The defending NASCAR Nationwide Series points champion extended his winning streak at Iowa Speedway.

Stenhouse dominated the field for most of the race to capture the checkered flag at the Pioneer Hi-Bred 250 in front of 34,000 fans Sunday. The win is the third straight at the 0.875-mile track for Stenhouse, who swept the two Nationwide races held here last year.

“Man, this one was fun,” Stenhouse said. “I love dominating those races.”

The Roush Fenway Racing driver claimed his third win in 10 starts this season, extending his series lead to 28 points over Elliott Sadler, who was second. Stenhouse grabbed his first lead by overtaking Sam Hornish Jr. on Lap 31 en route to leading 209 laps, tying an Iowa Speedway record set by Busch in 2010.

“It feels good to win three in a row,” Stenhouse said. “It was a lot of fun, leading that many laps.”

He became the first Nationwide driver to win three straight at a track since Kyle Busch won three straight at Texas Motor Speedway in 2009-2010. The streak was not a conversation topic, but no words were needed.

“That’s what we set out to do,” Stenhouse said. “We didn’t talk too much about it in the shop, but everybody knew we had one thing in mind coming here.”

The rest of the field could not keep up with Stenhouse, who blew away the field. It is different than Stenhouse’s win last August, when his engine failed on the final lap and he was pushed across the finish line by teammate Carl Edwards, who couldn’t avoid the accident.

“This is the way you want to run,” Stenhouse said. “You want to come out here and dominate.”

Cautions were the only thing that proved capable of closing the gap on Stenhouse’s leads, which grew to nearly five seconds at times. He held off the likes of Kurt Busch, Sadler and Justin Allgaier during late restarts.

The yellow flag caused Stenhouse to drop as low as fourth, after Danica Patrick’s blown right front tire slid her into the wall in the early going. Cole Whitt restarted at the lead spot, but Stenhouse soon passed Sadler for the lead near the midway point. Things became interesting with 65 laps remaining as Busch completed his move from worst to first after a restart. Less than a lap later, Stenhouse moved back into first and ran to Victory Lane.

“When you have a race car like we did you don’t ever want a caution to come out. It does and that’s just the way it is,” Stenhouse said. “I just wanted to make sure I was cautious. The race was just super-fast to get back to the front.”

The progression continues for Stenhouse and his team as they stay ahead of their pace set last year. Crew chief Mike Kelley prepared his team for a tough test, stressing it needed to work harder than ever to avoid losing steam.

“When you get on streaks or have a good deal going that if this was a race we didn’t win, I didn’t want it to kill our momentum,” Kelley said. “We had finished better at every track to this race than we did last year. We were 76 points ahead of where we were last year after nine races.”

With no Sprint Cup race Sunday and most racing fans’ eyes focused on Newton, the win had added importance.

“To come here to Iowa in front of a packed house,” Kelley said, “and to win the race the way we did today was a bold statement about where our team is and who our driver is.”

Sadler, who started on the pole, earned his third straight top-five finish at Iowa Speedway, leading two laps. He said the team made key adjustments through the race and was running its best at the end. The fourth and final caution, when former Motocross champion Travis Pastrana suffered electrical problems and bowed out at 26th hampered any chances to catch Stenhouse.

“It’s frustrating to finish second. I thought we had a car that could win the race,” Sadler said. “I’m proud of my guys to rebound the way they did.”

The frustration for Sadler continued after the event, when his No. 2 Chevrolet was found to be too low in post-race inspection. Officials said the issue would be further discussed next week at the NASCAR R&D center in Concord, N.C.

Michael McDowell snuck in late to place third. Austin Dillon was fourth, and increased his lead for Rookie of the Year honors.

McDowell said his car excelled on long runs. He climbed up to third after the third caution, but was assessed a speeding penalty in the pits, dropping him to the back of the pack.

“I just made a mistake,” McDowell said. “There were a lot of lapped cars between first and second and I tried to close the gap a little bit and just overdid it.

“It just showed how strong our car was.”

Busch had a strong run, finishing fifth after placing eighth at the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race on Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Drew Herring qualified the car 31st, but Busch started at the back.

“It’s great to sniff the lead, get close to it,” Busch said. “It’s just missing a couple little components.”

He was third when he got caught up with McDowell on the final lap. Busch saved the car in a lengthy sideways slide to preserve a fifth-place finish.

“At the end, my weak spot was Turn 1,” Busch said. “We were loose getting in there all day. McDowell got down in there, I was trying to hold him off and that’s what racing is all about. Two guys got together. Yeah, we got the short end of the stick but I don’t care.”

