Autoweek Racing Weekend Wrap-up for September 23, 2012 — SPOILER ALERT

HOME   |   CAR NEWS   |   CAR REVIEWS   |   RACING   |   AUTO SHOWS   |   VIDEOS   |   COLLECTOR   |   SUBSCRIBE Denny Hamlin celebrates with his crew after winning in Loudon, N.H., on Sunday.... Hamlin backs up talk with Chase win at New Hampshire It's been a long time--too long for his memory--since Jeff Gordon has driven a race car as dominant as Denny Hamlin's was Sunday afternoon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. If the Sylvania 300 had been a heavyweight fight, the ref would have stopped the one-sided carnage after, say, 100 miles. That's around when Hamlin took the lead for the first of four times en route to a ridiculously easy win...   Vettel back in F1 championship picture after win in Singapore Sebastian Vettel put his world championship title hopes back on track with victory in the Singapore Grand Prix--but only after a gearbox failure cost Lewis Hamilton the lead. Points leader Fernando Alonso overcame a difficult weekend to claim third, and the Ferrari driver leads the championship...   Brown scores fifth Top Fuel triumph of NHRA season; Tasca, Allen Johnson also win at Dallas Antron Brown raced to his fifth Top Fuel victory of the season on Sunday at the AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals at the famed all-concrete Texas Motorplex near Dallas. Bob Tasca (Funny Car) and Allen Johnson (Pro Stock) also were winners at the second of six playoff events in the NHRA Full Throttle...   Chevrolet sweeps World Touring Car Championship at Sonoma Despite an utter absence of promotion out of the San Francisco area, a not-terrible crowd watched Chevrolet sweep both of the World Touring Car Championship races at Sonoma Speedway Sunday. Chevrolet Cruze driver and series champion Yvan Muller won the first race, and teammate Robert Huff won the...   Vettel, Button and Alonso meet the media following Singapore GP Singapore Grand Prix podium finishers Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso met the media following the race on Sunday. Here is the transcript of that press conference, as provided by the FIA: Press Information PODIUM INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Eddie Jordan) ...   Alonso closer to F1 championship after strong showing in Singapore Fernando Alonso kept himself firmly in the lead of the Formula One points lead with a typically canny drive in Singapore, bringing his Ferrari home in third place. Alonso lost 10 points to winner Sebastian Vettel, who he now leads by 194 points to 165, but he gained ground on fellow title rivals...   Schumacher given 10-place grid penalty for Japanese GP; Webber also penalized Michael Schumacher has been given another 10-place grid penalty for the Japanese Grand Prix, following a spectacular collision with Jean-Eric Vergne in Singapore. Schumacher admitted he had made a mistake, and the stewards took into account the fact that it was the second similar offense this...   Vettel finally notches second F1 win of season Sebastian Vettel has moved into second place in the world championship after the Red Bull driver logged just his second win of 2012 in Singapore. The defending Formula One champion is 29 points behind leader Fernando Alonso, which is actually closer than he was with six races to go in 2010, when he ...   Short-Track Roundup: Busy Kyle Larson takes New Hampshire, Eldora by storm Kyle Larson's short-track legend grew a little more Saturday. Larson's day started at New Hampshire Motor Speedway where he held off Corey LaJoie in a last-lap drag race to the checkered flag to win the G-Oil 100 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East stock car race. It was Larson's second victory of the...   Several NASCAR Cup drivers have eyes on 2013 Furniture Row ride With Regan Smith saying he almost certainly won't return to the No. 78 Chevrolet next season, several underemployed Sprint Cup drivers suddenly have some hope. Kurt Busch and Brian Vickers, in particular, likely will be the leading candidates to replace Smith in the Furniture Row-sponsored car...   Scott Tucker claims two titles, turns record lap in SCCA Runoffs at Road America Six more national champions were crowned Saturday at the 49th SCCA National Championship Runoffs at Road America. Among the day's highlights: four of the six races were decided by less than one second; The GT-Lite race had the third closest finish in SCCA Runoffs history when Kent Prather, of...   John Force wins Traxxas Nitro Funny Car Shootout; top qualifiers set in Texas John Force raced to the $100,000 victory in the Traxxas Nitro Shootout Saturday at the AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex near Dallas. Force edged Shootout top seed Ron Capps in the final round of the big money specialty race that featured eight Funny Car winners from the 17-race...   Pole sitter Austin Dillon rolls to Nationwide Series win at Kentucky In the first NASCAR Nationwide Series race to be held during the day at Kentucky Speedway, Austin Dillon returned to the site of his first career NNS victory earlier this year to double up with what is now his second series win, capturing Saturday's Kentucky 300. Dillon, who started the race ...   Edmonton not on 2013 IndyCar schedule The Edmonton IndyCar race has folded. Promoter Octane Motorsports said Friday that it won't stage the race the next year, and city officials said they won't search for a replacement promoter. The decisions leave Toronto as IndyCar's lone...   F1 extends deal to race in Singapore through 2017 The Singapore Grand Prix will stay on the Formula One calendar through 2017 after an agreement was struck between the national government and F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone. The two parties made a joint announcement on Saturday, after long negotiations over the price of the hosting rights for a...   Doug Coby wins Whelen Modified 100; Kyle Larson claims second NASCAR K&N Series win Doug Coby didn't have to drive like “a big jerk” (his term, not ours) to win Saturday afternoon's Whelen Modified 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. And Kyle Larson played it straight, too, in winning the track's K&N Pro Series 100 in a photo-finish on a splendid fall day in New...   South Africa missing from provisional 2013 F1 schedule The projected revival of the Formula One South African Grand Prix appears to have stalled due to a lack of political commitment in the nation. Last year, the Cape Town Grand Prix Bid Co. (CTGP) was talking confidently in terms of an event in 2013, but despite the evident wishes of Formula One group ...   James Buescher sweeps Truck Series races at Kentucky James Buescher made it 2-for-2 for 2012 at Kentucky Speedway, stretching his fuel window for 53 laps to capture Friday night's Kentucky 201 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. Buescher, who first won at the 1.5-mile track in Sparta, Ky., back on June 28, captured his fourth overall win...   McLaren head says Hamilton contract issues will not affect performance The contract negotiations between Formula One team McLaren and Lewis Hamilton won't dampen the English driver's quest to win the title, according to team principal Martin Whitmarsh. There's been speculation that Hamilton may   Field taking shape for Late Model race at Daytona; other NASCAR notes Ten drivers have been assured of spots in the inaugural Late Model race during the crowded Speed Week '13 program at Daytona International Speedway. NASCAR will mark off a 2/5-mile track behind Lake Lloyd, using part of the superspeedway backstretch and completing the oval on the paved...   SCCA crowns eight national champions at Road America Eight national champions were crowned on Thursday at the 49th SCCA National Championship Runoffs at Road America at Elkhart Lake, Wisc., and five more drivers earned poles for races to be held this weekend. Here's a wrap-up of Thursday's SCCA action: Buttermore wins back-to-back T1... CLICK HERE TO UNSUBSCRIBE from the Autoweek Weekend Racing E-mails or to sign up for other Autoweek e-mail products. IMPORTANT: Please add Autoweek.com to your E-mail Address Book to ensure you will continue to receive our newsletters. 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