At Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna, WI, Gardner piloted his EMP OilMate sponsored Ford super late model to his first Fox River Racing Club feature event win of the season. Gardner, second in the WIR regular season point standings heading into the event, started 12th in the 30-lap feature on the famed Kaukauna half-mile oval and immediately headed to the front.

By the midway point of the race, the Gladstone, MI driver had advanced to third in the running order and when the leaders got together coming off Turn 4, Gardner made his move driving under the pair to take the top spot.

It was then clear sailing to the finish as Gardner not only took the event win, but he also grabbed the FRRC season championship points lead with just four regular season events remaining in the 2006 schedule.

The win also came at a perfect time for Gardner as more than 400 customers and vendors from Werner Electric – another sponsor on Gardner’s car – were in attendance Thursday at Kaukauna.

Gardner and his potent Ford stocker, which is equipped with an EMP Stewart Components State 4 Water Pump, will try to extend his points lead when he returns to Fox Valley Racing Club action this Thursday, August 3 at WIR. Racing gets underway at 7 p.m. Central Time.

While Gardner was ruling the short-track pavement ranks, Edwards continued his recent dominance in the NASCAR Busch Series outdueling Denny Hamlin for the win in the Busch Silver Celebration 250 at Gateway International Speedway near St. Louis, MO Saturday evening.

Edwards (right), winner of two of the past three Busch Series races, started on the outside of the front row and battled Hamlin for the lead throughout the event. With the laps winding down, Edwards came to pit road for the final time on Lap 184 taking fuel and right-side tires.

The tire strategy proved to be pivotal as Hamlin pitted two laps later taking only fuel. That allowed Edwards and his EMP Stewart Components cooled Ford Fusion to quickly close on Hamlin in the final laps passing him on the outside with just six circuits remaining and motoring away for the win.

Clint Bowyer also got by Hamlin, who led a whopping 169 of 200 circuits, in the final laps to finish second. Bower’s late charge gave EMP Stewart Components a 1-2 finish in the event. Hamlin hung on for third followed by Reed Sorenson, series leader point leader Kevin Harvick, Scott Wimmer, David Green, Kyle Busch, Kenny Wallace and Kevin Grubb.

Only six cars finished on the lead lap in the event which was slowed just two times for caution-flag periods totaling 11 laps.

The race also marked the first of unleaded fuel in a NASCAR event. No cars reported any engine failures because of the switch, a change that will be tested in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series later this year. Assuming the fuel continues to pass muster, it will eventually be implemented into all NASCAR divisions including Nextel Cup.

The NASCAR Busch Series will next head to O’Reilly Raceway Park in Clermont, IN this weekend for a 250-lap race. The Kroger 250 will take the green flag 9 p.m. Eastern Time Saturday and will be telecast live on TNT. MRN and XM Satellite Radio will also carry the event live.

While Tracy Gienger didn’t win his International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) feature event at Marshalltown (IA) Speedway this weekend, he did the next best thing protecting his season championship points lead with a well earned third-place finish.

Gienger and his EMP Stewart Components cooled 1987 Buick Regal stock car (right) overcame a crash during a preliminary event that destroyed the entire right-front suspension of the car to score the valuable points finish in the evening’s feature race.

“When they picked the car up with the wrecker, the only thing holding the right-front spindle to the car is the brake line,” said Gienger. “It wasn’t looking too good.”

Thanks to some valuable help from a pair of other competitors, Gienger and his crew were able to repair the damage before the main event. Lining up 16th on the grid for the feature, Gienger and his battered racer headed to the low groove and started passing cars at will moving into the Top-5 after just 12 laps on the Marshalltown clay oval.

Gienger then clawed his way to third and was catching the leaders when he ran out of laps. Thanks to his crew, Gienger not only salvaged a top finish, but extended his points lead by another seven markers to take a 28-point advantage into the final five events of the season.

Gienger will be looking to pad his IMCA division championship lead even more when this at Marshalltown when he returns to action on Friday, August 4. The green flag will drop at 7 p.m. Central Time.

IMCA Modified racer Brent Hanson rounded out the EMP Stewart Components short-track action this weekend with an abbreviated run at Greenland (MI) Speedway.

Hanson (left) was involved in a wreck in his heat race and never got a shot at competing in the main event as rain hit the speedway and washed out the rest of the program.

Hanson will be looking for both better results and better weather when he returns to IMCA Modified action this Sunday, August 6, at Seymour (WI) Speedway.

Not all the action was on the oval tracks this weekend as the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) and the Rolex Grand American divisions strutted their stuff in a pair of events.

At Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA, J.R. Todd again proved to be the man to beat as he upset three-time NHRA POWERade champion Tony Schumacher for the second time in three weeks to earn Top Fuel honors in the Fram Autolite NHRA Nationals.

