At Lincoln Speedway in New Oxford, Pa, Levi Jones recorded his 25th career USAC (United States Auto Club) National Sprint Car Series victory on Wednesday night.

In this year’s Eastern Storm, it was the third race. Jones stayed out front the rest of the way to earn the $6,000 payday. He started sixth and inherited the lead on lap three of the 40-lap affair.

Despite heavy pressure from Bryan Clauson over the final five laps of the race, Jones, driving the Tony Stewart Racing/Chevy No. 20, came from the sixth starting spot to assume the lead during a fourth lap caution and led the rest of the way.

In the 40-lap main event, Clauson finished a close second. Tracy Hines, Hunter Schuerenberg as well as New Jersey’s Mark Bitner, a regular in 360 sprint cars, completed the top five. A regular 410 sprint-car racer, Brent Marks of Myerstown finished sixth. Lewisberry’s Kyle Moody, Jon Stanbrough, Bobby East and Robert Ballou completed the top 10.

After contact with another car at the end of the backstretch, three-time Lincoln 410 sprint-car champion Brian Montieth of Phoenixville took a violent flip in his heat race. Although no serious injury was reported, Montieth was shaken up. With a lap of 15.658 Jones set a new track record in qualifying.

The Kansas Speedway now hosts two NASCAR Sprint Cup events beginning with the STP 400 that will take place June 5. The June 5 race takes on extra meaning this season as a preview for the next race that will take place early in the NASCAR Chase in October.

Check out NASCAR Betting closer to the June 5 race in online sports betting sites.

The Kansas Speedway is a flat intermediate track, which is right in the wheelhouse for the drivers that have superior car control and are not afraid to loose race car.

There are three two time winners on the Kansas Speedway mile and a half cookie cutter track and all three are excellent with car control. Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle have al taken the checkered flag twice.

This will be the first time the track has been raced in the summer months and a Kansas summer may cause some unique conditions for the drivers and crew chiefs to consider.

Look for some possible new winners to garner this their first win on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit. A.J. Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose are both solid candidates for a win on a track of this nature. Another possible surprise winner could be Mark Martin, who is a past winner on the Kansas track.

Martin has been making progress this season and he wants to notch a few wins before leaving the Hendrick Motorsports stable. Looking for a good bet in this race, Martin should be going off at better than 20-1 odds.

The favorites will be Jimmie Johnson at 6-1 and Kyle Busch at 7-1. Carl Edwards will also have low odds in the 7-1 to 9-1 range.

This Saturday, May 7^th, the VRA 360 Sprint Cars are back in action at Ventura Raceway. The Senior Sprints, IMCA Modifieds, Dwarf Cars, Mod Lites, Mod Lite Juniors, Junior Midgets, and Mini Dwarfs will be joining the action packed program. The front gates will open at 3:00pm.

The Ventura Racing Association (VRA) has a rapidly growing Traditional 360 Sprint Car Division. The VRA has exciting and competitive Sprint Car Racing for fans to enjoy with Jim Naylor’s Ventura Raceway at Seaside Park in Ventura, CA as its home track. The VRA Sprint Cars have also competed at Perris, Bakersfield, Santa Maria, and Hanford’s Kings Speedway.

Ojai’s Troy Rutherford leads the point chase on the strength of four main event wins in six starts. The defending champion finished sixteenth on April 23rd Piloting the No.11 Trench Shoring / L&H Consulting entry. Rutherford has an eighty five point lead with three heat race victories, one semi main win, and one hard charger award heading into Saturday’s event. Troy will have his sights on another Ventura win.

Steve Conrad of Quartz Hill is second in the standings after scoring a third place finish on April 23rd. Conrad has one main event win, has one heat race victory, one hard charger award, and five top 10 finishes on the season, driving the No.56 Roy Miller Freight Lines / SC Grafix car. With another main event win the USAC TQ Midget graduate will look to close the point gap.