Darrell Wallace Jr., who made his Nationwide Series debut with Joe Gibbs Racing, placed ninth.

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Evernham served as an analyst with the network from 2008 to 2010, leaving to join Hendrick Companies as a consultant.

Evernham issued a statement:

I chose to take a year off from ESPN out of respect for ESPN and Hendrick Motorsports. I didn’t want to create any perceived conflict of interest while I got my bearings at Hendrick and didn’t want to cause distraction to either company. Now that I’m settled at Hendrick Performance, I don’t have any involvement on the racing side of the operations and it frees me from any conflict with NASCAR teams. Mr. Hendrick and I have worked out an agreement that allows me to return to the ESPN team.

Hamilton has  liabilities of $1,293,543. More than $929,000 of the liabilities are property mortgages or loans, while he also lists owing the Internal Revenue Service $198,000 for 2005 taxes. In the filing, he listed assets of $551,825 .

The annual race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is one of the more popular on the NASCAR circuit, as it pairs exciting racing with the chance to visit Las Vegas for an amazing vacation in its own right. Add into the mix hundreds of thousands of racing fans who descend on the city during a race weekend and you have the perfect combination for fans — getting to see a Sprint Cup race and escaping from the worries of the real world for a weekend.

Sportsbooks in Las Vegas have offered the chance to bet on NASCAR races for years. But now, much of the action is available online as well, with online casinos offering sportsbooks that include the chance to bet on NASCAR, NFL, MLB, and other major sports. It’s simple to open an account and just takes a few minutes, and many sites offer free contests and other promotions that you can enter and compete in without ever depositing any money whatsoever.

If you do decide that you’d like to put a bet on your favorite driver, it’s safe and quick to deposit money to your account, with a variety of methods offered as far as both depositing and withdrawing money. Many online sites also offer special bonuses for new players, which can double or triple the amount you initially deposit — much better deals than you’ll find at casinos in Las Vegas or other gambling areas!

MWR executive vice president Steve Hallam is rumored to be the one who will oversee MWR’s Grand Am effort.  Hallam joined MWR before the 2009 NASCAR season, leaving his job as head of race operations for McLaren in Formula 1 where he won a World Driving Championship with Lewis Hamilton.

There has been no word on what make or model of car MWR would field, but Waltrip and Kauffman recently drove a Ferrari 458 Italia in the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race at Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France. The Ferrari was prepared by an Italian team, AF Corse SRL.

Rui Águas also drove with Waltrip and Kauffman. They qualified 44th out of 56 cars, and 15th in the GT Endurance Pro category. They did not finish the race, but were scored in 38th place overall and 13th in the GTE Pro category after completing 178 laps, 136 fewer than class winner Corvette Racing.

This year, ACP has improved the cooling system of its drive system, which the company predicts will help the car climb the hill in the 12-minute range. Last year’s time was 13 minutes and 17.575 seconds.

The vehicle is a rear-wheel drive, open-wheel car with lithium-ion batteries from Sanyo Electric Co. It will use Yokohama BluEarth tires, which are designed to conserve fuel. It will be driven by Ikuo Hanawa, who also drove the car that won the Exhibition Class last year.

This news, coupled with the news of an London-based, electric-vehicle racing series called EV Cup that is launching this year, makes the possibility of an electric Sprint Cup car more realistic than it once was.

Two years ago, I wrote an article about this very idea. I still maintain that a move to electric cars is not that ridiculous. With that said, we’re decades away from that I think. But with the development and refinement of hybrid and electric race car technology, the likelihood continues to increase, even if ever so slightly.

The EV Cup will run two races this season, one at Mazda Laguna Seca in November and one at Auto Club Speedway in December.  A full season is set to run in 2012, though tracks have not yet been publicized.

Still, a move to electric cars would not be well received by the current crop of NASCAR fans. For example, few things match the sound of a pushrod, V8 circling the track. Sure it’s loud, but that’s the point. Electric vehicles cannot match that sound.

Last year, Mike Monticello of Road & Track called the ACP car his “least favorite” car at Pikes Peak. He wrote:

I know, I know, I’m supposed to be embracing all this ‘green’ technology, but the car I liked the least at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb was the electric EV Sports Concept HER-02 buggy piloted by Ikuo Hanawa. Nothing against Hanawa, but if you need to have chimes ringing on your car, as Hanawa did, so that onlookers know to skedaddle off the road as you drive up the hill, then there’s something wrong with your race car. … A proper racing car should be loud, like the Super Stock class cars of Layne Schranz (a full-on Chevy Monte Carlo NASCAR stocker) and Steve Goeglein (Chevy Camaro), the bellowing V8s of which raised the hairs on the back of your neck whenever they thundered by.

