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Budapest, Hungary - Rookie Lewis Hamilton led every lap while capturing the Grand Prix of Hungary at the Hungaroring in Budapest. The No.2 McLaren driver crossed the finish line 0.715 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

The victory was Hamilton’s third of the season.

After Fernando Alonso was removed from the pole (dropped to sixth), Hamilton led the field off the grid for 70 laps of racing. Also dropped on the starting grid was Giancarlo Fisichella. He went from eighth to 13th for blocking Sakon Yamamoto.

On the start Hamilton immediately got away and Raikkonen slid past Nick Heidfeld for second place. Meanwhile, Alonso lost one place to Mark Webber in a rare poor start for the two-time World Champion.

Hamilton’s lead after two laps was already 2.4 seconds. He continued to pull away from Raikkonen as the early laps clicked off.

Alonso regained his composure and began the long fight back up the charts. He made a nice move around Robert Kubica on lap three and got right on the back of Ralf Schumacher’s Toyota.

Raikkonen finally began to cut into Hamilton’s lead beginning with a fastest lap of the day on lap six and again on lap eight, but he was still more than three seconds behind. Both drivers were well ahead of third-place Heidfeld as they approached the first round of pit stops.

Behind the two leaders, most of the top drivers pitted indicating that not only could they not keep pace, but they had less fuel on board and therefore were lighter. Alonso took about three seconds more of fuel than most, planning on a long second stint.

On lap 19 both Hamilton and Raikkonen made their stops and remained one-two after getting their fuel and new tires.

Raikkonen was closing in on Hamilton cutting the gap to just 1.5 seconds on lap 25 and 1.2 seconds one lap later. At the mid-point of the 70-lap event the margin was just 1.0 seconds.

Massa, who qualified a distant 14th and was using a one-stop strategy, came out after his stop just in front of Hamilton, but almost a full lap down.

Would he hold up Hamilton in an attempt to help his teammate Raikkonen?

The answer would come on lap 39 when he correctly pulled to the inside and allowed both race leaders to get by.

Hamilton and Raikkonen were still about one second apart and more than 35 seconds ahead of third-place Heidfeld.

On lap 47 Raikkonen pitted for the final time and put on the softer compound tire. Hamilton remained out and put in a a couple pretty good laps so he would have a bigger lead after his final stop.

Hamilton came in on lap 51 and after a clean stop he returned to the track with a 4.4 second lead.

Meanwhile, the longer stint by Alonso worked in helping him get past Ralf Schumacher, who he had been following for most of the race. Alonso only needed a quick fill on the final stop and re-entered the track ahead of Schumacher.

Hamilton and Raikkonen were working their way through lapped traffic and Raikkonen was doing it better, cutting the lead to 0.5 seconds with 13 laps to go. Heidfeld was still in third place and Alonso was up to fourth.

By lap 60 Hamilton and Raikkonen broke away from the slower traffic and it was one-on-one for the Grand Prix of Hungary. Slowly, Hamilton edged away from Raikkonen. With seven laps to go the gap was up to 1.1 seconds. It was still around one second with five circuits remaining.

Hamilton was mistake-free over the final laps and Raikkonen could never find a way to catch him despite setting the fastest lap of the race on the final lap.

Hamilton led all 70 laps en route to his third career win.

“With all the drama it would have been easy to lose focus,” said Hamilton. “But the team remained positive and the energy in the team remained which just proves there is nothing that can stop us.”

Heidfeld, Alonso, Kubica, Schumacher, Nico Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen completed the points-scoring positions.

With the win, Hamilton expands his lead to seven points over Alonso (80-73).

The next race in the championship is scheduled for Sunday, August 26th for the Grand Prix of Turkey.

Nextel Cup is coming down to the wire to determine its “Chase” competitors, but if you get up early Sunday morning the Formula One battle between McLaren and Ferrari might be the most interesting of the weekend.