In the championship standings, Ventura’s Greg Taylor sits third. The pilot of the No.7 Westco International Consulting Inc. / Taylor Trucking & Crane Service machine was fourteenth on April 23rd. Taylor has three heat race victories, and four top10 finishes on the year. This Saturday, the former track champion will look to rebound.

On the record-tying 0.002-second margin of success, Clint Bowyer laughed off the humiliation of entering the record books, after finishing a foot behind five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson.

Jeff Gordon has a triumph through eight races and he is only one driver ranked 11th-20th in points, which means that to secure a Chase berth through a victory-lane visit, there could plenty of occasions. For being among the dozen title contenders this season, NASCAR modified the eligibility, opening the Chase to the top 10 in points and the two drivers with the most wins ranked between 11th and 20th.

Johnson’s triumph raised the defending champion two positions in the point standings to second. This was his 54th triumph in 335 career Cup starts and he is just five points behind existing leader Carl Edwards.

Methodically, with four top-five and five top-10 finishes, Johnson has combated back from concluding 27th in the Daytona 500. With a 15-race winless streak, he entered Talladega, thereby tying the second-longest drought of his career.

At Hendrick Motorsports, Johnson certainly has his share of title competitors under his own roof. This season, his outside opposition is equally solid. The fight is as solid as the last season battle between Johnson, Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin. Johnson is aware that Roush Fenway Racing has picked up the pace considerably, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth in particular, and he is not counting out Harvick or Hamlin.

NASCAR betting have received a ton of action in these last few weeks. The current best odds for NASCAR drivers are – Jimmie Johnson 19/20, Kyle Busch 39/20, Carl Edwards 147/50, Matt Kenseth 63/10 and Kevin Harvick 21/2.

This weekend for the Texas Samsung Mobile 500 the NASCAR Sprint Cup series heads to Texas. If you are expecting one of the usual suspects to dominate in this race this weekend be prepared for a surprise. As does Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle rank highly on the Texas track.

At online sportsbooks closer to the April 17 race, get NASCAR auto racing odds.

Jimmie Johnson at 6-1 is the favorite for this race according to the Las Vegas Hilton Superbook. As everyone insists on betting Johnson, that’s why he is the favorite so don’t be fooled. When Woods was at his best the trend is much like the trend of betting Tiger Woods over the field.

12-1 shots Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle are the drivers that have a strong history on this track. They will be up front much of the race as they both rank the top five of the NASCAR power numbers. Even though Carl Edwards has only four top ten finishes on this track, he is another Roush Fenway driver who has won three races in Texas. On this track Edwards is the definition of a hit and miss driver.

Even though Jeff Gordon cannot be dismissed, he is a 12-1 shot to win at Texas. Gordon will be a contender come crunch time as he has a history of running up front on this track. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is another Hendrick Motorsports driver many may not consider a threat. Even though Dale Jr. has the motivation to close the deal this weekend and he won his first race on this track, he is a 20-1 shot to win according to Vegas. In online sports handicapping, look for NASCAR odds closer to the April 17 race.

Kevin Harvick wrapped up the Auto Club 400 from Jimmie Johnson, with the checkered flag flying in the air roughly 100 yards away. He had the huge crowd of fans jumping up and down on their feet and the finish of this race was extremely exhilarating. The cheers from the fans were so deafening that for several miles away, one could have heard their screams.

Riding the back bumper of Johnson down the backstretch, Harvick set up the final pass to precision by beginning his move as the cars entered Turn 3. At Fontana, it was Harvick’s first win and it became all the more sweeter for him, as he beat the five-time defending Sprint Cup champion who has five victories at Fontana.

Driving low into Turn 1 and passing Busch for the lead, Johnson made his move with three laps left. Harvick, who was fifth on the restart, blew past Kyle Busch‘s car, which got loose. After overtaking Busch, Harvick set his sights on the leader.

