Double Dodge day in Topeka as Johnson, Beckman win Wallys

Pro Stock: Team Mopar driver Allen Johnson snared his second Pro Stock victory of the season, capping a perfect weekend at the the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 24th annual Dollar General Summer Nationals at Heartland Park in Topeka, Kansas. Johnson and his Team Mopar/J&J Racing Avenger collected points as the top qualifier Friday and Saturday and added to his take by shutting down Greg Anderson in the Summit Racing Equipment GXP. Anderson was 0.010 seconds quicker off the line but got loose right away. Johnson quickly took a 100-foot lead to claim his eleventh Pro Stock Wally.

V. Gaines and the Kendall Oil Avenger had their best showing of the 2012 season, eliminating Team Mopar driver Jeg Coughlin in the first round before losing to Jason Line in the second Summit Racing Equipment GXP in the second round.

Vincent Nobile turned a perfect light and his quickest pass of the weekend into an easy first-round win over Kurt Johnson in the Johnson Racing GXP. Nobile got on the Mountain View Tire Avenger a little too quickly in the quarterfinals, pulling a red light and giving Greg Anderson a free pass to the semifinals.

Chris McGaha in the Harlow Sammons of Odessa Avenger made his best pass of the weekend in the first round but was eliminated by Erica Enders in her GK Motorsports Cobalt. Enders was quicker off the line and never trailed.

With the win, Johnson remains in third in the driver standings, but has cut Jason Line’s second-place lead from 81 to 39 points. Vincent Nobile leapfrogged Mike Edwards to take fourth place; V. Gaines moved up two positions, to 16th; Chris McGaha remained in 17th and Jeg Coughlin dropped from 12th to 13th.

Funny Car: It was an all-Dodge finals as Jack Beckman in the Valvoline NextGen Charger faced Ron Capps in the NAPA Brakes Charger in Capps’ fourth consecutive final-round appearance. Beckman collected his first Wally of the 2012 season with a hole-shot win. Capps had the quicker ET: 4.107 seconds at 304.39 mph to Beckman’s 4.158 seconds at 303.09 mph, but Beckman had a 0.098-second advantage at the start with a near-perfect 0.004-second reaction time.

Tim Wilkerson and the Levi Ray & Shoup Mustang and Matt Hagan in the Aaron’s Charger got nearly identical times off the start, but Wilkerson was faster down the track, eliminating Hagan in the first round.

Johnny Gray in the NTB/Service Central Charger took on John Force Castrol GTX High Mileage Mustang, overcoming Force’s faster start and early lead to trip the timers 0.0126 seconds and six feet ahead of the Ford. In the second round, Gray ended his racing weekend in the quarterfinals when he was 19 feet behind Capps at the end of the quarter-mile.

At the end of the day, Ron Capps had sole ownership of second place with a nice lead over Mike Neff; Jack Beckman’s win put him past Cruz Pedregon, who fell to fifth, and Johnny Gray, who dropped from fifth to sixth. Reigning Funny Car champ Matt Hagan dropped farther out of Countdown to the Championship contention, falling to 13th.

Kligerman subs for Keselowski, finishes 8th in Iowa

Parker Kligerman switched from trucks to cars today, taking over the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger, and posting an eighth-place finish in the Purina Hi-Bred 250, his first NASCAR Nationwide Series event this season.

“A solid day for the Discount Tire Dodge Challenger,” said Kligerman. “Not exactly the day I was hoping for other than we had clean car at the end, ran solid all day and brought home a top-10 finish. We ran solid all day. The first run the car was tight and it looked like we corded right-front tire. We got lucky that it didn’t blow out. We fought all day. We just couldn’t get ahead of the track. None of us anticipated that the track would get that tight.

“The biggest thing for me driving this car with crew chief Jeremy Bullins for the first time is that we improved the car every (pit) stop of the race. We got better and better all race. We had top-five pace; we just couldn’t get the track position. I think that we were a fifth or sixth-place car. I’m proud of the guys that work on this race car. We’ll have a few more chances this year to go out and try to get these guys a win.”

Sam Hornish Jr. and the No. 12 Detroit Genuine Parts Dodge Challenger didn’t have a good day at Iowa Speedway: tire problems dogged him all through the 250-lap race.

The early portion of the race looked good for Hornish: After qualifying second, he quickly turned his front-row advantage into the lead for the first 30 laps. Then he told crew chief Chad Walter the car’s handling had gone tight and that there was a vibration. Hornish had dropped to sixth by the time the first caution allowed him to pit on Lap 74. The crew found that a corded right-front tire was the troublemaker.

The problem repeated itself on Lap 172, when Hornish was running seventh. A vibration in the right front forced Hornish to pit under green, costing him 15 spots and two laps. Hornish was able to return to the lead lap by using a wave around under the third caution and the Lucky Dog on the fourth.

But Hornish’s tire problems weren’t over: the right front tire blew out on the last lap and he limped across the finish line in 12th place.

“We corded the right-front tire on the first run. We corded another on the third run of the day and blew a right-front out on the last lap with only 40 laps on the tire after we worked our way from a two laps down and getting back on the lead lap. It looked like we were going to bring home an eighth-place finish until the right-front blew out on the last lap. It was a frustrating and confusing day for sure. Our tire issues kept getting worse and worse all day long. Something was moving and allowing us to gain camber and getting us more and more on the inside of that right-front.”

Hornish remains fourth in the Nationwide driver standings, 74 points behind leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Johnson remains top qualifier in Pro Stock

Saturday’s qualifying rounds at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 24th annual Dollar General Summer Nationals running at Heartland Park in Topeka produced few changes in the pecking order.

For most of the Dodge drivers, the times posted Friday are the ones they will take into today’s eliminations. Allen Johnson’s record ET remained unbeaten in Pro Stock as did Cruz Pedregon’s in Funny Car.

The one exception was Vincent Nobile in the Mountain View Tire Avenger, who trimmed 0.012 seconds off his best time Friday to advance to seventh in Pro Stock.

Keselowski finishes second in Sprint All-Star race

Brad Keselowski just missed a million-dollar payday tonight. The No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger was right behind Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Lowe’s Patriotic Chevrolet in tonight’s running of the Sprint All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.

After starting from the 19th position, Keselowski worked his way up the track. He won win the third segment of the 90-lap competition, leading the entire time.

To hear Brad’s post-race comments, click here.

Earlier this evening, A.J. Allmendinger qualified for the All-Star competition with a surprise second-place finish in the Sprint Showdown. The top two finishers and one “fan favorite,” determined by popular vote, went on to the main event in which Allmendinger finished eleventh.

Allmendinger’s Showdown run did not begin well; After qualifying for the pole position, he had to pull off the track with a flat tire before he even reached the green flag. He made up for the incident by running hot in a fast No. 22 Pennzoil Dodge Charger.

“I can’t believe the luck of this race team,” said Allmendinger with a big grin. “A flat tire before we come to green, I mean, we’ve got to do something to change our luck up, that’s unbelievable. The car was so fast. I mean, once we pitted and got back into the lead there, I was pulling away from Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) and I just knew the car was fast. I’m not going to give up on these guys. They work too hard; they deserve to be in this race. I knew if I got to his bumper (Jamie McMurray) I was going to move him the heck out of the way because I wanted to be in this race.”

Watch the NASCAR video of the Allmendinger action.