NASCAR

Nextel Cup

Pennsylvania 500 - Pocono Raceway - Long Pond, PA

With just six races before the beginning of the “Chase for the Nextel Cup,” we are getting a better view as to the makeup of the 12 drivers who will compete for the title.

The top nine in the standings, headed by four-time Nextel Cup champion Jeff Gordon, appear to be solidly in and can prepare for the “playoffs.” The group also includes Denny Hamlin, 2003 Nextel Cup champion Matt Kenseth, Jeff Burton, two-time series champion Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick, lame duck Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Busch and 2006 series champion Jimmie Johnson.

Johnson is the lowest ranked of the group, but still holds a 265-point lead over the 13th-place driver Kurt Busch. Barring a complete collapse he is in the “Chase.” He will also get his crew chief Chad Knaus back from suspension shortly which should boost his performances.

The final three spots should be a fun battle to watch over the next month and a half. Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr. and Dale Earnhardt Jr. currently own positions 10 through 12, but Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Jamie McMurray and Greg Biffle are still within striking distance. Even “rookie” Juan Pablo Montoya still has an outside chance to make it into the “Chase.”

Juan Montoya “It was a great day and aside from the win this has been the best day for the team all season,” said Montoya. Montoya is 200 points behind “Junior” for the final spot, but is coming off a second-place result at Indianapolis, his best finish on an oval. Unfortunately in five of the six venues that are left before the playoffs, Montoya has done no better than 20th at any of them. The sixth location, Watkins Glen, is a road course where the former Formula One star will be one of the favorites. If Montoya can improve in his second visit to sites like Michigan (finished 43rd in June) and Bristol (finished 32nd) he might have a shot.

“It was a great day (Sunday at Indy) and aside from the win this has been the best day for the team all season,” said Montoya.

Still, the race is likely to come down to Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch and Newman for the final spot.

Of the three, Kurt Busch has been the hottest posting finished of third, sixth and 11th in his last three starts. By contrast, “Junior’s” last three have been 36th at Daytona, 19th at Chicagoland and 34th last week in Indy.

“We finished bad and that is no good with the points deal,” said Earnhardt Jr. after his engine blew at Indy. “I’m not happy about that, but there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Newman’s last three finishes are: 14th, eighth and a 42nd at Indy where a hard crash ended what should have been a good day. Newman qualified third and had hopes of gaining ground on the “Chase” group.

It’s unfortunate,” said Newman. “It was a pretty good lick into the wall and it ended our day. It’s devastating in more than one way. It just depends on how far we have to come back.”

In this week’s race at Pocono, Kurt Busch has the best history, with a win in 2005 and three top-fives in his last four starts. Earnhardt Jr. has failed to crack the top-10 in his last six Pocono starts and Newman has two top-10s in seven starts since winning in July 2003.

While Stewart is on is yearly summertime roll and might win his third straight race this Sunday, the most interesting “race within the race” should come from Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch and Newman.

Busch

NAPA Auto Parts 200 - Circuit Gilles Villeneuve - Montreal, Canada

The Busch Series will make its inaugural trip into Canada - to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. The 2.710-mile, 13-turn road course, which Formula One also uses, is a great place to race. And the preliminary entry list is also an interesting and eclectic mix.

Of course, points leader Carl Edwards will lead the usual NASCAR suspects across the border. He continues to dominate the series holding an 852-point lead after another top-five finish last week at O’Reilly Raceway Park. It was his 13th top-five (including four wins) in 22 starts.

Carl Edwards Carl Edwards continues to dominate the series holding an 852-point lead.

Other Busch Series regulars who will cross the border include last week’s winner Jason Leffler, David Ragan, Bobby Hamilton Jr., Stephen Leicht and Marcos Ambrose.

But there are also some interesting names on the list that are not commonly seen at a Busch Series race.

“Mad Max” Papis will drive the No.1 James Finch Chevrolet. Papis has raced in both Formula One and Champ Cars. Papis earned his nickname at the 1996 24 Hours of Daytona when he took a battered and beat up Ferrari 333SP and challenged for the win. In the end Papis lost by 64 seconds, but it was his “bravura” performance that people talk about to this day.

