Dario Franchitti, the IndyCar driver who wrote a guest blog on Boston.com this season, issued the a statement following the death of fellow driver Dan Wheldon on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“We lost a good friend. Everybody in the IndyCar Series considered Dan a friend. He was one of those special, special people from the first moment he showed up in IndyCar. And he was kind of brash, but he was a charmer. Then he became this loving family guy who was still charming, but he had this whole new side to him. I'm just thinking of Susie and the boys. When I think about them I'm struggling to hold it together."

By Michael Vega, Globe Staff

The Izod IndyCar Series, which made a return to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in August after a 13-year absence, will not be returning to the 1.058-mile oval in Loudon, N.H., in 2012.

Although they heavily promoted the MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225, track officials were sorely disappointed when they absorbed heavy financial losses and were unable to come up with an adequate solution in talks with IndyCar officials over how to best mitigate such financial setbacks going forward.

"Both sides had hoped and intended to create a long-term relationship,'' said Jerry Gappens, NHMS executive vice president and general manager, "but unfortunately we could not mutually agree on an economic model that would make an IndyCar Series race financially successful, which it was not in 2011.''

Gappens said that despite the track's best efforts to promote the event, "[It] did not meet the expectations of corporate sponsorships and ticket sales,'' he said.

"Aside from the severe financial setback, we had great feedback from those who attended the exciting event,'' Gappens said, referring to the race won by Ryan Hunter-Reay. "I have a lot of respect for Randy [Bernard, IndyCar CEO] and the IndyCar staff, teams, drivers and everyone we worked with to bring open-wheel racing back to New England.

"I wish them nothing but success as they continue to build that product and brand of racing.''

Watch excerpts of NASCAR driver Tony Stewart's postrace interviews after he won the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Video provided by nascarmedia.com.

Lap 300 of 300

LOUDON, N.H. -- Tony Stewart, who fell out of the lead when he ran out of gas here a year ago, went to the front when race leader Clint Bowyer, last year's benefactor of Stewart's hard luck, ran out of gas with two laps to go. It enabled Stewart to win back-to-back races in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship with his triumph in the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Bowyer wound up finishing 26th, the first driver one lap down.

``I know exactly how he feels,'' Stewart said of Bowyer. ``It's a tough way to win it.''

Stewart vaulted into the Chase points lead after his victory in Monday's rain-delayed Geico 400 at Chicagoland Speedway to become the second driver in Chase history to win the first two events of the 10-race playoff.

The victory enabled Stewart's race team, Stewart-Haas Racing, to sweep the NASCAR events at NHMS after Ryan Newman won the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 in July.

Stewart finished ahead of runner-up Brad Keselowski and third-place finisher Greg Biffle, fourth-place Jeff Gordon and fifth-place Brian Vickers.

Lap 290 of 300

Ten laps to go. Bowyer stays in the lead.

Lap 286 of 300

Kahne pits for right-side tires and fuel. Drops from 5th to 23d, one lap down.

Lap 275 of 300

Twenty-five to go. Bowyer still in the lead.

Lap 270 of 300

Bowyer, it appears, is trying to stretch out his fuel to the finish. Stewart and Gordon have already pitted and are good to go to the finish. The race may come down to them if Bowyer runs out. Gordon has had to drop back to fifth after crew chief Alan Gustafson informed him of a pit road snafu with the gas can exchange that left him a little shy of fuel. So now he is trying to save gas as well.
The top 5: 1. Bowyer, 2. Stewart, 3. Kahne, 4. Biffle, 5. Gordon.

Lap 250 of 300

Fifty laps to go. Clint Bowyer is the leader, but Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon are hard on his bumper.

Lap 247 of 300

Kasey Kahne goes to the lead after Busch pits for 4 tires and fuel on Lap 246. Busch drops back to 26th, one-lap down.

Lap 242 of 300

Kurt Busch, whose car failed pre-race inspection, is now in the lead.

Lap 229 of 300

Earnhardt has flat tire, drops from sixth to 29th when he pits for a right front tire and fuel.
Race leader Gordon also pits for tires and fuel on Lap 230. He drops back to 19th.
Brad Keselowski, who inherited the lead, also pitted under green on Lap 231. He falls back to 21st.

Brian Vickers has cycled to the front as the race leader on Lap 235.

Lap 200 of 300

Gordon has now led 49 laps in this race. Strong showing by the 24 after they stumbled out of the blocks in the Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway and finished 24th in the rain-delayed Geico 400 last Monday.

Lap 178 of 300, Restart

Gordon reassumes the lead. Kahne running second. Brad Keselowski, running seventh, is the next highest-running Chaser on the track.

Lap 173 of 300, Caution No. 3

Carl Edwards gets into the rear of Roush Fenway teammate Matt Kenseth in Turn 2 and causes Kenseth to spin. An apologetic Edwards to crew chief Bob Osborne: "Relay to him [Kenseth] that I was truly doing everything to stop.''
The top four drivers on the lead lap -- Gordon, Kahne, Ragan and Martin -- all stayed out on the track as the rest of the field pitted under caution.

Relay to him that I was truly doing everything to stop

Lap 163 of 300, Restart

Gordon is the new leader.

Lap 157 of 300, Caution No. 2

Landon Cassill brushes the wall in Turn 2, deflates right front tire.
Race leader Jeff Gordon pits on Lap 157. Kasey Kahne has now taken the lead over Gordon.
The top 5 with 160 laps complete: 1. Kahne, 2. Gordon, 3. David Ragan, 4. Mark Martin, 5. Kevin Harvick.

Lap 135 of 300

Kasey Kahne passed Mark Martin in Turn 1 to take the lead.

Lap 123 of 300

Martin refuses to pull over for Kahne and continues to lead the race.
Five Chase contenders are among the top 10: Gordon (3d), Newman (4th), Harvick (5th), Jimmie Johnson (remember him? 7th), and Kyle Busch (10th).

Lap 109 of 300

Kasey Kahne is stalking Mark Martin. Interesting dynamic at work here, because Kahne will be leaving the Red Bull Racing No. 4 car next year to fill the seat in Martin's No. 5 car at Hendrick Motorsports.
The top 5: 1. Martin, 2. Kahne, 3. Ryan Newman, 4. Jeff Gordon, 5. Kevin Harvick.

Lap 92 of 300, Restart

Mark Martin takes the green in the lead and runs away with it. He has now built a 1.4-second lead over JPM with 95 laps complete. Ryan Newman is running third. Junior is now running 8th.
The top 5: 1. Martin, 2. Montoya, 3. Newman, 4. Gordon, 5. Kevin Harvick.

Lap 89 of 300

Mark Martin and Juan Pablo Montoya stayed out on the track when the field pitted under caution. Martin is being listed as the new leader. Montoya in 2d.

Lap 87 of 300, Caution No. 1

Debris brings out the first caution. David Ragan, driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing car owned by Red Sox owner John Henry, is the beneficiary of the Lucky Dog.
Field comes into pits.
Lap 82 of 300

Kahne continues to set the pace at the front of the pack.

Lap 70 of 300

Kasey Kahne remains the leader. Jeff Gordon, the highest-running driver among the Chase contenders, is running second. There are now seven cars running one lap down, and eight (start-and-park) cars out of the race: 43d, Travis Kvapil (10 laps completed), 42d, Casey Mears (19 laps), 41st, Scott Speed (23 laps), 40th, Robby Gordon (28 laps), 39th, Josh Wise (28 laps), 38th, David Stremme (32 laps), 37th, Michael McDowell (35 laps), and 36th, Joe Nemechek (38 laps).

Lap 63 of 300

Leader Ryan Newman in pits for 4 tires and fuel. Gordon pits one lap later. Regan Smith cycles to the lead, but pits on Lap 66 and hands lead to Kasey Kahne.

Lap 44 of 300

Newman, Kahne and Gordon have gained some separation at the front of the lead pack, building a 2.3-second lead over the fourth-place car of Vickers.

Lap 20 of 300

The top 5: 1. Newman, 2. Kahne, 3. Gordon, 4. Vickers, 5. Biffle.

