Autoweek Racing Weekend Wrap-up for September 9, 2012 — SPOILER ALERT

HOME   |   CAR NEWS   |   CAR REVIEWS   |   RACING   |   AUTO SHOWS   |   VIDEOS   |   COLLECTOR   |   SUBSCRIBE Sunday, September 09, 2012                  Greg Biffle leads the celebration among the 12 Chase for the Championship qualifiers following the NASCAR... NASCAR Chase for the Championship field set: Time to pick a favorite Twelve drivers with a combined 192 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series poles and 318 wins make up the field for this year's ninth annual Chase for the Championship. Four of them have combined for 13 of the 17 championships since 1995. Half the drivers won Rookie of the Year honors. The field includes six Chevrolets, three Toyotas, two Fords and one Dodge. Hendrick Motorsports put four drivers in the...   Assentato, Segal clinch Grand-Am GT championship Second place was just fine for Jeff Segal and Emil Assentato at Raceway Laguna Seca. The two Ferrari 458 drivers finished behind Dane Cameron and Wayne Nonnamker but scored enough points to clinch the season championship in the Grand-Am Rolex Series GT class at the Grand-Am Rolex Series Continental ...   Tony Schumacher captures record ninth NHRA U.S. Nationals crown Tony Schumacher moved up some prestigious NHRA lists as he raced to a record ninth Top Fuel victory at the rain-delayed Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Auto-Plus at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis pn Sunday. Mike Neff (Funny Car) and Dave Connolly (Pro Stock) also were winners of the ...   Hamilton wins Italian Grand Prix; Alonso extends championship points lead Lewis Hamilton gave his championship hopes a major boost by scoring his first Italian Grand Prix win at Monza on Sunday when challengers Red Bull Racing failed to score any points. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso padded his championship lead with a third-place finish. Alonso now has 179 points to...   Italian Grand Prix win means a lot to Hamilton Lewis Hamilton moved up to second place in the Formula One World Championship points standings after bouncing back from his Spa retirement to score his third win of 2012 on Sunday at the Italian Grand Prix. Hamilton, who is now 37 points...   Podium finishers from F1 Italian Grand Prix break down the race Italian Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton of McLaren was joined on the podium in Monza by Sergio Perez of Sauber and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari. The three driver met the media following the race, and here is the official transcript of that gathering, as released by the FIA: PODIUM...   Alonso relieved to take third at F1 Italian Grand Prix Formula One championship points leader Fernando Alonso was relieved to secure third place in the Italian Grand Prix after a difficult weekend for Ferrari. Alonso had engine and gearbox problems on Friday and started 10th after a suspension issue in the third qualifying session on Saturday....   Vettel, Red Bull Racing see title hopes take a hit at Monza Sebastian Vettel was knocked out of his second race of the Formula One season because of a failed alternator on Sunday. The early retirement came on an Italian Grand Prix weekend that saw Red Bull Raciing drivers Vettel and Mark Webber struggle to find speed. Vettel left Monza fourth place in...   Sergio Pérez climbs through pack to finish strong second at Monza Sergio Pérez took a stunning second place for Sauber in the Italian Grand Prix after started only 12th on the grid. The Mexican was the highest-placed driver to start on the hard rather than the medium tires. He was able to find unexpected speed with them, and was able to run a long opening stint...   Former Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing COO Scott Roembke dies Scott Roembke, who was part of two Indianapolis 500-winning teams, died Sunday. Most recently he was chief operating officer of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, which won the 2004 Indy 500 with Buddy Rice driving. Roembke was the strategist on the car. The Indianapolis native started his...   Bowyer wins at Richmond; Gordon grabs last Chase spot in dramatic fashion Clint Bowyer won Saturday night’s rain-delayed and rain-interrupted NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond, where Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon secured the final spots into the upcoming Chase for the Championship. The 10-race, 12-driver playoff begins next Sunday...   Short-Track Roundup: Birkhofer king of the World 100 at Eldora Brian Birkhofer won the World 100 dirt late model classic in 2002, but didn't come close again in the prestigious Eldora Speedway event until Saturday night when he dominated the 42nd annual 100-lap event on the half-mile high-banked oval. Birkhofer held off Scott Bloomquist--the same driver he...   Edwards, Bell top large field at Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Co-drivers John Edwards and Matt Bell captured the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge on Saturday at Mazda Laguna Seca for the second straight year, while Derek Whitis and Tom Long earned another Street Tuner victory at the storied road course for Freedom Autosport. In a race where a ...   