Other “open wheel” drivers in the race include: Michel Jourdain Jr. and Patrick Carpentier.

And if its a NASCAR road course race you know Boris Said will be there as well as Ron Fellows and Scott Pruett.

It should be quite a first visit to our neighbors to the north.

INDY CARS

Firestone Indy 400 - Michigan International Speedway - Brooklyn, MI

What once was a “six-horse race” has been whittled down to just two. Dario Franchitti leads the IndyCar Series championship by posting three wins and 12 top-sevens in 12 starts. His stellar start to 2007 has earned him a 24-point lead over Scott Dixon and 111 points over third place Tony Kanaan, both former series champions.

Normally Dixon’s performance would be enough to win the series (three wins and 11 top-10s). Even Franchitti admitted last week that Dixon’s performance at Mid-Ohio was top-notch.

Dario Franchitti “We finished in second place, but unfortunately Dixon was in front of us again,” said Franchitti.

“We finished in second place, but unfortunately Dixon was in front of us again,” said Franchitti. “He really drove a great race…I know it’s going to be a fight until the end for the championship, but I wasn’t expecting anything else.”

Now it is on to the two-mile, high-speed oval in Brooklyn, MI. Helio Castroneves is the defending champion. He took the lead following the final round of pit stops and was never challenged as the laps dwindled. The win propelled him into the points lead, but he couldn’t hold off his teammate Sam Hornish Jr., who eventually won the title.

Michigan International Speedway has been the site of many a close IndyCar finish. In 2005 Bryan Herta beat Dan Wheldon by 0.0374 seconds and in 2004 Buddy Rice edged Tony Kanaan by 0.0796 seconds. But the closest race in MIS history was the 2003 race which saw Alex Barron nose out Hornish Jr. by just 0.0121 seconds.

The Barron/Hornish Jr. finish was the seventh closest all-time. Though Hornish Jr. lost that one, he is the “Master of the Close Finish” winning three times by less than 0.0099 seconds including the all-time record - the famous 0.0024- second win over Al Unser Jr. at the Chicagoland Speedway in September 2002.

FORMULA ONE

Grand Prix of Hungary - Hungaroring - Budapest, Hungary

While NASCAR gets all the headlines in the United States, there is a great championship race going on in Formula One. It features two teams - Ferrari and McLaren and the best performance by a rookie in the history of F1.

The rookie is Lewis Hamilton of McLaren and he leads his teammate and two-time defending World Champion Fernando Alonso in the championship. Behind them are Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen.

The race is close both on and off the track.

On the track, Hamilton leads Alonso by two points, Massa by 11 points and Raikkonen by just 18 points. McLaren drivers own five wins and 20 top-10s while the Ferrari pair have won five times with 17 top-10s.

Lewis Hamilton Lewis Hamilton leads Alonso by two points, Massa by 11 points.

Ferrari and McLaren have also been involved in an ongoing off-the-track incident where a disgruntled Ferrari employee (allegedly Nigel Stepney) gave McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan a 780-page document of information on the Ferrari.

In a ruling last week, the World Motorsport Council refused to penalize McLaren saying that despite the Council’s findings that McLaren had indeed breached the International Sporting Code there was “insufficient evidence” that the information was ever used.

Ferrari has continued to press the issue and on Tuesday FIA President Max Mosley referred the case to the Court of Appeal.

In last year’s race Jenson Button surprised the world with his first and only Formula One win. Button beat Pedro de la Rose by more than 30 seconds as championship leaders Alonso and Michael Schumacher finished well down in the standings.

“Wow, what a day, its been amazing,” said Button. “Its nice to see that we’ve got a car that can win races. The team deserved this, they worked so hard.”

Button finished the year with five more points-scoring finishes, but this year has scored just one point - an eighth-place finish in the French Grand Prix.

The race should be another close fight between the four points leaders.

“It was great to take the win in Germany and I hope to achieve the same result in Hungary,” said Alonso. “I have some good memories from this track, as I took my first F1 victory in Hungary; however last year was not so good!”