Todd bested Schumacher in the Top Fuel finals taking this win with a final pass of 4.619 seconds (309.27 mph) to Schumacher's stout but losing 4.679 (316.01 mph).

Also at Infineon Sunday, Eric Medlen and Chip Ellis scored division wins as Medlen took the Funny Car title beating Tony Pedregon with 4.854-second pass in the finals. Ellis, meanwhile, had an easy time scoring his second win of the season as he grabbed the Pro Stock Motorcycle final when Antron Brown red-lighted at the start.

In Pro Stock action, EMP Stewart Components racer Allen Johnson blasted his way into the semi-final round only to fall there to V. Gaines.

Johnson got rolling in Round 1 eliminations Sunday blasting his J&J Racing Dodge Stratus (left) to a 6.701-second, 206.23 mph win over Ron Krisher’s Chevy Cobalt. In Round 2, Johnson again proved to be the top dog taking out defending NHRA Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson with an even better 6.696, 206.61 mph effort. The run proved to be just enough as Anderson put up a fight that resulted in the closest finish of the day with Johnson winning by a scant five inches.

In the semi-finals, Johnson’s luck ran out as his Stratus, cooled by an EMP Stewart Components Electric Water Pump, fell to Gaines’ Dodge. Identical reaction times of 0.042-seconds made this a drag race to the finish with Gaines’ 6.675-second run just a tick or two better than Johnson’s 6.715 effort.

That pushed Gaines into the final round pairing with Jason Line where Line took the meet with a 045-second reaction time to Gaines' .076-second start. Line then held on to take the win by .02 seconds as he turned in a 6.672-second, 207.15 mph effort to Gaines' quicker but losing run of 6.668 seconds, 207.05 mph effort.

Two other EMP Stewart Components drivers – Kurt and Warren Johnson – made it to the Sweet 16 Sunday at Infineon only to fall in Round 1 eliminations.

Kurt Johnson’s AC Delco Chevy Cobalt fell to Tom Martino in Sunday’s opening round while his father, Warren Johnson, suffered the same losing fate red-lighting in his Round 1 match against Dave Connolly.

Next up for the NHRA straight liners will be the Lucas Oil Nationals at Brainerd, MN August 10-13. Television coverage of the final rounds will be shown Sunday, August 13, at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN2.

The Rolex Grand American Road Racing Series was back in action this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park with Jörg Bergmeister and Colin Braun taking the Daytona Prototype event over EMP Stewart Components racers Max Angelelli and Jan Magnussen.

Bergmeister held off Angelelli’s EMP Stewart Components cooled Pontiac Riley (left) in the final laps to take the win by 1.327 seconds. Angelelli’s runner-up effort gave the driver his seventh-consecutive Top-4 finish. The second-place finish was the best for Angelelli and Magnussen since their victory at Laguna Seca in May.

The strong effort Sunday, combined with the 10th-place outing by Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley co-drivers Scott Pruett and Luis Diaz, also boosted Angelelli into second in the Daytona Prototype driver standings.

"As usual, Jan did a fantastic job and helped me a lot," Magnussen said. "You have to finish the race to pick up points. This championship has raised the game so much. It has been a pleasure to race here in this championship, and even to finish second, fourth or top five, it's already a good result."

Mike Rockenfeller and Patrick Long picked up their second-straight podium result with a third-place run in their Porsche Crawford.

The Rolex Daytona Prototype cars will return to action Friday, August 11, in the Crown Royal 200 at Watkins Glen (NY) International. The event will be televised on a same-day, tape-delayed basis on The SPEED Channel at 9 p.m. Eastern Time.

This coming weekend will prove to be one of the biggest of the 2006 auto racing season as the NASCAR Nextel Cup cars return after a week off to compete in the Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The race will be televised live on NBC beginning at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time. MRN and XM Satellite Radio will also carry the event live.

After nearly three weeks off, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will spring back into action as part of the big Indy weekend competing in the Power Stroke Diesel 200 at O’Reilly Raceway Park Friday, August 4. The SPEED Channel will carry all the action beginning at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. Again, MRN and XM Satellite Radio will also carry the event live.

Finally, the NOPI drag racing crowd will also be in action this weekend completing at New England Dragway in Epping, NH Saturday-Sunday, August 5-6.

Top EMP Stewart Components stars Paul and Krysto Efantis are expected to compete when action gets underway Saturday at 2 p.m. Eastern Time.

Make sure you log on to www.stewartcomponents.com every Monday morning throughout the 2006 racing season to read about all the highlights from the previous weekend and get a leg up on what’s happening in the weekend ahead.