Lap 10 of 300

Newman continues to lead the Sylvania 300. It's sunny and track temperatures are considerably hotter than Saturday's final practice session. The top 5: 1. Newman, 2. Kahne, 3. Gordon, 4. Vickers, 5. Biffle. Note: Dale Earnhardt Jr., who started 12th, is running among the top 10 in ninth.

Lap 5 of 300

Pole-sitter Ryan Newman has set the early pace. The top 5: 1. Newman, 2. Brian Vickers, 3. Kasey Kahne, 4. Jeff Gordon, 5. Greg Biffle.

Pre-race

Kurt Busch was livid when he went through driver introductions for the Sylvania 300, stood for the Canadian AND the U.S. national anthems and there was still no sign of his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge on the starting grid.

Evidently, it was late getting through pre-race technical inspection. It didn't roll out onto pit road until Natalie Turgeon sang the final strains of ``...and the home of the ... braaaave!.''

Naturally, Busch was not pleased. He shoved an ESPN camera and snarled, ``Get the [expletive] out of the way!''

NASCAR president Mike Helton was spotted before the race chatting with car owner Roger Penske on the roof of race control, where Penske was monitoring the race from the spotter's crow's nest.

Presumably, Helton sought out Penske to inform him the 22 was not in compliance with pre-race inspection variances and that's the reason it was late to the grid.

Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff

Dale Earnhardt Jr. signed a five-year contract extension to remain behind the wheel of the No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew car at Hendrick Motorsports through 2017.

By Michael Vega, Globe Staff

Cue: Theme from ABC's ``Wide World of Sports"

Spanning the garage area at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to bring you the very best NASCAR has to offer, we bring you the latest installment of ... The Exhaust Circuit.

We caught up with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Friday relaxing in the lounge of the No. 88 team's hauler at NHMS, where he sat with his Diet Mountain Dew driver's suit was unzipped down to his torso and the sleeves tied off around his waist like a belt.

It was then we learned a not-so-well kept secret about Junior that we'll share with you now:

He's a huge fantasy football player. Check that. He's a HUGE fantasy football player.

A fan of the Washington Redskins, Earnhardt has got NFL fantasy football fever pretty bad.

How bad? He's involved in no less than five -- count 'em, five -- fantasy football leagues.

When we caught up to him, we asked who were the quarterbacks on his roster(s).

``I've got two Vickies, and three Breeses,'' Earnhardt said, referring to Michael Vick of the Philadelphia Eagles and Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints.

Tom Brady, he said, was not on the draft board when it was time to make his selections.

When he was asked if he considered Matt Ryan, the former Boston College quarterback who is now starting for the Atlanta Falcons, Earnhardt was incredulous.

``MATT RYAN?'' he shot back. ``What's HE ever done?''

Well, Earnhardt was told, Ryan did help the Falcons defeat the Philadelphia Eagles last week in a game in which Vick was concussed (by his own guy, by the way).

Earnhardt shrugged as if to say, ``Whatever.''

Here's some excerpted comments that were left from our one-on-one interview with Earnhardt for the story that appeared in today's sports section of the Boston Sunday Globe on the five-year contract extension Earnhardt received this month from car owner Rick Hendrick to remain at Hendrick Motorsports through 2017.

On whether he was concerned about moving forward with Hendrick at HMS after winning just one race in his first 108 starts with the team:

"I would've been fine with whatever he wanted to do. I have a good enough relationship with him that I could ask him, `Hey, I want to ask you this question and I know that you're going to tell me the truth,' and he'd be honest with how he feels.

If he thought that he was unsure about doing another deal, he would've said so, and we would've been fine. I would've made arrangements going forward to do whatever I needed to do.

That's the kind of relationship we got, I guess, where I feel comfortable enough to say, `You're not going to hurt my feelings one way or another, but I want to stay. Let's be up front, if you want to do a deal, let's start working on it now.' ''

On keeping the negotiations low key to avoid a media circus that Carl Edwards was subjected to this summer during his negotiations with Roush Fenway Racing:

"Yeah, that's what we were trying to avoid. It's not a lot of fun, because you get asked about it and there's nothing to talk about or you don't have all the answers that the media wants.

It's just kind of frustrating because you don't know, you know? If he was completely sure he wanted to do another deal, we just wanted to get it out of the way and get 'er done."

On his reaction to Hendrick's joking comment that he would retire as a car owner if Earnhardt ever won a championship:

"He's getting pretty old, though. [Chuckling]. He's got to think about those things. I don't know, he jokes around but I'd love to be able to ... They've got a wall at HMS where they've got a little logo for every win they've ever had, where it was, the date and all that stuff. I want to put my name up there a few more times.

I just want to put my name up there more than that one I've got up there now."

On his relationship with Rick Hendrick:

"He's a good friend and I know that we're happy to be a part of each other's lives and stuff. But I know one thing for sure, he's made me a smarter person and what he teaches me today will help me make good decisions in my future.

I'll make smarter, clearer decisions because of my time being able to spend around him and being able to learn from him. That's a good thing to have.

You got to have those kind of people in your life. I'll be thankful for a long time coming later on down the road for having being able to learn from him like I have and watch him how he treats people and how he makes his decisions and how he pulls the trigger on some things.''

On why it's good to be Dale Earnhardt Jr:

"I'm pretty fortunate, and lucky, to have had the opportunity to race and do what I wanted to do for a livin'.

I grew up in the same house as one of the drivers who's the best that's ever been in a stock car and got to experience that. I got to drive for arguably one of the best owners the sport has ever seen. I share a shop with arguably one of the other greatest drivers who's ever been in the sport, with Jimmie [Johnson], and I just sort of kind of beared witness to all of it.

It's been a lot of fun.''

On why it's tough to be Dale Earnhardt Jr.

"It's not really that hard to be me. Not a lot of tough stuff to deal with.

You put a lot of pressure on yourself because you want to live up to and you want to be able to match and achieve the things you saw your father achieve and other people you've seen achieve that you feel you're as good as, so you put pressure on yourself to go out there and stay competitive and stay motivated and stay driven.

That's not hard. Every driver goes through that. I got it about the same as the other guys.

[But nobody has to walk in his shoes, though]

I think everybody would love to have the opportunity to do it for couple of days. But I'd rather be in my shoes than anyone else's.''

Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff

Ryan Newman hardly broke a sweat in winning the pole for Sunday's Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

By Michael Vega, Globe Staff

LOUDON, N.H. --- Pole qualifications for Sunday's Sylvania 300 were delayed for 51 minutes because of moisture on the track, leaving five drivers queued up on pit road at New Hampshire Motor Speedway waiting to make their qualifying attempts.

Among them was Ryan Newman, who was last in line to qualify.

Although rain threatened to wash out qualifying, which would have suited Newman just fine since he would've started from the pole position based upon his fast lap of 133,769 miles per hour during Friday's Sprint Cup practice sessions, Newman wound up making an attempt.

After Kasey Kahne knocked his Red Bull racing teammate, Brian Vickers from the pole, Newman needed just one tour of the 1.058-mile oval at NHMS to wrest the pole position away with a blistering lap of 135.002 m.p.h

"It took a little bit more for my tires to fire up as far as sticking,'' said Newman, who captured the sixth pole of his career at NHMS, after setting the track record (135.232) in July during pole qualifications for the Lenox Industrial Tools 301.

"That kind of scared me a little bit, but I ran the first lap just as I expected it to as I did in practice and it was enough to win the pole,'' Newman said. "Gladly so, because our car was typically quicker on the first lap, but not the second in practice. I was glad I got him on the first lap.''

When crew chief Tony Gibson radioed, ``Shut 'er down,'' Newman said he knew "that was a good sign for me.''

Kahne wound up going second fastest in 134.763 while Vickers went 134.648.

Chase points leader Kevin Harvick qualified sixth fastest in 134.354.

Dario Franchitti's car came to rest against the wall after a collision with Takuma Sato took him out of the race (AP Photo)

By Dario Franchitti, Boston.com Special Contributor

Editor's note: Through a special arrangement with New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Chip Ganassi Racing, two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti will blog exclusively on Boston.com throughout the IndyCar season.