Expect a great effort from Alonso as he continues to pressure his teammate for the points lead.

Budapest, Hungary - Formula One team Scuderia Toro Rosso let American Scott Speed go and replaced him with Sebastien Vettel beginning this weekend at the Grand Prix of Hungary.

Speed had yet to score a point this season or last and in 28 career starts his best finish was a ninth-place finish in Monaco.

Vettel, 20, was the test driver for BMW Sauber and as a replacement for an injured Robert Kubica earned one championship point at the United States Grand Prix with an eighth-place finish.

“As our test and reserve driver Sebastian has carried out sterling work for us,” said BMW team chief Mario Theissen. “We have sponsored and coached Sebastian over a number of years. To place obstacles in his career path now would go against our concept of talent promotion.”

It’s been a tough year for America and its relationship with Formula One. First the U.S.G.P. was dropped from the 2008 schedule and now the only American driver has been cut.

Indianapolis, IN - Tony Stewart won Sunday’s Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. The No.20 Home Depot Chevrolet driver took the checkered flag 2.982-seconds ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya.

Graffiti Wall reports the victory was Stewart’s second in a row, second of the season and 31st of his Nextel Cup career.

Reed Sorenson led the field to the green flag to begin 160 high-speed laps at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was a clean start and Sorenson led the first lap as has every pole winner since they started coming here in 1994.

On the move early on was Indiana native Stewart, who started 14th, but cracked the top-five in the first 10 laps. By lap 15 he was third behind Sorenson and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

When Jeff Green spun on lap 16 Stewart’s pit crew helped their driver gain the final two spots and put the 2005 winner into the lead.

On the restart, “Junior” was all over Stewart and as they reached the front straight he made the move to the inside for the lead. Just after the pass Ryan Newman slammed the wall to bring out a second caution flag.

Earnhardt Jr. opened his lead up to two seconds as the field passed the 30-lap mark. The lead hovered around two seconds as Earnhardt Jr. and Stewart exchanged fastest laps.

Then on lap 40 Kasey Kahne clipped the corner of Tony Raines and both drivers spun to bring out another caution flag.

On lap 47 defending champion Jimmie Johnson got into Jamie McMurray and their spin collected Scott Riggs, 2002 Brickyard winner Bill Elliott and Ricky Rudd.

When the race finally restarted Stewart got around Earnhardt Jr., but once again a crash interrupted the flow of the race. Then again on lap 62 Johnson slammed the wall and this time the No.48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet burst into flames to end his day.

“The hit wasn’t too bad, but the flames had me nervous,” said Johnson, who quickly pulled his car onto the infield. “I could feel the right-side of my face getting hot.”

On the third of the three incidents, the field strategies split. Six drivers including new leader Kyle Busch stayed out and inherited the top-six spots on the track. Montoya took fuel only and was the first of the pitting cars to return to the track in sixth and Stewart (two tires) came out seventh.

Another caution flag and those that hadn’t stopped did so giving the lead back to Stewart.

Still more caution flags and Greg Biffle, David Gilliland and Clint Bowyer used two-tire changes to grab the top-three spots.

However, when the race went back to green Kevin Harvick and Stewart quickly picked off Bowyer and Gilliland. Harvick caught Biffle on lap 100 and two laps later charged into the lead down the backstretch. Biffle was no match for Stewart either and dropped to third place. On lap 111 Stewart caught and passed Harvick and was 49 laps from his second Brickyard 400 win.

In the clean air, the No.20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet was the quickest car on the track and easily built the lead to more than two seconds. Stewart’s lead ballooned to 4.571 seconds with 40 laps to go.

Stewart pitted with 33 laps remaining, his final stop of the day. He took four new tires and fuel and was set to run to the finish. They cycled through without any caution flags and Stewart returned to the lead with 31 laps to go. His lead was 2.910 seconds.

The 2005 Nextel Cup champion again built his lead and with 25 to go was up by 3.804 seconds, but when “Junior’s” engine let go the caution flag flew and Stewart’s huge lead was erased.

