â‚¬ Johnson said, à¢â‚¬Å“It‘˜s a phenomenal hot rod, that‘˜s all I can tell you. It‘˜s the same car that we ran here last year and won with, so it‘˜s a proven piece for us.à¢â‚¬

Planck also had a great hot rod but knew he was in trouble early as the track changed to a hard, rubber-down condition and began to eat up tires. So he decided to pit on lap 31 to change tires even though he came into the race with enough of a point lead where his finish didn‘˜t matter.

à¢â‚¬Å“I figured that at the end at least my tires would have 30 less laps on it than everyone else,à¢â‚¬ Planck explained, à¢â‚¬Å“The restarts were real good, because it seemed like I could get a good start on the outside with the fresh tires. And then at the end I saw myself fifth on the board, and I was just hanging on, just happy to see myself finish fifth with the car in one pieceà¢â‚¬

On Friday night at Brockville, Quebec‘˜s Stephane LeBrun held off defending champion Joey Ladouceur to win the 50-lap DIRTcar Pro Stock Series finale for his first-ever win on the series.

à¢â‚¬Å“I feel very happy,à¢â‚¬ the French speaking LeBrun said through an interpreter, à¢â‚¬Å“The car was running good, I thank my pit crew and my family for everything, and Brockville for having this.à¢â‚¬

Ladouceur had to finish eighth or better to wrap up the championship and he came from ninth to second in a hurry while dodging an early wreck on lap 24 that ripped a fender off his car. Once in second, he then decided to curb his aggression and think about the big picture.

à¢â‚¬Å“I wasn‘˜t willing to take too many chances.à¢â‚¬ Ladouceur said. à¢â‚¬Å“I was going at it conservatively ... cautiously aggressive,à¢â‚¬

Now Ladouceur will say goodbye to the stock car world as he is purchasing one of his dad‘˜s modifieds and turning it into a sportsman with the goal of following that open-wheel series in 2013.

Steve Poirier ended his season as it began with a win in the Patriot Sprint Tour finale at Brockville. It was his third victory of his shortened season as he missed
several races because of a mid-season knee surgery. Auburn‘˜s Bryan Howland was second while Constantia native Jason Barney was third.

New Jersey‘˜s Ryan Godown beat Danny Johnson for the win Friday night as the Penn Can Speedway held King of the Can Weekend. Joey Grammes, Billy Decker and Stewart
Friesen rounded out the top five.

Tim Fuller picked up his first win with his new late-model team and it was a big one as he won à¢â‚¬Å“The Ultimateà¢â‚¬ at Hesston Speedway in Hesston, Pennsylvania. The win for Fuller was worth $10,000.

This weekend, Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown hosts the Super DIRTcar Series as part of the three-day Eastern States Weekend while Black Rock Speedway in
Dundee runs the Dutch Hoag National Open on Saturday with a big-block/small-block shootout headlining the six-division show there.

Source: http://blog.syracuse.com/motorsports/2012/10/racing_season_winds_down_north_of_the_border.html

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Carl Edwards looking to recapture last year's form

In the offseason, Carl Edwards was tabbed as one of the favorites to win the Sprint Cup Series championship. While he hasn't struggled to the level of Jeff Gordon or Kasey Kahne, Edwards thus far has yet to live up the preseason hype. Despite three top-10s in six races, the Roush Fenway driver is still searching for consistency which was his trademark a year ago and more glaring, he surprisingly has yet to lead a single lap.

Expect that to change tonight, as Edwards has a track-best three wins at Texas and finished second and third here last year.

Another win for Stewart-Haas Racing?

With wins in 50 percent of the races ran this year and both its drivers comfortably inside the top 10 in points, no team has performed better this season than Stewart-Haas Racing. There is little reason to think that success won't continue this evening on the 1.5-mile track.

At least that was the thinking before Tony Stewart wrecked on his very first lap during Friday's practice session. It was a serious blow considering that was the same chassis he won with last year at Chicagoland and a few weeks back at Las Vegas not so coincidently both tracks are of mile-and-a-half variety just like the one they'll be racing on tonight.

Perhaps the SHR banner will again be carried by Stewart's teammate Ryan Newman, who is coming off a victory two weeks ago at Martinsville. Newman has struggled here recently, but he does have a Texas win under his belt (2003) and registered top 10 finishes earlier this year at Vegas and Fontana.

The time is now for Kahne, Gordon and others

We've stated it many times, but it continues to be a theme through the early part of the season as many a big name are off to slow starts and need to kick things into high gear. Primarily, we mean the Hendrick Motorsports duo of Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon, both of whom have been saddled with serious bouts of back luck. But this also applies to Kyle Busch, who is 16th in points with two finishes in the 30s in his last three races; Jamie McMurray, 24th overall; and Kurt Busch, just one top-10 on the year and 26th in the standings.

A happy return to speedway racing for Greg Biffle

If any driver is happy to put Bristol and Martinsville in his rearview mirror, it has to be Greg Biffle. The series points leader has only finished outside the top 10 twice this season and in both instances it came on the two short tracks. But with a return to a bigger track and the style of racing he has had much success on throughout his career, the driver of the No. 16 Ford should be a constant presence up near the front of the field. And don't be surprised if Biffle, who qualified third, scores his first win of 2012 and his second Texas win overall.

Worth Noting

à¢â‚¬¢ Nine of the last 12 races at Texas Motor Speedway have been won by a driver starting in the top 10. According to Denny Hamlin, this is because the faster speeds run in the cool evening air make it harder to pass, putting a premium on starting up front.

à¢â‚¬¢ Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte and Mark Martin are the only four drivers to have started all 22 Texas races.

à¢â‚¬¢ Both Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s first career Nationwide Series win (1998) and his first career Sprint Cup win (2000) occurred here.

Assuming no mechanical gremlins crop up like they did in Vegas, and there are no issues on pit road like there were at Fontana, expect to see the blue deuce somewhere in the top 10 by race end.

Article Source: http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2012/4/14/2947418/nascar-texas-motor-speedway-race-2012-preview

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Het bericht NASCAR At Texas Motor Speedway 2012 verscheen eerst op Emea Persberichten.