Here’s an idea I’d like to try: Instead of reverting back to the order as it was at the end of the 215th lap Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, let’s revert back to the 118th lap, which just so happens to be the last lap I led.

Qualifying was great for us, and we started on the pole after two of the most intense laps I've ever done. At times we led by as much as 12 seconds, and by lap 65 we had put all but the top 12 cars a lap down. It's safe to say the Nikon car was hooked up, and the driver was feeling good about things!

If you were there or watched it on TV, you don’t need me to tell you about the craziness of the MoveThatBlock.com 225. It was filled with crashes – four involving eight cars, and that doesn’t count the final restart, which didn’t count. The controversial finish turned a botched restart in the rain into a final finishing order from the lap prior to the restart. That all led to a victory by Ryan Hunter-Reay and emotional responses from several drivers.

As for us, well, we had an incident with Takuma Sato on the 119th lap while leading on a restart. As we accelerated toward the start line, he was on the inside of me, his right front wheel was positioned next to my left rear, at that point he was in my blind spot. But he had a full view of exactly where my car was, and could react to any movement I made. I knew he was on the inside, but nothing more than that. Had I known he was so close, I would have turned to the right to get away from him!!

As it was, I did move down a couple of inches, not in any attempt to block or intimidate, but simply as result of the movement an Indycar makes in a straight line as result of stagger in the tires. Takuma was moving even closer at the same time, and with a full view of the situation, didn't react. This all happened in about a half-second!

He said something was in his eye and he couldn’t see briefly, so he didn't react, but we shouldn’t have been in that situation. It was totally unnecessary, especially when we had such a great car. But that's racing!!

It was the first time in more than two years that I’d had a DNF. I didn’t even know that until afterward, when I was told I’d gone 44 consecutive races – since Kansas Speedway in April 2009 – with a finish in each race. We’d completed every lap so far this season up to lap 118 of Sunday’s race, which says something about how strong the No. 10 Team Target car and crew have been all season – and for three seasons in a row, for that matter.

Not all was lost, of course. We’re still leading the IZOD IndyCar Series championship by 47 points with five races remaining in the 2011 season. We led 115 of the first 118 laps Sunday, and we’re still consistently fast and competitive. We’re still in good shape.

As confusing and confounding as the race was, and in spite of the two mistakes that were made by race control at the end, it was an entertaining show. Maybe not from my perspective, but certainly from a fans’s perspective. There were plenty of lead changes, lots of close passes, and all-in-all solid racing. It had controversy at the finish, and Will Power’s emotional reaction, which became the big story of the race.

All of us who race can understand Will’s frustration. They certainly never should have restarted the race while it was still raining, especially when the drivers themselves were telling race officials that the track was still wet and it was still raining. And none of us has ever seen an IndyCar race revert back to the order of a previous lap for the finishing order. It’s just unheard of.

But the best part of the weekend was the crowd that showed up at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and the type of fans they were. I have been gearing toward this race all season with this blog, and we got a nice reaction from the fans who showed up at the track Sunday. The great thing about it was that there were were hard core race fans mixed in with casual and new fans, the result was a great atmosphere and enthusiasm.

We even had fans who came all the way from Scotland, which was a thrill for me. One of them was celebrating his 50th birthday, and a trip to the race was his birthday present. That’s what makes racing so special for those of us who participate in it. To see someone really enjoy it and really follow it is its own reward.

I experienced great enthusiasm the entire weekend, and now we’re off to resume the road-course portion of our schedule at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. I only hope we return to Loudon next year and put on just as good a show.

Or, at the very least, convince someone that the finishing order should revert to the last lap I was leading.

Chris Jones/IndyCar.com

Ryan Hunter-Reay is all smiles after controversial finish does nothing to put damper on his victory Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

LOUDON, N.H. -- Nothing was going to rain on Ryan Hunter-Reay's parade.

Not controversy. Not chaos. Not even confusion about who should have finished where was going to put a damper on Hunter-Reay's victory in Sunday's MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which hosted its first Izod IndyCar Series race in 13 years.

And what a whopper it ended up being.

The controversy stemmed from the admitted wrong-headed decision by Brian Barnhart, IndyCar's president of competition operations, to bunch up the lead cars at the front of the field for a double-file restart two laps after the race had been slowed by the sixth and final caution of the day for track moisture on Lap 215.

Chaos ensued when the field came screaming out of Turn 4 to take the green flag and Danica Patrick spun in heavy traffic, triggering a multi-car crash that took out Takuma Sato, Ana Beatriz, Ed Carpenter, and Will Power, who was poised to gain some considerable ground on series points leader Dario Franchitti, the race pole sitter who crashed when he was taken out by Sato on the frontstretch of a restart on Lap 118.

Confusion then reigned when the race was stopped on Lap 220, then red-flagged, then called with the finishing order reverting back to the running order before the last caution, making Hunter-Reay, who was leading at the time, the race winner and Oriol Servia, who felt he had won the race, the runner-up and Scott Dixon, who felt he should have finished second, in third place.

"We never should have gone green,'' said Hunter-Reay. ``And I got those guys [Servia and Dixon] by a straightaway the last two restarts before that. So I'm not really sure if they were grasping for straws at that point.

''The issue is what was race control thinking when they went green in the first place?''

While he was angrily criticized, most notably by Power, who made an obscene gesture at race control as he stomped down the pits toward the garage, Barnhart took full responsibility for putting the drivers at risk when he was attempting to beat the rain by giving the estimated crowd of 30,000 a green-flag finish.

"When you're responsible for the safety of those 26 drivers out there, every time you go and give them a track condition, they're counting on you to make the right decision,'' Barnhart said. "Obviously towards the end of the race, with the attempted restart, we made the wrong one. And that's one of those things that just makes you feel sick to your stomach, when you do it, because you know after the fact, of course, you chose poorly.''

Dixon, for his part, felt IndyCar offiicials did their best to get the race in, given the inclement weather that was looming, prompting the start of the race to be moved up a half hour to 3:35.

"I was a bit worried I think around Lap 80, whenever we had the first caution [for moisture],'' said Dixon, winner of last weekend's race at Mid-Ohio. ``Because it felt like they were speeding the pace car up and we were just going to run to Lap 113 and call it a day. I was glad to see they got the blowers out and tried to get the track ready and obviously the rain stopped.

''That's what fans come to see,'' Dixon said. "They come to see racing.''

Servia, for his part, thought he was racing for the lead when he passed Hunter-Reay on the frontstretch just before the final yellow came out.

"I actually won the race,'' Servia claimed. "They went green and I was leading when the yellow came. They even called it in race control: Car 2 was the leader. He had second. He had a bad restart. I don't know what Ryan was doing.''

Said Hunter-Reay: "I really didn't know what was going on. As I hit the gas and wheels were spinning, I heard in my ears, `They're wrecking behind you! They're wrecking behind you! Caution!' before I even got to the start/finish line.''

It resulted in a controversial finish for Hunter-Reay, who captured his first IndyCar Series triumph of the season and fifth overall of his career.

"I don't feel like I have to validate that we won it,'' Hunter-Reay said. "I feel the issue with Dario and Sato getting together is a bigger story line than Servia in the rain, on an oval, leading 20 feet, or so he thinks.

"I don't think that's an issue.''

What was, however, was Barnhart's handling of the last restart.

"When they go red with five laps to go, they've got a pretty strong intention of probably going green again,'' Hunter-Reay said. "Because we're five laps from the end. It's pretty easy to parade for a couple of more laps and go checkered.

"I would have loved to have gone back racing if it was dry,'' Hunter-Reay said. "But we can't race the race on an oval in rain, unfortunately.''

By Michael Vega, Globe Staff

Ryan Hunter-Reay has just won the MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 when the race was called on Lap 220 after a controversial decision to restart after a caution came out for moisture on the track.