“We just had bad luck, we’ve had good motors all year long,” said Earnhardt Jr.

Officials cleaned up the oil left on the track and the race restarted with 20 laps to go. Harvick made a move to the bottom of the track on the restart and he grabbed the lead from Stewart.

“I just went down into (turn) one and got really, really tight for some reason,” said Stewart.

Gordon was third and Montoya fourth. But Montoya was looking to make some history and he took third from Gordon on lap 142. He was three seconds behind the two leaders so he would need a caution flag for a shot at a win.

Meanwhile, Harvick and Stewart were well out in front and it seemed to be a two-car race. Stewart took a look on the inside with 15 to go, but he couldn’t complete the move. He made the same attempt at the end of the backstretch with 13 to go, but again Harvick turned him away. The third time was the charm and after getting Harvick a little loose he completed the pass with 10 laps to go.

“I got a good run on him off of (turn) one and got by,” said Stewart. “That’s a hard guy to race with, he’s a clean guy and one of my best friends. I can’t think of another guy I’d want to race for the lead.

Stewart built the lead to 0.964 seconds with eight to go and 1.347 seconds one lap later. He continued to build the lead and he cruised to the checkered flag unchallenged.

“We had a pretty good race car and this was probably the smartest race I’ve ever seen him drive,” said crew chief Greg Zipadelli.

“Tony was strong and he deserved the win,” said Gordon.

Gordon, Kyle Busch and Sorenson completed the top-five, while Harvick finished seventh.

The next race is set for Sunday, August 5th at the Pocono Raceway.

Indianapolis, IN - Jason Leffler passed Greg Biffle with two laps to go and went on to capture Saturday night’s Kroger 200 Busch Series race at the O’Reilly Raceway Park. The victory by Leffler gave manufacturer Toyota its first Busch Series win.

The victory was Leffler’s first of the season and second of his Busch career.

After winning his third pole of the season earlier in the day, Aric Almirola led the 43-car field to the green flag for 200 laps of short track racing.

The No.20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet driver pulled away from the field early. Almirola had a two-second lead when the first caution flag came out on lap 14 for Landon Cassill. A scary scene took place on pit road as some of the drivers received service during the caution period.

As Ron Hornaday Jr. entered his pit box Richard Johns, while making the turn into his pit area, hit one of Hornaday’s tire carriers. Fortunately, the tire carrier was treated and released from the infield care center. He suffered a cut nose and broken toe.

Almirola led Kelly Bires, Leffler, Biffle and Mike Bliss to the restart on lap 18. The No.20 JGR Chevrolet driver held onto the top spot as Leffler got around Bires for second.

The No.20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet driver continued to show the way when the next caution flag came out on lap 44 for a David Ragan spin out. The leaders took their first round of pit stops during the caution.

Bobby East inherited the race lead by not stopping. Hornaday, Almirola, Biffle and Scott Wimmer followed behind after the pit stops.

When the race got back underway, Hornaday quickly got around East for the first position. East continued to fall back as Almirola got past him for second.

Hornaday led only four laps before Almirola passed him to retake the first spot. Almirola led the field to the next caution flag on lap 69 for a Brad Coleman and Scott Lagasse crash.

Almirola led Biffle, Hornaday, Leffler and David Reutimann to the restart on lap 73. Almirola put some distance between himself and Biffle as Hornaday fell back to the fifth spot.

On lap 95 Brett Rowe brought out the caution flag. This allowed Almirola to guide the leaders down pit road for their last stops of the night.

Since most of the backmarkers didn’t take pit stops they took over the first few spots.

Deac McCaskill was the new leader followed by Brad Keselowski, D.J. Kennington, Biffle and Jason Keller when the race went back to green on lap 102.

It didn’t take long for McCaskill and the rest of the backmarkers to fall back through the field. Biffle used his fresh tires to quickly get around McCaskill for the top spot. Carl Edwards, Reutimann, Hornaday and Almirola passed the slower drivers to complete the top-five.