Before entering Turn 3, Harvick pushed Johnson and then gave him a bump, forcing the leader to go lower than he wanted and leaving the outside open just enough. At Fontana, this was the only Cup race scheduled to be held this year. The 92,000-seat Auto Club Speedway had one of its races removed from this year’s schedule, after numerous years of hosting two 500-mile races annually, and struggling with attendance declines.

The crowd was estimated by NASCAR at around 88,000, regardless of morning rain. The attendance was up from 72,000 when the race was held previous year in late February. A year ago, the race’s distance was cut to 400 miles from 500.

The sportsbooks are offering exciting odds for the NASCAR drivers. Jimmie Johnson 3, Carl Edwards 7/2, Kyle Busch 5, Kevin Harvick 8, Tony Stewart 10 are some of the drivers with their respective betting odds.

Last weekend at Las Vegas, Tony Stewart, who is a two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion may have come up just short for a victory, but with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points lead, he left the third race of the season.

Stewart has 113 points heading into the season’s first off-weekend, along with Kurt Busch. Stewart leap-frogged Kyle Busch. Juan Pablo Montoya is with 106 points, Las Vegas race-winner Carl Edwards sitting at third and tied. Ryan Newman is in the top five with 103 points. Right now, Stewart Haas Racing is the lone team in the Cup garage with two drivers in the top-five.

In sixth comes Paul Menard with 96 points, pursued by Martin Truex Jr. with 95 points, Denny Hamlin with 95 points, AJ Allmendinger with 94 and Dale Earnhardt Jr. with 91 points. Mark Martin sits at 11th and Jimmie Johnson is four points back in 12th.

In Saturday’s Nationwide Series Sam’s Town 300 race, for Mark Martin, a roll of the dice proved to be the correct preference. At Vegas, fuel mileage was a most important aspect all over again. By not pitting and stretching his fuel, Martin had gambled, which paid off.

Until Saturday’s Sam’s Town 300, Dania Patrick’s brief foray into NASCAR had mostly mixed results. Patrick and crew chief Tony Euro Jr. used a permutation of speed and strategy that gave her finest finish by a woman ever in NASCAR’s national series and earn her career best finish, fourth. Last-lap flat tire from leader Brad Kieslowski benefitted Mark Martin to a win.

As per various betting odds, the best overall odds for some of the NASCAR drivers are Jimmie Johnson11/4, Kyle Busch6, Carl Edwards7, Denny Hamlin8, Jeff Gordon11.

It is decided by the The IZOD IndyCar Series sanctioning body that this years’ IndyCar season will conclude at Las Vegas. Any driver not competing in the regular series, if wins this event, will be awarded with a huge jackpot of $5 million.

The odds of winning the $5 million purse are long. If it occurs, it will become the richest single payday in motorsports history. It is quite spectacular as a promotional gambit.

A NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race is scheduled for that weekend on Saturday. This would leave the NASCAR drivers free for the October 16^th race date in Vegas. However, it is highly unlikely that any of the Chase contenders will be willing to risk their status in the NASCAR championship stakes to do an IndyCar one-off. No matter how rich the payday would be, the fact is that even the drivers outside of the Chase will also be reluctant to try their hands into an unfamiliar race car.

However, still there are some hotshoes who may be willing to take up the challenge for this event. Here are three of the stronger candidates:

Simon Pagenaud - Along with his Highcroft Racing team, current ALMS shoe Pagenaud and former Champ Car driver has been rumored for months to make a switch to IndyCar racing in 2012. If it actually happens or not, depends upon proper funding. The rumors are that the team may shelve its’ IndyCar plans due to a lack of it. Behind the wheel, Pagenaud is lightning quick. To an aspiring team’s budget, $5 million would be a huge boost. You can’t count them out yet.

A.J. Allmendinger – Allmendinger could be one of the very few NASCAR drivers, who are likely to turn up at this mega event. If Dinger is not in the Chase come October, his primary goal will be to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup. This young Californian driver would be an ideal candidate for someone looking to make big turnaround. Allmendinger has got talent aplenty and he is winner in open-wheel.