Lap 220, Caution No. 7, Red flag

Huge wreck on frontstrech of an ill-advised restart . Car owner Michael Andretti was livid when he tried to no avail to plead with race officials to not restart. On the restart, Danica Patrick, his driver, spun in front of heavy traffic. Will Power fell out of the race and was livid as well over the decision

Lap 206, Caution No. 6

We have moisture on the track. Hunter-Reay must be loving that development, as he's the race leader. Up to that point, he had been complaining of a tire vibration.

The Top 5: 1. Hunter-Reay, 2. Servia, 3. Dixon, 4. Hinchcliffe, 5. Power.

Lap 179

Race leader Will Power pits for fuel. He makes a 6.6-second stop. Takuma Sato goes into the lead.

Top 5: 1. Sato, 2. Hunter-Reay, 3. Servia, 4. Dixon, 5. Hinchcliffe, 6. Power.

Laps 165-167

Leaders pit under green. Will Power, who last topped off on Lap 101, stays out and is now the leader with 176 laps complete.

The top 5: 1. Power, 2. Takuma Sato, 3. Hunter-Reay, 4. Oriol Servia, 5. Scott Dixon.

Lap 119, Caution No. 5

Franchitti is out of race. The race leader touched wheels with Takuma Sato on a double-file restart on Lap 119 after the fourth caution of the race came out when Tomas Scheckter spun out of Turn 2 on lap 108 and collected Tony Kanaan's car. When the race resumed, Franchitti and Sato came around Turn 4 to take the checkered, but touched wheels, causing Franchitti to spin out and smack the inside retaining wall on the frontstretch. He had expanded his lead over Will Power by as many as 98 points, but saw it dwindle to 51 points after his crash.

Ryan Hunter-Reay is now the race leader.

Top 5: 1. Hunter-Reay, 2. Oriol Servia, 3. Scott Dixon, 4. Will Power, 5. James Hinchcliffe.

Lap 75, Caution No. 3

Moisture on the track. Drats. Light rain. Top 5 remains unchanged: 1. Dario Franchitti, 2. Takuma Sato, 3. Oriol Servia, 4. Ryan Hunter-Reay, 5. Scott Dixon.

Lap 72

Franchitti in the pits. Rookie James Hinchcliffe began the series of green-flag stops on Lap 70. There are 15 cars on the lead lap.

Top 5: 1. Dario Franchitti, 2. Takuma Sato, 3. Oriol Servia, 4. Ryan Hunter-Reay, 5. Scott Dixon.

Lap 57

We're starting to see some sprinkles. Because of a threat of rain the start of the race was moved up a half-hour.

Lap 55

Franchitti just lapped Will Power. It's a significant move, since Power trails Franchitti in the Izod IndyCar Series standings by 62 points.

Welcome to New Hampshire International Speedway!

We're 36 laps into the MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 and, after a pair of early cautions, pole-sitter Dario Franchitti has led every lap.

Mike Conway spun in front of heavy traffic coming out of Turn 2 on the first lap and skidded toward the infield, collecting the car of Graham Rahal, knocking both drivers out of the race.

Helio Castroneves, making his 200th career start for Penske Racing, forced the second caution when the race restarted on Lap 8 when he, too, spun coming out of Turn 2 and struck a tire along the inside retaining wall. Castroneves' right rear struck the wall, forcing him to the pits for repairs that put him 12 laps down.

By Michael Vega, Globe Staff

IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard met with the media before today's MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which marked the return of Indy car racing to New England for the first time since 1998.

But did it necessarily mean that the Izod IndyCar Series would be back at NHMS in 2012?

While attendance figures were likely to be less that what was anticipated, given the inclement weather that prompted the scheduled 4 p.m. start of the ABC-televised race to be moved up a half hour, Bernard said he planned to discuss the series' future at the track with Jerry Gappens, NHMS executive vice president and general manager, and Bruton Smith, CEO of Speedway Motorsports Inc., the parent company of NHMS.

"We're in this for the long haul, too,'' Bernard said. "If Bruton and Jerry want to try it again, and we continue to see growth, I think that's the most important thing we can do.''

The addition of NHMS to the 2011 IndyCar Series added a mile oval to the series that competes over venues such as superspeedways, short ovals, permanent road circuits, and temporary street circuits.

"We need these type of tracks in our series, to help us keep that balance where we can proudly say we are the most versatile race car drivers in the world,'' Bernard said. "So we want to work with Jerry and Bruton.

"We want to look at today, sit down and reevaluate everything and get our arm around the financials and marketing and promotion and how much PR we were able to get out of this, too --- ABC, as well,'' Bernard said. "We know that a 4 o'clock start is not the most opportune time for the locals and the live attendance, but what we feel is most critical is the later you go on ABC, the more households you're going to attract.''

Bernard stopped short of saying he was disappointed in the turnout. Bernard said former track owner Bob Bahre said a crowd of 7,500 turned out to watch the Indy Racing League's latest race in Loudon in 1998. It was down from 8,000 the previous year.

Track officials had expected a turnout of 25,000.

"I don't think we're disappointed, I wouldn't say that,'' he said. "We came in here with expectations of we wanted to see what we could do. Did we think we would have more? Yes. I'll say that. The fact we're significantly up from the last time, I think we're making progress.''

Asked if it would be more advantageous to move away from the two NASCAR Sprint Cup dates the IndyCar Series event was sandwiched between this year, Bernard said, "It's a good point, and that's one of the things we have to look at.''

Other issues Bernard addressed:

* IndyCar's TV contract extension with ABC through 2018.

"This is a very good deal for IndyCar as well as for ABC,'' Bernard said. "I think that says a lot that they're willing to do a deal for six years. It's substantially better for us, financially, as well as we believe there's a lot of new promotional ideas that can be added to this contract that will help IndyCar.'' Bernard indicated ABC would produce a half-hour prerace show before the IndyCar World Championship Oct. 16 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

* The delay in IndyCar's introduction of aero kits on the next-generation chassis being developed by Dallara.

"I know that the ICONIC committe 16 months ago made a commitment to have an aero kit as part of the new car for 2012, and let me tell you, I'll be the first one to tell you no one's more disappointed than I am that we're not going to do it [for 2012],'' said Bernard, who indicated the delay was based on deferring the expense of adding aero kits to the Dallara-built chassis cars to next season.

"We also have to look at the long-term future of the sport. We feel it's very important that we're listening to the team owners as much as possible on this one,'' Bernard said. "I don't want to see our car counts go from 26 and 27 down to 16 and 17 because of [the cost of] an aero kit."

Bernard indicated owners expressed concern about the capital outlay associated with ramping up to a new car while having to absorb increased expenses in tires and equipment.

* The successful shakedown of a new Dallara-built during an intial test at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, last Monday and Tuesday.

"We are extremely pleased with the results of our first test of the new chassis,'' said Will Phillips, IndyCar vice president of technology. "Everything performed as we expected in this initial shakedown. All systems were sorted and checked, and we look forward to our next test.''

Bernard said the car would have two other tests at Barber Motorsports Park and at Texas Motor Speedway, where it was expected to undergo a high-speed session. "Our goal is providing competition, entertainment and value for the fans,'' Bernard said. "Fans want to see track records and if we can't provide that, then we're not being what IndyCar is all about.''

By Michael Vega, Globe Staff

LOUDON, N.H. --- Tony Kanaan qualified third fastest for today's MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with a lap of 169.698 miles per hour. Dario Franchitti's pole-winning lap of 170.843 miles per hour knocked Kanaan off the front row, but it didn't prevent the affable Brazilian driver from motoring up on his scooter on pit road to offer his congratulations to Franchitti, with whom he was teammates for better part of five seasons (2003-2007) at Andretti Green Racing now Andretti Autosport.

Kanaan, who won the 2004 IndyCar Series title at Andretti Autosport after completing every lap of every race that season, found himself in an unfamiliar -- if not entirely uncomfortable situation at the end of last season: Out of a ride.

Kanaan, a perennial title threat who had come to be regarded as a mentor to teammate Danica Patrick at Andretti, was the odd man out when the team lost two of its four primary sponsors and was unable to find any suitable replacements able to pony up his $2 million salary.