Biffle built a 1.5-second lead over Edwards. The No.16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford continued to increase his lead as the top-five remained the same.

On lap 139 Edwards’ margin was erased when Johns spun out. Most of the leaders decided not to pit under the caution. But Leffler arguably made the race winning move by coming down pit road for new tires. He reentered the track outside of the top-10.

When the race restarted on lap 144, Biffle led Edwards, Reutimann, Hornaday and Almirola. Biffle held onto the first position as the race quickly went back under the caution flag.

McCaskill crashed on lap 145 and 155 to bring out two consecutive caution flags. The race finally went back to green on lap 163.

On the restart Edwards, on the outside, battled side-by-side, with Biffle for the lead. Edwards won the battle with 32 laps left in the race. But he only led for two laps before Biffle took back the first spot. Edwards fell back to fourth after Reutimann and Leffler got by him.

Biffle was able to pull away due to Reutimann and Leffler battling hard for second. Leffler won the battle for second with 13 laps to go and now had his sights set on Biffle.

The caution flag that Leffler needed came out with nine laps remaining when Josh Wise spun out.

Biffle led Leffler, Reutimann, Edwards and Hornaday to the restart with five to go.

The battle for first heated up after Leffler’s great restart. Biffle, on the outside, battled side-by-side with Leffler as the laps dwindled down. As they cleared the second turn with two laps left Leffler pulled away from Biffle.

The No.38 Braun Racing Toyota driver was able to hold off Biffle during the final two laps on his way to Victory Lane.

Reutimann, Edwards and Hornaday completed the top-five.

The next race in the series is set for Saturday, August 4th at the Circuit Gilles Villenueve.

San Jose, CA - Justin Wilson had the pole with three minutes left in the session, then lost his spot when Oriol Servia posted a quicker time, but the former Formula One driver responded with the quickest lap of the weekend to win Saturday’s qualifying session for the San Jose Grand Prix. The No.9 Rsports driver circled the 1.448-mile, 11-turn, temporary circuit in 49.039 seconds (105.932 m.p.h.).

Graffiti Wall reports the pole win was Wilson’s second of this seasons racing schedule and sixth of his Champ Car career.

Starting alongside Wilson will be Friday’s provisional qualifying winner Sebastien Bourdais.

Dan Clarke (49.092) and Servia (49.106) will make up row two.

Bourdais, the three-time series champion, has a 20-points lead on “rookie” Robert Doornbos. Doornbos is a former F1 driver for Minardi (2005) and Red Bull (2006) which were not really competitive against the giant teams of F1 like Ferrari and McLaren. But the team came to that realization and made the move across the Atlantic Ocean to Champ Cars.

Doornbos is finally getting to show what he can do when he gets in a competitive car. He opened his rookie Champ Car Series campaign with a second place finish at Las Vegas. Following his only bad outing at Long Beach (13th), Doornbos put himself on the podium four consecutive times including a win at Mont-Tremblant. He was on his way to another top-10 result last week when Alex Tagliani took him out in a late-race incident. Doornbos has earned six top-10s in eight starts, but will start a disappointing 15th.

Behind Doornbos is Will Power (-25) and Wilson (-29). Both are still very much in the championship race.

The race set to drop the green flag on Sunday at 6 p.m.

Indianapolis, IN - Reed Sorenson, fresh off last week’s Busch Series win at Gateway, captured the pole for Sunday’s Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. The No.41 Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver circled the historic 2.5-mile superspeedway in 48.858 seconds (184.207 m.p.h.).

Graffiti Wall reports the pole victory was the first of Sorenson’s Nextel Cup career. His previous best start was a third place at the New Hampshire International Speedway in early July.

“We knew all three of our cars were fast, we just didn’t know if the early draw would hurt us,” said Sorenson. “Being my first pole, it’s pretty cool to do it here.”

Starting alongside Sorenson will be his teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, who posted a second-best time of 49.048 seconds.

