Tony Stewart gets his first pole since 2012, will start first at Texas

Tony Stewart's good run of qualifying form has accelerated.

The three-time Sprint Cup Series Champion will start first for Sunday's Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway as he beat Brad Keselowski for the top spot.

After starting 20th or below for the first four races of the season, Stewart has now qualified in the top 10 for three straight weeks. His last pole position was in 2012 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, another 1.5 mile track. He finished 22nd in that race.

Stewart missed the final 15 races of the 2013 season after breaking his right leg in a sprint car race in Iowa in August.

Stewart-Haas Racing cars were fast throughout Saturday afternoon's qualifying session, a session that was briefly postponed for rain. Stewart's teammates Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch both made the final round of 12. Harvick will start third and Busch will start 11th. The fourth Stewart-Haas car, Danica Patrick, will start 24th.

Harvick set a track-record qualifying speed in the first round of qualifying. Since teams aren't allowed to change tires, speeds for the first lap of qualifying at tracks with significant tire wear is usually the fastest. Despite not starting on the pole for the race, Harvick is now officially known as the fastest driver to turn a qualifying lap at Texas.

Roush Fenway Racing teammates Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards will start fourth and fifth while Trevor Bayne, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, Marcos Ambrose and Joey Logano round out the top 10.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @NickBromberg

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/tony-stewart-gets-his-first-pole-since-2012--will-start-first-at-texas-203336948.html

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For many an iRacer, winning the PEAK Stock Car Dreams National Series and getting an opportunity to drive a real race car for a major league race team would be, quite literally, a dream come true.� Make no mistake, earning a spot in the 2014 PEAK Stock Car Dreams Challenge driver combine is the chance of a lifetime for Paul Kusheba.� But when he takes to the track at the driver combine it will hardly be the first time the Connecticut-based sim-racer will find himself behind the wheel of a real race car. After all, Kusheba already has a trophy case full of hardware from his days racing go-karts and Legends ? including the 2013 Waterford Speedbowl championship ? and is making his debut in the cauldron of Northeast SK [...]

Source: http://www.iracing.com/iracingnews/iracing-news/a-dream-come-true

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Casey Mears says Marcos Ambrose's punch 'got me pretty good'

Casey Mears participated in Jimmie Johnson's charity 5K race Sunday morning and admitted that yes, Marcos Ambrose did land the punch he threw towards Mears Saturday night.

Mears said his left-eye area, the place where Ambrose connected, was fine and had a sense of humor about the incident.

It's OK, he got me good though," Mears said. "He did. That's one thing I can say, is that out of all the NASCAR fights or punches or when you see people swing, usually it's a lot of fly swatting. He actually connected, so that was pretty good."

Ambrose was 18th while Mears was 19th. Mears also didn't rule out retaliation in the future, though we're not sure what the on-track protocol for punch revenge is.

"I don't think it something you just forget," Mears said. "Obviously, that's kind of where it sits."

NASCAR is investigatiing the incident and penalties, if there are any, will likely be announced on Tuesday.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @NickBromberg

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/casey-mears-says-marcos-ambrose-s-punch--got-me-pretty-good-181345587.html

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NAPA VALLEY, Calif. (October 30, 2012) - The United States Air Force 25 Hours of Thunderhill race is just over a month away with plenty of high profile entries preparing for the twice around the clock plus one hour race...

Source: http://www.motorsportsjournal.com/archives/2012/10/team_honda_research_-_wes.php

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Ford Racing 2013 NSCS Party in the Poconos 400 Race Recaps

Ford RacingGREG BIFFLE ? No. 16 3M Ford Fusion ? ?It was a pretty good day for us. We just kept fighting and getting better and better track position. This car likes clean air. We?ve really struggled this season, but once we got some track position we were pretty good. The 48 was definitely in...more»

The article Ford Racing 2013 NSCS Party in the Poconos 400 Race Recaps is from Catchfence.

Source: http://www.catchfence.com/2013/sprintcup/06/09/ford-racing-2013-nscs-party-in-the-poconos-400-race-recaps/

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General Motors Q1 Profits Down Big on the Heels of Ignition-Switch Recall

Were it not for the ignition-switch recall with all those annoying investigations�and people clamoring for rental cars, General Motors would have paid out at least 48 cents more per share by the end of the first quarter. That amount, roughly speaking, is what GM decided its customers weren?t worth when engineers proposed a redesigned ignition […]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/dVEwHnSHCsY/

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VW using other manufacturing locations as leverage in battle with TN [w/video]

Filed under: SUV, Government/Legal, Plants/Manufacturing, Volkswagen, UAW/Unions

We've reached a new step in the ongoing drama at Volkswagen's factory in Chattanooga, TN. The United Auto Workers recently dropped its opposition to the union vote and agreed that it wouldn't hold another ballot for at least a year. Now, the new question becomes where VW is going to build its forthcoming midsize SUV.

Earlier, it had been considered all but certain that the SUV, likely a production version of the CrossBlue concept (pictured above), would be built in Tennessee. However, it seems the Chattanooga factory might have competition to produce it. In emails obtained by The Detroit News, VW's lawyer wrote to the Tennessee economic development department in January saying, "While we understand there are some 'non-deal' issues that are causing a delay in the TN solution, VW has been successful in reaching agreement on terms at the alternative locations."

As previously reported, the state of Tennessee allegedly offered VW about $300 million in incentives to build the vehicle there and create an estimated 1,350 jobs, but it later rescinded the deal. Newly leaked documents from NewsChannel 5 (WTVF-TV) in Nashville allegedly show just how close that offer was to being completed. It appears that VW actually sent the government the first draft of a memorandum of understanding agreeing to the incentives, but the state removed the offer in late January.

Volkswagen boss Martin Winterkorn announced at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show that the midsize SUV was scheduled for its US launch in 2016, as a model designed specifically for North America. He also said the company would invest over $7 billion over the next five years. Time might be running out to find a production location. If not in Tennessee, the alternative would appear to be VW's assembly in Mexico.

Autoblog reached out to the Chattanooga factory and was given no comment. Scroll down to watch WTVF-TV's latest report on the newly leaked documents that it has.

Continue reading VW using other manufacturing locations as leverage in battle with TN [w/video]

VW using other manufacturing locations as leverage in battle with TN [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 26 Apr 2014 15:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2014/04/26/vw-other-manufacturing-locations-battle-tennessee-report-video/

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Jaguar XKR Final Fifty Edition Models Planned for U.S., Limited to, Well, 50 Units

Jaguar?s old?but still gorgeous?XK is slinking off into the sunset this summer, but not until the final 50 U.S.-bound XKRs hit our shores. These extra-special XKs will carry the clever XK Final Fifty Limited Edition name, and will be split evenly between coupe and convertible body styles. All will wear Ultimate Black paint over Ivory […]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/fKxzBC3rzdk/

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