Out of a job, Kanaan did the only thing he could do: pound the pavement in search of a new one.

And so, with his updated resume in hand and dressed in his best business attire, he went around Brazil, calling on the movers and shakers in the business world who were capable of helping him raised the $6-7 million needed to fund a competitve ride on the IndyCar circuit.

Kanaan's prospects looked grim when he was only able to come up with only $2-3 million, he said. It wasn't until he struck a last-minute deal with KV Racing Technologies that he cemented a ride for the 2011 season.

"We put a team together, literally, seven days before the [March 27] season opener at St. Pete,'' Kanaan said this week, during a press function at Muqueca Restaurant, a Brazilian eatery in Cambridge where he was joined by fellow Brazilian drivers Helio Castroneves and Ana Beatriz.

"So, I would say we've done a lot better than I really expected,'' said Kanaan, who entered the race at NHMS ranked fourth in the Izod IndyCar Series points with 283 after posting six Top 5s and eight top 10s, completing 1,360 out of a possible 1,483 laps in 10 races.

"I had to kind of reset my expectations when all that offseason drama I went through,'' Kanaan said. "First I went through a transition of `Do I really still want to do this?' or if it was a sign that I should actually [retire]. I said to myself, `If I really want to do this, I know I'm going to fight for it like I've always done.' The mentality was not expecting anything but I was going to have some fun.''

And having fun is something the fun-loving Kanaan has never been accused of before.

"The fun came with the good results, as well,'' Kanaan. "If you look at the level we've brought up KV right now, it's quite remarkable. I didn't put myself in that situation when that deal with Andretti and the sponsors happened at the end of October last year.

"I knew from then on, it was going to be hard to be a championship contender because, let's face it, the top three teams are Penske, Ganassi and Andretti,'' said Kanaan, whose best result this season was a runner-up finish to Marco Andretti at Iowa Speedway. "But it's not what I really wanted for me; yeah, I'm not winning as much, but sometimes you have to put in perspective of what happened and how I'm still here after going out and finding sponsorship in four months that teams had been looking for for years.''

Asked if KV was ready to become a championship team, Kanaan was pragmatic in his response.

"Not this year,'' he said. "I think, like everything in life, it's a build-up. What we're doing right now is we're building the team to the next level and to do that we're going to have to make some changes, so slowly I think we're building for the following year.

"This year? I'd be lying to you if I said I could win the championship,'' Kanaan said. "If anyone besides Will Power and Dario were going to tell you they were going to win the championship, they'd be lying to you.''

Kanaan said his goal was much more simpler than that.

"To win a race,'' he said. "Don't get me wrong. It's not like I have no expectations and wherever I finish, I'm happy with it. No, the goal is to win a race and I think this weekend is one of our best chances because of the car we had in Milwaukee and the car we had in Iowa.''

And if he were to win Sunday? In front of a strong Brazilian contingent of fans, as fellow countryman Andre Ribeiro did in 1995 in the last event staged by Championship Auto Racing Teams, Kanaan said it might move him to tears.

"To win my first race with KV, with the majority of the Brazilians around here, it's like winning your home race,'' Kanaan said. "I don't even want to think about it, but I always make fun of Helio that he cries a lot and gets emotional, but I think I would get emotional.''

By Nicole Auerbach, Globe Correspondent

LOUDON, N.H. – Before today, I’d never seen an IndyCar up close.

I’ve still never watched a full Izod IndyCar Series race. (Tomorrow will be my first.)
So when IndyCar officials offered up two-seater rides to media members, I wasn’t exactly the first in line.

Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff

DRIVING MISS NICOLE: Globe Correspondent Nicole Auerbach with here chauffeur, two-time Indy 500 winner Al Unser Jr, at NHMS.

It wasn’t the fear of speeding around at 150 mph or the chance of crashing that stopped me from signing up to do it initially; it was more the fear of the unknown. I had no idea how people even fit into the cars!

After encouragement from other media members – most notably my Globe colleague Michael Vega – I decided that wasn’t a good enough reason. If I was going to understand the sport and appreciate the IndyCar race Sunday, I needed to be on the track.

This afternoon, I went for a ride.

First, I put on a fire-resistant jumpsuit and special shoes. Then I pushed my hair back and put on a balaclava, which is like a head sock. Then the helmet and gloves.

My driver was Al Unser, Jr., a two-time winner of the Indy 500. I felt pretty safe, but after the way he peeled out of pit row, I did let myself worry – for about half a second.

The ride itself was a blur. I think we went around the track twice, zipping around those turns at unbelievable speeds. Al said he thought we drove about 140 mph.

We’ll have a video of my ride up on this site later today. (It’s great footage from our photographer Matt Lee, but I’m also using it as proof I survived the ride!)

By Dario Franchitti, Boston.com Special Contributor

Editor's note: Through a special arrangement with New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Chip Ganassi Racing, two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti will blog exclusively on Boston.com throughout the IndyCar season, with extra entries around the series' event at New Hampshire Aug. 14.

I’ve been writing this blog all season with an eye on one race, and now it’s finally here. I’m excited to compete this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and I’m happy to be taking you along with me.

But before we talk about this weekend, let’s talk about Sunday’s race at Mid-Ohio. My teammate, Scott Dixon, ran away with the victory while I finished second, so it was a solid 1-2 finish for Team Target.

From the test session before the race at Mid-Ohio until the final lap of the race, Scott was really good. He’s been fast all season, but he’s encountered some bad luck. On Sunday, he lifted his performance to another level. He didn’t make any mistakes and for once he didn't have any bad luck. He deserved to win, and I was very happy for him.

For me, second was the best result I could have hoped for. The No. 10 car wasn’t bad, but I never could get the balance where I wanted it. To finish second was absolutely as good as it could have been, so in that sense I’m very pleased with how it turned out and very proud of the entire Target team.

As I've said before, this is very much a team sport and from the guys who build the cars and do pit stops to the engineers who come up with setups and work with the great strategists to figure out how and when to pit. They all did another amazing job at the weekend.

It also was a positive result in terms of points, as we still lead the IZOD IndyCar Series championship, increasing the lead to 62 points with six races remaining. And Scott’s win further solidified his third-place position in the championship standings.

But it was a crazy race. Looking at it from the outside, it was fairly tame. But from inside the cockpit, it was wild. It was hot and humid, so the track was slippery. There were plenty of times when I was struggling to hang on. On the last lap, I got completely sideways. It was a tough race from a driver's perspective.

But now we’re on to Loudon, which means we’re back to a short oval after three road and street-course races. I haven’t raced NHMS before in an IndyCar, but I did race NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup cars there in 2008. You might think that gives me an advantage, but it doesn’t. There’s really no comparing Indy cars and stock cars, so I’ll be coming into this race with the same unknowns everyone else will have.

If you’re looking for a good comparison to what you might see this weekend at NHMS, there's a good video posted on YouTube (also embedded at right). It’s from the 1993 New England 200, so you'll have an idea of how exciting this form of racing can be at this track.

One of the best things Loudon offers fans is the ability to see 95 percent of the track from any seat. No matter where you sit, you’ll see the action. And it’s not just the IndyCar Series on track during the weekend. You’ll see modifieds and American Canadian Tour stock cars, along with our top support series, Firestone Indy Lights. It’s a weekend-long show, starting Friday with practice, continuing Saturday with qualifying and support races, and concluding Sunday with the MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225.

The first thing we’ll do when we get out there Thursday is do our best to learn the track. From there, we’ll start trying to improve the cars and get into the detail work of trying to make them faster. Scott has tested at the track, so Team Target should have a good starting base.

It’s going to be a typical short track, which means lots of compromises for drivers. We’ll have to hang on to it in places. There’s no banking, so it will be about throttle control and handling. It’s going to be a tough old place to race, and I anticipate a sensational show for fans.

This is a sport of details. The smallest things make the difference between success and failure. The fastest cars in this race will come from teams that have done the best with those details. But for the drivers, it’s going to be all about getting back on a short track and getting the bit between our teeth and going fast.