That will make a switch to electric cars in NASCAR virtually impossible any time soon because, simply put, the fans won’t like it and they are what drives the sport, monetarily.

For comparison purposes, the motor in this year’s car, the AC-180, will be similar to ACP’s AC-150 motor, which is used in BMW’s Mini E. The AC-180 produces 268 HP at 6,000 – 7,000 RPM and 258 ft/lb of torque from zero to 5,000 RPM. A Sprint Cup pushrod V8 produces 850 HP at 9,000 RPM and 550 ft/lb of torque at 7,500 RPM.

Electric technology has a long way to go to produce that kind of power, which means it’s a long way off.

What do you think? Would you be opposed to electric cars in NASCAR?

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TGUS will feature the same format as the UK version, with a trio of hosts: Actor/comedian Adam Ferrera (Rescue Me and Paul Blart: Mall Cop), NASCAR analyst and SPEEDtv host Rutledge Wood, and stunt driver Tanner Foust. The show wouldn’t be complete without a US version of its tame racing driver, the Stig. (Note: This Stig is not as fat as the Stig’s American cousin.)

Much like the UK version, the US version will feature super cars, unique challenges, extreme stunts, and celebrities driving timed laps in a “reasonably priced car.” Tony Hawk, Tim Allen, Buzz Aldrin, Kid Rock, and Bret Michaels are some of the stars featured in the first round of the segment.

Unfortunately, what makes the original version so appealing is the chemistry and charm of its hosts, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May. Their US counterparts may not have the same chemistry, which could end up dooming the show.

Also, with the series being on a smaller cable channel, there’s a chance that it could not attract the advertisers and fans needed to sustain such an expensive show.

Still, I’m willing to give the show a chance. But, if you’re a fan of the UK version of the show, please take this advice: Don’t look for the original TG in the US version. If you do, chances are, you’ll be very disappointed.

Here is a trailer:

To test this theory, Mike Wise, a sports columnist for the Washington Post, tweeted on Monday that Ben Roethlisberger would receive a five-game suspension from the NFL. Roethlisberger is slated to miss six games currently, but he is meeting with the NFL commissioner this week in the hopes of getting that suspension reduced.

The problem was that Wise made up the tweet just to see if  it would be picked up by news sources, and some reputable ones did. When the tweet was revealed to be a hoax perpetrated by Wise himself, there was some minor outrage. Wise issued a written apology, and was suspended from the Washington Post for one month – with some at the newspaper saying he is lucky he wasn’t fired.

As a professional journalist, and blogger, I understand the point Wise was trying to make. I’ve seen a lot of erroneous information spread via social media in my two and a half years covering NASCAR for my blog. Just this summer, it was reported that Mark Martin was headed to Red Bull Racing in 2011, allowing Kasey Kahne to take over driving duties of the No. 5 Chevy.

While this rumor wasn’t a deliberate fabrication like Wise’s – I don’t think – it did spread enough to force Martin’s business manager and RBR officials to deny the report.

These inaccurate rumors did not gain traction because people don’t check the facts, as Wise contends. They were spread because the sources that started them have credibility. In Wise’s case, he is a Washington, DC radio personality and a sports columnist for the Post. If anyone has reputable sources, he does. So, more stock is put into what he says, or tweets as it were, than someone without his credentials or credibility. The same goes for most, if not all, journalists with reputable news organizations.

If SuprDaleJrFan88 tweets that Dale Earnhardt Jr is retiring to pursue an acting career, no major NASCAR news outlet would pick it up without verifying the information with a credible source. And, most fans wouldn’t believe it. If Jeff Gluck, Jenna Fryer, Marty Smith or David Newton (to name a few) tweeted it on any other day than April 1st, people would believe it (assuming they didn’t quantify it as a joke or rumor). They’re all reputable, and cover NASCAR for reputable organizations. So, their words and tweets carry more weight than the words of a random tweeter. Their reporting is taken at face value because people assume that they did the legwork to verify it.

That’s not to say that people (non-journalists) should spread rumors. But, they don’t have the same responsibility as journalists to vet a story because they’re not expected to be credible, nor are they making claims of the accuracy of what they’re spreading. Their tweets don’t carry the same weight as a journalists.   

And that’s the reason Wise’s experiment was a failure. If he really wanted to test his theory, he should have tweeted from an anonymous Twitter account, which wouldn’t have his credibility attached to it, and see whether or not it would’ve been picked up. I highly doubt it would’ve been given a second look – at least by media outlets.