SM Staff

After leading both practices and being the quickest at St. Petersburg and NOLA Motorsports Park, Will Power was expected to be a front running contender all race long in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. However, he wouldn't get the qualifying effort that he wanted, qualifying deep in the field.

Despite being involved in a couple of incidents throughout the night at Bristol Motor Speedway, Danica Patrick would have a solid night en route to finishing ninth. This marks the second top-10 for her of the season, following a seventh place finish at Martinsville Speedway.

With all of NASCAR nation standing up for Steve Byrnes and others battling cancer, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 55th annual Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

After having a loose wheel just before halfway, Jeff Gordon would fight back from two laps down during the second half of the race to finish third.

After taking the lead on the first round of pit stops, Scott Dixon didn't look back as he led the rest of the way, scoring the victory in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. It marks the first victory of the season for the Chip Ganassi Racing driver.

Team Penske would continue their dominance in Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying for the Grand Prix of Long Beach with Helio Castroneves topping the charts to score the Verizon P1 Award. It marks the 42nd career pole for the driver who is coming off a solid runner-up finish at NOLA Motorsports Park.

I watched my first race at Bristol Motor Speedway in August of 2002, amongst a sold out crowd of over 150,000 when I watched Jeff Gordon execute the bump and run on Rusty Wallace with three laps remaining in the Sharpie 500.

In a continuing trend for the Verizon IndyCar Series this year, Team Penske swept the top-three, and four of the top-five spots in practice for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Will Power would top the charts with a lap of one minute and 7.5485 seconds.

With this weekend’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the daffodils are blooming and Richard Petty Motorsports has begun their spring cleaning project. This week’s edition of NASCAR Behind the Scenes focuses on Petty’s newest sponsor, a cleaning product company called Nature Blast, which will be a primary sponsor on Sam Hornish’s No. 9 Petty Ford this weekend.

Dale Coyne Racing announced on Thursday, April 16 that Pippa Mann will drive the organization in the Indianapolis 500. Mann will drive a pink car in support of Susan G. Komen, the world’s largest breast cancer organization. It marks the second consecutive year for the arranged partnership.