I’m looking forward to this race. It’s going to be a major challenge for all of us and great fun for the fans. I hope you’re able to join us!

By Dario Franchitti, Boston.com Special Contributor

Editor's note: Through a special arrangement with New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Chip Ganassi Racing, two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti will blog exclusively on Boston.com throughout the IndyCar season, with extra entries around the series' event at New Hampshire Aug. 14.

There is racing, and then there is racing.

After the race in Toronto earlier this month, I jumped on a plane and headed back home to Scotland for some vacation time – and some racing of a different sort. My buddies and I went sailing. Not just sailing leisurely as we normally do, but racing. Don't get the wrong idea here, though. It was just a local event, not the America’s Cup.

There is a group of us in Scotland who grew up and went to school together. Whenever we can, we get together, either in Scotland or in the States. Every year they come over for the Indianapolis 500, so if you ever see a group of Scotsmen at Indy, it's highly likely that I know them.

One of the guys in the group, my buddy Alan, has a boat, so sometimes when we’re all together we go sailing. It’s a good way to get away from everything. My first time on a sailboat didn’t occur until 2008, so I’m new to it, but I’ve fallen in love with it. It’s a great way to recharge the battery.

This trip was different in that it involved two days of organized racing. The first day took us from Glasgow to the start of the Crinan Canal. We then spent a leisurely day going through the canal’s series of locks and dams. They're pretty much all manual, so I got a pretty good workout in there. One of the guys who works the canal is a huge IndyCar fan; he was disappointed we didn’t have a race that night as he had the rest of the day off. The next day we raced from Adrfern to the Isle of Mull.

The entire race was about having fun, but after a bit of it, my competitive side came through, I wasn't the only one. The boys were very keen for a good result. It got fairly intense out there, and it was fast, which is right up my alley. I know what you’re thinking – 10 or 11 knots can’t compare to 200 mph. But it’s the same concept. And to be honest, 11 knots in a sailboat is honking right along when it's heeled right over.

Alan is the skipper, of course, since he’s been sailing since he was a kid. Stewart would adjust the main sail, and Scott was our spotter. My job was to unwind the rope on the jib when we were tacking. Bruce then wound it on the other side, and I would wind the winch to get the sail in the correct position. We had some pretty good teamwork going, but not quite to Team Target’s level yet. I definitely got a workout. If you ever watch the America’s Cup, you’ll notice that the guys who do that particular job are not built anything like me.

The weather was great for most of the trip. It rained for a bit, but nothing too bad, and we all had a great time. It’s my favorite part of the world, and I was with some of my favorite people in the world. When I was on the boat, I didn’t think much about my other form of racing. But as soon as we got back to the marina, my mind just switched. I was back into it and ready to get to Edmonton.

This happens to me every time I prepare for a race. By the time I get on the plane to go to the racetrack, I’m locked into it. Even after all these years, the excitement and intensity of it comes back every single time. This is my passion, but it’s nice to step away from it for a few days in the middle of the season.

Sunday’s Edmonton Indy was a rather weird race. We hadn’t been delighted with the car all weekend, and I was struggling in a couple of areas, so we made some changes before the race that seemed to help. It looked good early, but then on the second restart I made a mistake and lost two or three positions

Then I lost a ton more when E.J. Viso hit my teammate, Scott Dixon. Somehow I managed to slow myself almost to a stop to avoid him, and I was so lucky that nobody hit me from behind. I thought to myself later that it was ironic. If I hadn’t made the mistake on the restart, I probably would have been in the same position Scott was in at the time he got hit.

That's one of the strange things about racing. Sometimes it's about circumstance and luck. Scott has been very fast this year, but he’s had a ton of bad luck. Teams and drivers put all of their effort into minute details to get it just right, and then something that’s out of your control takes you out of contention. It’s extremely frustrating.

After that incident, I had some good battles with Tony Kanaan and Justin Wilson. I was held up for a bit, but I was able to save fuel. Then I was able to get the hammer back down on the Target car and came out of the pits in third behind Will Power and Helio Castroneves. I caught them quickly and kept trying to get past Helio, but he made no mistakes at all. Neither did Will. I could tell they were both struggling at times with handling, but they never made any mistakes. They both raced extremely well at the end.

All in all, it was not a bad day. Third place is a solid result. It’s possible that a short break between races to compete in a different form of racing was the perfect vacation.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s 15 mph or 200. The competitive fires are always burning.

Ryan Newman talked about his fuel strategy and how nervous he was as the race wound down Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff

Ryan Newman was the class of the field in his No. 39 US Army Chevrolet in Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 301

By Michael Vega, Globe Staff

LOUDON, N.H. -- OK, so Ryan Newman wins again at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, capturing the checkered flag in his No. 39 US Army-sponsored Chevrolet in Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event.

Why are we not surprised? The guy owns the place.

In his 19 career Cup starts here, Newman has won three races, including his first career Cup triumph in 2002. He's won two of those races from the pole position. And he's established -- and re-established, as he did during Friday's time trials with a fast lap of 135.232 miles per hour -- the track qualifying record in winning five poles.

And we haven't even broached the subject of his dominance in the last three NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour events at NHMS, which he's won in a row, all from the pole, including Saturday's F.W. Webb 100.

Funny thing is, Newman has never really found the flat 1.058-mile oval to be to his liking.

Not enough banking, evidently.

So, as Newman happily sat at the dais, flanked by crew chief Tony Gibson and co-car owner Gene Haas, I took the opportunity to ask if NHMS, which he said was never one of his favorite tracks, had finally begun to grow on him.

"You're going to put me on the spot,'' Newman said, smiling. "It's a great racetrack. It's tough racing here. It's really hard racing here compared to other racetracks we go to. Ask any driver in the garage, they'll tell you it's difficult to pass. [It's] probably one of the most difficult racetracks we go to. Track positon is important.

"Maybe I've had success here in the past because of our track position and our qualifying efforts,'' Newman continued. "I've always liked the banked racetracks. It's always going to be in the seat of my pants, that feel.

"Like I said, this is a great facility,'' Newman said. ``A lot of great fans, a lot of great things we've done up here. I enjoy it.''

But ..... it's not banked.

``I've always said that this track, you have to only take what it will give you,'' Newman said. "That's why I like the banked racetracks even more because you can physically push the car in the corner, it will stick. Here it's going to slide into the walls. It's like the wall is a magnet and the racecar is metal.

"You have to be on eggshells with the steering wheel, with the pedals, the things you do,'' he said. "Working around traffic, it's a demanding racetrack from that standpoint.''

As demanding as it has always been, Newman has managed to make his mark at NHMS.

He did so again Sunday finishing ahead of his boss and teammate, Tony Stewart, to deliver Stewart-Haas Racing its first 1-2 finish of the season after sweeping the front row during Friday's pole qualifications.

"It was a perfect day for the organization, for sure,'' Stewart said. "I'm curious to see what the record books show, but I'm sure Ryan is the only guy to get two poles and two wins in a weekend here. To do it in the Modified and in the Cup car today, for the organization to take the front row and get first and second today, you couldn't aks for a better weekend.''

For Ryan, it was made all the better by the fact he was able to take his US Army sponsor to Victory Lane for the first time. Even more special was the fact Army Col. Derik Crotts, who was retiring after 31 years of military service, was in attendance.

''This win is huge for us,'' said Newman, who became the 13th different winner in 19 races this season. ``I mean, it's the biggest thing. Our first one was special. The No. 39 had never been to Victory Lane in the Cup Series. We chose that number because of me.

"If you're ... what's the word ... .'' Newman said, stumbled on the word `superstitious.'

"Superstitious,'' Newman said, chuckling, ``then you've got a lot to fight against.''

Then, taking a self-deprecating jab at himself, Newman cracked, "That's polysyllabic, so it's hard for me.''

Easy for him to say, though.

"We had a lot to work towards for our first victory,'' Newman said. "But to get the US Army in Victory Lane, that was a goal we had way before the season ever started, for the soldiers, our sponsors, our team, our organization.''