Citroën can clinch WRC manufacturers' title in Great Britain The factory Citroën team starts Rally Great Britain just needing to outscore rival Ford by six points to win an eighth World Rally Championship manufacturers' title. Citroën has enjoyed a strong run of success this season, claiming   F1 head says teams must work together to cut costs or risk losing teams Jean Todt, the head of F1's governing body, says teams must work together to cut costs and prevent rivals from being forced out of the sport. Earlier this week, Todt said that if costs don't decrease by at least 30 percent over the next three years, the sport risks losing several teams. "We...   NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout for Funny Cars postponed The NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout for Funny Car, scheduled for Saturday’s rain-delayed completion of the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Auto-Plus, has been postponed until the AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex on Sept. 22. Heavy overnight rains in the Indianapolis area ...   Sadler leaving Richard Childress Racing at end of NASCAR Nationwide season Nationwide Series point-leader Elliott Sadler confirmed Friday that he won’t return to Richard Childress Racing next year. With eight races remaining, he...   SCCA 40th Tire Rack Solo National Championships attracts 1,135 drivers The 40th running of the Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Championships concluded Friday at the Lincoln (Neb.) Airpark with the crowning of an additional 68 National Champions and 10 more winners in Supplemental Classes. The four-day competition hosted 1,135 drivers at the largest motorsports...   UPDATE with COTA statement: Kevin Schwantz sues Circuit of the Americas over MotoGP agreement Kevin Schwantz, the 1993 world champion and American Motorcycle Association hall of famer, has filed a suit against the Circuit of the Americas, the under-construction track near Austin, Texas that is scheduled to hold its first Formula One race in November. Schwantz's suit, filed in Travis...   Harvick rolls to Nationwide Series win at Richmond Second-running Kevin Harvick jumped ahead when Kurt Busch rooted a slower car aside, and that high-side move helped Harvick get an easy win in Friday night's Virginia College Savings Nationwide Series 250 at Richmond International Raceway. Despite a 12th-place finish that could have been much worse,...   Villeneuve and Verstappen to share Porsche in street-circuit race Ex-Formula One drivers Jacques Villeneuve and Jos Verstappen have accepted invitations to share a Porsche 911 GT3-R in a street race during the weekend of Oct. 27-28 in Baku, the national capital of Azerbaijan. Comprising two sprint races on the Saturday and a one-hour feature race on the Sunday,...   New GP3 car unveiled at Monza Bruno Michel, the promoter of the GP2 and GP3 Formula One 'feeder' series, publicly launched a much more powerful next-generation GP3 single-seater at Monza ahead of this weekend's Italian Grand Prix. Next season's “spec” GP3/13 car, manufactured in Italy by Dallara Automobili, will...   JR Motorsports parts ways with competition director Tony Eury Sr. JR Motorsports and competition director Tony Eury Sr. have parted ways, effective immediately. Eury Sr., known as "Pops" throughout the industry, is team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s uncle. General manager Kelley Earnhardt-Miller said Friday the decision to split with Eury Sr. came during a...   F1 team representatives discuss speed, 2014 and the future of covered cockpits Formula One team representatives Franz Tost (Toro Rosso), Pat Fry (Ferrari), Eric Boullier (Lotus), Christian Horner (Red Bull Racing), Monisha Kaltenborn (Sauber) met the media on Friday in Monza. Among the discussion items in the meeting with the media were personnel changes, finding speed at...   Danica Patrick looking for competitive Indy 500 ride Danica Patrick said Friday she is still looking for an opportunity to race in the Indianapolis 500 next season-- if she can get a competitive ride. "I'd like to if it's with the right team," Patrick said at Richmond International Raceway. "If it's not, then there is no point for me. I feel...   Alex Zanardi captures second gold of Paralympics Who said race car drivers aren't athletes? Certainly not Alex Zanardi. The CART champion from 1997 and 1998 won yet another race at the Paralympics in England on Friday, capturing the 64-kilometer road race at the Brands Hatch circuit. Zanardi won by just a few inches, holding off South...   FIA wants Porsche, Audi and Toyota to join Formula One FIA president Jean Todt will try to persuade Audi, Porsche and Toyota—the three manufacturers whose LMP1 sports-car prototype programs are essential for the FIA World Endurance Championship—to enter Formula One. He revealed his intentions in Monza ahead of this weekend's F1 Italian...   NASCAR says rear-end rule change is really just a rules ‘reminder’ When is a “rule adjustment” not technically a “rule change?” When NASCAR calls it a “rules reminder,” that’s when. But starting next weekend in Chicago, the “adjustment” will become a “change.” On Friday, at Richmond...   Podium finishers talk about a crazy F1 race in Belgium Belgian Grand Prix podium finishers Jenson Button (McLaren), Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing) and Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) met the media following the race on Sunday. Here is the complete transcript of that press conference, as released by FIA: PODIUM INTERVIEW (conducted by... 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. Please DO NOT reply to this e-mail. You will not receive a reply if you use this e-mail address. Crain Communications, 1155 Gratiot Ave. Detroit, MI 48207.