“We did a lot of work, but Reed was going to be tough to beat,” said Montoya.

Montoya has a chance to become the first driver to win both the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400. Two former Indy 500 champions have raced in a Brickyard 400 - A.J. Foyt (finished 30th) and Danny Sullivan finished 33rd), both in 1994.

Ryan Newman (49.053) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (49.068) will make up row two.

While racing began at Indy in 1909, Nextel Cup has only been coming here since 1994 when Jeff Gordon won the inaugural event. Gordon also won in 1998, 2001 and 2004. Other “Cup” drivers to win at Indy include: Dale Earnhardt (1995), Ricky Rudd (1997), Dale Jarrett (1996, 1999), Bobby Labonte (2000), Bill Elliott (2002), Kevin Harvick (2003), Tony Stewart (2005) and Jimmie Johnson (2006).

For the past two years, the winner at the Brickyard has gone on to win the series championship. All told, the winner of this race has won the title in six of 13 years.

Not only did Johnson win at the Brickyard and the Nextel Cup title in 2006, but he completed a rare sweep, winning Daytona and Indy in the same year, only the second time that it has been accomplished (Jarrett - 1996). Johnson will start 19th in the 43-car field.

Other drivers of note and their starting positions: Kurt Busch (sixth), Jeff Burton (seventh), Denny Hamlin (10th), Mark Martin (13th), Stewart (14th), Harvick (20th) and Gordon (21st).

The race is set to drop the green flag on Sunday at 2 p.m. (et).

Markham, ON - Looking to become the second three-time winner this season, Vijay Singh will carry a one-shot lead into the final round of the Canadian Open.

It should be more.

Graffiti Wall reports that Singh shot a three-under 68 in the third round on Saturday, but bogeyed two of his final six holes and three-putted for par on another hole with a chance to pull away from the field.

Instead, Singh only ended the day with the outright lead after Australian Steve Allan made bogey from behind the green at the 18th hole. John Mallinger is also just a shot off the lead.

Singh, the 2004 champion, stood at 12-under 201.

“Thank God I did it today and not tomorrow,” the Fijian said, lamenting a stretch of sub-par golf that included a three-putt par from 80 feet at the 15th and a bogey from the rough at the 16th.

Singh could be at least two shots better. Instead, there are 21 players within five shots of his lead going into a final round at Angus Glen where the greens are stiffening and the leaderboard is bunching up.

Allan flew the green at the 18th and landed behind the cart path, then chipped past the hole and two-putted for a closing bogey to fall out of a tie with Singh.

He finished with a 70 and was tied for second place with Mallinger, who also shot 70. The third round co-leaders stood at 11-under 202 after leading Singh and Tripp Isenhour by a shot overnight.

Hunter Mahan (67) was alone in fourth place at 10-under 203, with defending champion Jim Furyk and Pat Perez sitting another shot further back at 204.

Furyk hasn’t won since he beat Bart Bryant at last year’s Canadian Open, but he has been arguably the steadiest player in the world. He tied for 12th place at the British Open last week, and had three consecutive top-five finishes on U.S. soil before that.

Saturday, Furyk shot a 69 to remain very much in the picture.

Singh has 18 holes remaining with a chance to add to his wins at Mercedes-Benz Championship and Arnold Palmer Invitational. Tiger Woods is the only player with three wins this year.

Saturday, Singh led by a shot around the turn after making a 10-foot birdie putt at No. 9 to shoot a 32 on the front side. Birdies followed at the 11th and 14th, but so did bogeys at the 13th and 16th.

Singh missed a good opportunity to extend his lead at the par-five 15th, where he reached the green in two shots. But he three-putted to settle for par, then made a bogey from the rough at the next to fall into a tie with Allan.

“Not making birdie on 15, then bogeying 16 — those are things that normally I should take advantage of,” said Singh, who is 17-10 on the PGA Tour with the third round lead. “Hopefully tomorrow I can fix all of those problems.”

Singh has 31 career victories, including three majors. Neither player sitting behind him has ever won on the PGA Tour.