But there was one other person to whom Newman dedicated the victory: his friend, Beau Slocumb, who died in April of cancer at age 26.

Newman became choked up when he pulled back the sleeve of his firesuit to show the bracelet he had worn all year in his honor of his late friend.

"I wanted to make sure that bracelet could remind me how tough life can be,'' Newman said. "What it can throw to you, sometimes to the best people you could ever imagine. That was something that's emotional to me. It's hard to talk about it because I know his family. I know his wife. It's tough. He was living with us.

"To see some of the things that he went through, to help him fight that battle, that was really tough for me.''

But, as Gibson was well aware, there was no tougher person, or driver, than Newman.

"Look, there's no neck here,'' Gibson said, pointing toward Newman. "It's connected. He reminds me of Cale Yarborough. He sits in a car, he's like this. He's a physical guy. He gives you 150 percent every lap whether we're five laps down, a lap down, 10th, fifth. He's physically and mentally in the game.

"Like I told him last week, there's nobody I'd rather have in my racecar with 10 to go if he can see the leader, because we have a shot to win it,'' Gibson said. "He went from seventh to fourth in a lap. We know when Ryan Newman is in there we have a shot.''

And if he's at the unbanked track at NHMS, then you can take it to the bank that Ryan Newman will give his team his very best shot at a victory.

End of Race:

Ryan Newman captured his 15th career victory in today's Lenox Industrial Tools 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Newman, who captured the pole position in record-setting fashion, finsihed ahead of his boss, Tony Stewart, who qualified second fastest.
Denny Hamlin finished third and Joey Logano finished fourth while Jimmie Johnson finished fifth.

Caution No. 10, Lap 240:

Jimmie Johnson spins in Turn 2. No contact with wall. No contact with drivers.
he drops to the end of the lead lap in the 33d position.

After a cycle of pit stops, Johnson moves up to 25th. Dale Earnhardt Jr., however, takes an outside-the-pitbox penalty and goes to the rear of the lead lap.

Caution No. 9, Lap 225:

Red Bull Racing driver Kasey Kahne takes out his teammate Brian Vickers on the frontstretch.

Leaders pit. Among them, Stewart, who voiced his concern about being able to make it to the finish on his fuel, radioing to his crew ``Are you sure?''

We now have had nine cautions for 40 laps.

The Top 5: 1. Clint Bowyer, 2. Ryan Newman, 3. Jeff Burton, 4. Greg Biffle, 5. Kurt Busch.

Caution No. 8, Lap 216:

Debris brings out the eighth caution period.

Leaders pit. Jimmie Johnson forced to return to pits because of a missing lug nut on his left front >tire. He is running 21st on race restart on Lap 221.

Joey Logano takes green as the race leader.

Lap 202:

Less than 100 laps to go and Tony Stewart remains the race leader. He has a 1.446-second lead over Kurt Busch, 1.8 over Carl Edwards. Jeff Gordon has made an astonishing climb from 34th, one lap down, to the 10th position.

With 205 complete, Gordon is now running ninth, 6.277 seconds behind Stewart.

Caution No. 7, Lap 184

Mark Martin blows a left rear tire and spins in Turn 2. He avoids heavy contact in heavy traffic and slides into his pit stall for a tire change.

With 195 laps complete, the Top 5: 1. Tony Stewart, 2. Kurt Busch, 3. Carl Edwards, 4. Ryan Newman, 5. Brian Vickers.

Caution No. 6, Lap 171

Jeff Gordon gets his lap back when Denny Hamlin spins and causes a four-car melee in Turn 2.

Gordon is now looking good. He's got a car that is handling well through the corners, with four fresh tires, a tank full of fuel and fresh batteries. He'll be heard from before it's all said and done, even though he's running 26th right now.

Caution No. 5, Lap 160:

David Stremme blows an engine, leaking oil in Turns 3-4. It was a fortuitious turn of events for Jeff Gordon, who was running 34th (25 seconds off the pace) because of battery problems.

Gordon dropped one lap down when he went to the pits for left side tires, fuel, and a new battery. He came back one lap later for right side tires. When the race resumed, he was the only driver who was one-lap down, meaning he was certain to get the lap back on the next caution.

Caution No. 4, Lap 144:

After race leader Jimmie Johnson pits under green for four tires and fuel, he gets the caution he needs to regain his track position (29th) when Brad Keselowski blows a tire and hits the wall in Turn 3. David Stremme was the Lucky Dog beneficiary and got back on the lead lap.

We've reached the halfway point and your new leader is Kurt Busch.
Kyle Busch, by the way, has returned to the track. He is running 38th, 75 laps down.

Caution No. 3, Lap 101:

Debris in Turn 3. Leaders pit, but Jimmie Johnson stays out and gains valuable track position to assume the lead. The running order of the Top 5: 1. Johnson, 2. Kasey Kahne, 3. Ryan Newman, 4. Jeff Burton, 5. Kurt Busch.

Caution No. 2, Lap 59:

Sprint Cup Series points leader Kyle Busch dropped out of the race when he blew a tire in Turn 2 and made hard right-side contact with the wall, causing heavy damage to his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota.

"Just blew a tire.'' said Busch, who vaulted to the points lead with his victory in last Saturday night's inaugural Sprint Cup race at Kentucky Speedway. ``One of them deals, I guess. Just working really, really hard to make up track position.''

Busch wound up being scored in 39th after completing 58 laps.

He was among five drivers who droppped out of contention in the first 60 laps. The others: 43d, Jeff Green (11 laps completed); 42d, Mike Skinner (17); 41st, Joe Nemechek (37); 40th, Michael McDowell (46).

Caution No. 1, Lap 30:

Debris in Turns 3-4. Leaders pit for tires and fuel.
Jamie McMurray stays out and takes race lead. The running order of the top 5 upon the resumption of racing on Lap 35: 1. McMurray. 2. Ryan Newman. 3. Brad Keselowski. 4. Kurt Busch and 5. Tony Stewart.

We're underway:

The Lenox Industrial Tools 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is underway. Ryan Newman, who won the pole position in record-settting fashion Friday with a lap of 135.322 miles per hour, led the first six laps of the race before allowing his car owner, Tony Stewart, to move to the front on Lap 6.

It's an absolutely gorgeous, cloudless, Sunday afternoon here in the Laconia region. A good day for racing. We'll get back to you with more as it warrants throughout the race.

By Michael Vega, Globe Staff

LOUDON, N.H. _ The number has always been 200. That's the number of NASCAR wins Kyle Busch set as his goal when he embarked on his racing career.

Now, at the ripe old age of 26, Busch is halfway to his objective.

Driving the No. 18 Z-Line Design Toyota fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing, Busch today captured his record-tying 49th Nationwide Series triumph in the New England 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, recording his 100th NASCAR national series victory in the process.

Busch's triumph, his sixth of the season on the Nationwide Series, tied him with Mark Martin for all-time series wins after leading the final 33 laps of the race.

"It's special regardless,'' said Busch, who finished ahead of runner-up Kevin Harvick and third-place Kasey Kahne and fourth-place Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the highest-finishing Nationwide Series regular. "To me, it's a great opportunity to be able to come out here and be able to race in NASCAR and for myself to win as many as we've won. That's pretty special.''

Busch won his first Nationwide Series race at Richmond in 2004, just 12 days after his 19th birthday.

Making the moment even more special was having Martin on had at the post-race press conference.

"It's pretty incredible,'' Martin said. "I remember seeing Kyle drive for the first time in a Nationwide car on a mile-and-a-half, I don't remember it was Charlotte. The way I recalled it was his first Nationwide race and I watched his first lap and it was like he had been doing it forever. And that right there probably impressed me as much as where he sits today.''

Dario Franchitti (left) admits some of the blame for this incident with Will Power in Sunday's Toronto race. (AP photo)

By Dario Franchitti, Boston.com Special Contributor

Editor's note: Through a special arrangement with New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Chip Ganassi Racing, two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti will blog exclusively on Boston.com throughout the IndyCar season, with extra entries around the series' event at New Hampshire Aug. 14.

