Motor Sports Weekly News

By: Drew Hierwarter

After the disaster in Australia, Ferrari bounced back in Malaysia with a dominant performance that asserted its continued position as a major force in Formula 1. The two Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa shared the front row of the grid and only a mid-race spin by Massa spoiled what would have been a perfect 1-2 finish. As it was, Raikkonen got an excellent start, and was never challenged.

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton would have started in the second row but for a penalty resulting from qualifying that placed him back in eleventh on the grid. After a brilliant start however he was soon in fifth place only to have a problem with a wheel nut locking mechanism during a pit stop put him right back in eleventh. Once again Hamilton drove hard and his resulting fifth place finish earned him four valuable points and preserved his championship lead. His McLaren partner, Heikki Kovalainen also drove well and salvaged the day for Team McLaren with a third place finish.

The Formula 1 season is already shaping up to be a continuation of the Ferrari/McLaren battle that has been going on for the last couple of seasons, with BMW Sauber poised to pick up the scraps.                      

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With the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series taking their traditional Easter weekend vacation, the spotlight was turned on the Nationwide Series and the Pepsi 300, Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway.  Part time driver Scott Wimmer was victorious for the first time in almost five years driving a car owned by Richard Childress. Once again Kyle Busch dominated the early stages of the race just as he has done in the last three Nationwide Series races. And once again he failed to win. This time it was a self-admitted mistake that caused him to spin and fall two laps behind. “Just a stupid mistake on the driver’s part,” Busch said abruptly as he disappeared into his hauler.

Richard Childress’ teams are hot right now with their 1-2-3 finish in the Sprint Cup race at Bristol the week before, plus winning the Nationwide Series race there. Now a 1-2 finish in the Nationwide Series in Nashville, as Clint Bowyer brought his RCR Chevrolet home in second place. Bowyer had picked up the lead after Busch’s spin but was unable to hold off the charging Wimmer who took over the lead with 20 laps to go. 

Wimmer is driving a part-time schedule for Childress this year but is hoping for more; “I’m just trying to do the best I can for Richard right now, and hopefully, it’ll fall that someday I can get back to racing Nationwide full time or Sprint Cup full time. But right now, I’m having a good time.” Wimmer was part of the team of drivers who helped bring the Nationwide Series car owner’s championship to RCR last year but this was his first win in the series since July of 2003 at Pikes Peak International Raceway.