Who’s Hot / Who’s Not

Both the NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series were off this weekend, but there was no shortage of action as the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series headed to Darlington Raceway for the Too Tough To Tame 200.

Kasey Kahne dominated the event, winning the race by 1.116 sec. over second-place Ron Hornaday, Jr. Todd Bodine finished third, Matt Crafton was fourth, and James Buescher rounded out the top 5.

Crafton’s top 5 run allowed him to retain the points lead, leading by six points over second-place Cole Whitt. Timothy Peters moved up two spots in the standings after finishing sixth and is now seven points out of the lead. Clay Rogers dropped two positions to fourth while Johnny Sauter rounds out the top 5.

While the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series enjoyed a week off, both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series were back in action again this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the Sam’s Town 300 and the Kobalt Tools 400, respectively.

Mark Martin used fuel strategy to his advantage to pull off the Nationwide Series win, beating out Justin Allgaier by a margin of victory of 1.221 seconds. 2010 Nationwide Series champion Brad Keselowski finished third, while Danica Patrick recorded the highest finishing position for a female driver in the history of NASCAR in the fourth position. 2011 Daytona 500 Champion Trevor Bayne rounded out the top 5.

For the first time this year, the winner of the race was actually eligible for points … in the Sprint Cup Series at least. Jeff Gordon broke a 66-race winless streak, whilst keeping Kyle Busch from sweeping another weekend (he became the first driver to sweep an entire weekend across all three national series last August at Bristol Motor Speedway). Busch finished second and holds a three-point advantage over brother Kurt heading into their hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Reed Sorenson gained control of the Nationwide Series standings after finishing fifth in the Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 since Landon Cassill was without a ride this weekend. He has a five point advantage over second place Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.

_Unpredictable. That one word sums up the entire Daytona weekend, from the photo finishes in the Camping World Truck and Nationwide Series races to Trevor Bayne scoring his first NASCAR victory—in any of NASCAR’s top three series—to win the Daytona 500 at just 20 years old, the youngest 500 winner in the race’s 53-year history._

_But while Bayne will most definitely be taking the spotlight this week—and he should!—other drivers had runs worth mentioning (or worrying about) that you may not have noticed in all the excitement. So, without further ado … here’s this week’s edition of Who’s Hot and Who’s Not around the NASCAR circuit._

Saturday night’s Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway marked the unofficial start to the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, and already we have some controversy. After a record-breaking 28 lead changes (the previous record was 24 in 2009), this race’s final lap came down to a four-car shootout between Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, and Denny Hamlin. Busch, Hamlin, and Newman crossed the start/finish line three-wide, with Hamlin crossing first but Busch being awarded the victory after NASCAR determined Hamlin made an illegal pass below the yellow line.

Daytona 500 qualifying was also held over the weekend, and while starting positions don’t typically mean much to the race, cars were back on track and after the offseason that’s all fans want, right?!