The best way to sum up Toronto is with one word: madness.

I don’t know if there was one driver who didn’t have some contact during Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto, and I’m not sure that anyone left without being angry at another driver. It was a crazy race, but I’m pleased that we were able to come out of it with another victory.

From qualifying on, everything was incredibly close. The top four cars in qualifying were less than four-tenths of a second apart. For a 1.755-mile street circuit, that’s extremely competitive.
I ran fourth and then third during the first stint of the race. My turning point came when my engineer, Chris Simmons, pitted me early as my teammate, Scott Dixon, and Will Power and I were starting to get into lapped traffic .

Things got pretty mixed up three laps after that when a yellow came out. Some people stayed out, and as a result we were a bit further up the field than either Scott or Will. Later, Will and Justin Wilson passed me on a restart, and not long after that I got a run on Will on the backstraight. I had to brush the brakes just to keep from running into him.

He braked so deep going into Turn 3. That was pretty impressive, but because of that, he missed the apex. That opened the door for me and I went down the inside and alongside him. He gave me enough room going into the turn, but then he came back down through the middle of the turn. I was tight against the right-hand wall, which actually comes out a bit as you go through the turn. I could see Will coming down but couldn’t get my car out of the quickly shrinking gap.

As I said on TV afterward, I’m willing to take a portion of the blame for it, but I really believe it was a racing incident. Will had some scathing comments afterward, but I think it was a case of the frustration of having two DNFs in a row. If he looks back at the video, I think he’ll see that we were both at fault. If not, then there's nothing I can do about it. It’s not the first time two drivers involved in an incident have had differing views about it!

It’s not impossible to go through that corner side-by-side.I saw many people do it, and I did it all day with guys like Justin and Ryan Hunter-Reay. It was difficult to do, but it could be done. We just weren’t able to get it done that particular time.

But I do understand Will’s frustration. I certainly know what it feels like, and I hope we can talk about it before Edmonton and put it behind us.

After the crash, I started to make up some ground and passed my way back up to second. Then Graham Rahal and I couldn’t get side by side on a restart and got waved off a couple of times. It was just so difficult to come out of those last two turns side by side, as the rules require, because all the marbles made sticking the thing in the fence a real possibility.

In the end, though, it was a 1-2 finish for Team Target, which was massive for Scott and I. Target will have a huge presence in Canada in 2013, so a lot of Target folks were there. It was an important showing for us in a lot of ways.

But it was a mad race. Having talked to some of the drivers afterward, I know how angry people were. There was a lot of contact and a lot of temper.

Toronto is an intense circuit. It tends to lead to lots of crashes, but not normally to the level we saw on Sunday. It was madness. Because of the competition and the closeness of the cars and drivers, we’re always in tight proximity with each other.

Add to that the difficult conditions and the marbles and the trouble with the pickup on the tires, and we all had difficult situations out there. It took a good five laps after a caution period to clean the tires of all the tiny bits of rubber that build up on them under caution. As the green flag waved, you were skating around, especially on the concrete sections of the track.

You’re constantly trying to get as close to the limit as possible at Toronto without going over. When you go over the limit, it’s not a small problem. It’s a massive one.

But we managed to get through it and post our 30th career victory and increase our lead in the championship standings. The points lead is nice to have, but we just have to focus now on Edmonton on July 24. We just have to maximize what we do there and do our very best.

And we finished 1-2 for the team, which means Scott is driving extremely well at this point. In my opinion, he was the car to beat all weekend. The whole team was happy after this one and definitely looking forward to the next one.

As the season moves into the second half, the tension ratchets up. By the time we get to New Hampshire Motor Speedway next month, it will be at full intensity. Stay tuned.

By Dario Franchitti, Boston.com Special Contributor

Editor's note: Through a special arrangement with New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Chip Ganassi Racing, two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti will blog exclusively on Boston.com throughout the IndyCar season, with extra entries around the series' event at New Hampshire Aug. 14.

It was an interesting night Saturday at Iowa Speedway. We didn’t know what to expect because it was our first night race at the track. We didn’t know where the conditions were going to take us before the start of the Iowa Corn Indy 250.

We got into the lead from sixth on the grid fairly early with a three-way pass on Tony Kanaan and Takuma Sato, and from that point I felt quite in control. Marco Andretti did pass me once when I lost momentum, but we were quite OK otherwise. Nobody was able to get too close, and the car was great in the lead.

Then during the final pit stop we had a problem with the left front and lost three seconds. That allowed Marco to get ahead. My engineer, Chris Simmons, was going to make an adjustment at this point to correct an oversteering condition I had, but I called it off. It got worse in traffic and I was never able to close the gap after that and finished fifth.

When things are going well, it looks easy and effortless to the outsider, but it’s anything but. This race was a good example of that. When there’s one small mistake, everything can unravel. To win, it's a case of every single detail being precisely correct.

It’s very, very unusual to for the Target guys to make a mistake on the No. 10 car, but I made mistakes, too. The decision to call off Chris' adjustment was one. Then on the restart afterward I made a tactical error by staying on Marco’s outside. The extra distance I was traveling allowed Tony to get a good run and draft past me. I made another mistake when I was trying to make my way past those two. I shot up the track and nearly knocked down the wall, and my teammate, Scott Dixon, was able to pass me.

When you lead 172 of 250 laps and don’t win, it’s disappointing, but Marco drove a hell of a race, as did TK and Scott coming from way back to finish third. All things considered, it wasn’t a bad result.

Everybody is talking about points, since this finish put us alone atop the IZOD IndyCar Series championship standings, but I think it’s way too early to be thinking about points. I’m looking at it one race at a time. There's a long way to go, so it doesn’t make sense to be talking about points just yet, especially after Will Power crashed.

I almost got caught in Will’s accident. He'd had some issues early and I was coming up to lap him. I saw the smoke coming off his tires and lifted. I was in the corner behind him and couldn’t get on the brakes at that point because it would have upset the car. It’s a very delicate thing to try to avoid a crash when you’re in a turn. You can’t just hit the brakes.

I’m glad that Will is OK, because that was a massive hit. When something like that happens, the championship or race results really don't matter. Will's a great guy and a great competitor.
Now we move on to the next portion of the season, which has the street course in Toronto, the airport track in Edmonton and another road-course race Aug. 7 at Mid-Ohio. A few years ago the IndyCar Series changed the schedule to make it easier on teams. They broke the season into sections of similar tracks, placing oval races together and road and street races together. Now we’re going back to a road/street section of the schedule before we get to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in August.

The cars are different for those types of racing, mainly regarding suspension and brakes. And it’s different for drivers, too. I certainly train differently, and we’re beginning our preparation for this three-race stretch by testing Thursday at Sebring. I’m sure Florida in late June is going to be a shock to the system.

After that, I’m traveling to England for the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where I’ll drive a Lotus 38 that my racing hero, Jim Clark, drove to a second-place finish at the Indianapolis 500 in 1966. It’s owned by a very cool guy in Ohio who’s letting me play with it for the weekend.

If you haven’t heard of Goodwood, it’s an annual celebration of vintage racing that’s part hill-climb, part motor show and part garden party on the grounds of Goodwood House, the Earl of March’s ancestral home in West Sussex. It includes exhibitions and actual racing of classic race cars. This year the theme is 100 years of racing at Indianapolis, so you’ll see a lot of vintage Indy cars.

Scott is going along, too, and we’re both going to be driving his 2008 Indy 500 winner. My brother Marino also will be there, driving a Porsche 956 with his racing hero, five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell. That’s definitely going to be the highlight of the weekend, watching Marino drive that iconic Porsche up the famous hill at Goodwood.

I’ve got friends coming in for all over the place, so it’s going to be great fun. I just looked at the entry list, and there are drivers and cars from all branches of motor racing. It will be fantastic to see everyone and enjoy the racing and the cars.

I suppose I could have taken a break this weekend, but just getting invited to Goodwood is a privilege. It’s something I wouldn’t miss, and I can’t wait to get there.

See you after Toronto!