Memo Gidley – Once raced for Chip Ganassi, Gidley has no fear on high-speed ovals. He has been behind the wheel of an open-wheel car for quite a few years. Gidley still keeps himself fit by racing everything and is currently racing for Team Sahlen in the Grand Am GT category. If he associated with the right team, he could be a serious contender for this jackpot event.

NASCAR driver and team owner Robby Gordon during his limited 2011 Sprint Cup Series season revealed that he would drive a Dodge. As the only Sprint Cup teams to run Dodges this year, Robby Gordon Motorsports joins Penske Racing, with drivers Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski. Penske will support RGM with engine.

In recent years, Gordon has driven for all four of NASCAR‘s manufacturers. For Junie Donlavey, Robert Yates, Jim Held and Michael Kranefuss, he spent part of his career in Fords. For Felix Sabates, Dale Earnhardt Inc., Buz McCall, Larry McClure, Jim Smith and Richard Childress, he raced Chevrolets. In Dodges, he ran the 2008 season, and then went to Toyota for two years. He raced Chevrolets, Fords, Dodges and Toyotas in consecutive seasons, during the 2006-2009 stretch.

Gordon has started 368 races, with that 1 pole, 3 wins, 16 top-fives and 39 top-10s. Gordon has never finished better than 16th in overall Cup points. This year, came Gordon’s opportunity to join the Dodge family, after Penske Racing dropped one of its Sprint Cup Series teams. When Sam Hornish Jr. lost his sponsorship, Penske decided to focus solely on Dodges driven by Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski. Since 2006, Gordon has operated his own team in NASCAR. Throughout that period, he has driven cars from all manufacturers.

Every Sprint Cup team, including Gordon, will be on the track Saturday at 1 p.m. to start preparations for Daytona 500 pole qualifying, while Friday at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., drivers who have qualified for the Budweiser Shootout exhibition race will practice.

In 2003, Gordon last visited Victory Lane in the Cup series, when he swept both road-course races while driving for Richard Childress. He spent time between off-road trucks and stock cars and finished 34th in the NASCAR points standings in 2010.

In the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Charger has announced that at the 41st annual Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals, he will be making his NHRA Full Throttle Series debut on March 11-13, at historic Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway.

In the ultra-competitive Pro Stock class in the Shell Dodge Avenger for Allen Johnson and J & J Racing, the 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion will be competing for one of the 16 qualifying spots. With Allen Johnson, Busch spent a good part of his busy offseason testing and with an impressive best pass of 6.576 seconds at 210.43 mph at Bradenton, Fla; he earned his NHRA Pro Stock license.

At the 2010 Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals, with a 6.537 at 211.53, Mike Edwards was the No. 1 qualifier. With a 6.601 at 209.10, Rickie Jones was on the bump. Busch’s 6.576 would have qualified him 11th.

Busch will get a total of four qualifying passes, two on Friday and two on Saturday, when he arrives in Gainesville for the 41st running of the Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals. For Sunday’s race, the 16-car fields will be set. In an effort to break into the field, Busch will have four qualifying passes to make. Since getting an up-close look at the sport in recent years, he has been eyeing drag racing with an increasing level of interest.

This season, Penske Racing’s Kurt Busch will join Coca Cola’s family of NASCAR drivers. Driving the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil machine in 2011, Busch pursues his second series title, therefore Coca-Cola will sponsor the 2004 Sprint Cup Series champion. On both his uniform and his Dodge Charger, he will carry the iconic Coca-Cola name, as he looks to extend his Cup Series victory streak to 10 consecutive seasons. As part of the relationship, throughout the 2011 season, and Penske Racing will be featured in Coca Cola’s in-store promotions and Busch will make promotional appearances on behalf of Coke.-Penske Racing.