Allan, 33, had his best finish of the season last week in Milwaukee, a tie for 13th place that marked his second top-15 in four events. He has two career runner-ups — and will be paired with Singh in the last tee time Sunday after making three birdies and two bogeys in the third round.

“Where else would you rather be than in the final group Sunday?” Allan said. “I’m a bit disappointed that I finished with a bogey, but it was a good day.”

Mallinger earned his tour card by tying for 13th place at Q-school last year, but has had an up-and-down rookie season. He finished third at Pebble Beach and in New Orleans, but has also missed 10 cuts.

“It’s been a long road, but you gotta start somewhere,” he said. “It’s a pretty good feeling being in this position.”

Indianapolis, IN - Following a two-hour rain delay, Ron Hornaday Jr. captured Friday night’s Power Stroke Diesel 200 Craftsman Truck Series race at the O’Reilly Raceway Park. The No.33 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet crossed the finish line one length ahead of Johnny Benson.

The win was Hornaday Jr.’s third of the season.

Mike Skinner finally brought the field to the green flag for 200 laps of short track racing. Interestingly, he chose the outside line to start from and it worked as he fought off Hornaday Jr. on the first laps and took early control of the race.

But Hornaday Jr. didn’t go away and he kept the pressure on Skinner, finally making the pass on lap 23. Todd Bodine also got underneath Skinner who seemed to be tight and couldn’t turn his truck quickly enough.

Hornaday Jr. built the lead to more than two seconds when Pierre Bourque spun to bring out the first caution flag of the evening.

The race restarted on lap 42 and off went Hornaday Jr. Bodine hung with him, but Travis Kvapil had trouble keeping up with the torrid pace. But again the race was interrupted by a caution flag.

Two trucks back in the field who were moving up were Erik Darnell and Ken Schrader. Both drivers cracked the top-10 by lap 70.

However, it was Hornaday Jr. dominating from the front that was the story of the race. He built the lead to more than three seconds when the third caution flag on lap 77 erased his lead once again.

The leaders took the opportunity to pit while Willie Allen and Jason White stayed out and inherited the lead. Kvapil was the first off pit lane and sat third with Rick Crawford and Hornaday Jr. just behind.

Kvapil, Crawford and Hornaday Jr. quickly got around White and went after Allen. Meanwhile, Matt Crafton didn’t go around White, but through him for the pass and it brought out the fifth caution flag of the evening.

On the restart Kvapil made quick work of Allen and so did Hornaday Jr. to take the top-two spots. Kvapil was holding about one second on Hornaday Jr. with 90 laps to go.

A couple of more caution flags slowed the race and left 60 laps to go when they went back to green. Benson caught Hornaday Jr. and the two battled side- by-side for second place with 50 laps to go. It was an exciting show, but it allowed Kvapil to check out and build his lead to over one second.

Hornaday Jr. fought him off, but Benson wouldn’t give up. Then Kvapil began to lap slower traffic and the bottleneck allowed both Hornaday Jr. and Benson to close on the leader.

With 30 laps to go, Hornaday made the move under Kvapil and slid past Kvapil for the lead. Benson also got by Kvapil about five laps later, but was more than 1.1 seconds behind Hornaday Jr.

It should have been and easy drive to the checkered flag, but a spin by a backmarker inside of 18 laps left him with some more work to do. Good thing Hornaday Jr. is known as the “King of Restarts” and we saw the reason why.

On the restart, Hornaday Jr. quickly pulled away from Benson. It was eight lengths by the time they reached the first corner, but again a spin brought out the caution flag and set up a green-white-checker finish.

Hornaday Jr. had to make one last great start to win the race, he did and won for the third time in 2007 and the 32nd time in his Craftsman Truck Series career.

Kvapil, Crawford and Schrader completed the top-five.

Skinner finished outside the top-10 for the first time this season (20th) and combined with Hornaday Jr.’s win cut his lead to just 77 points.

The next race in the series is set for Saturday, August 11th at the Nashville Superspeedway.