Welcome Race Fans! Fill your tank with some of that “High Octane” Jim Cates Signature Blend of Coffee, pull those seat belts tight and let’s go racin’! DirecTV 500 Martinsville Speedway 0.526 mile oval 12 degree banking - 500 laps Jimmie Johnson won the pole with a lap of 96.736 miles per hour. This track, known as “ The Paper clip”, is also known for tight racing. It showed on lap 7, as Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer and 5 other drivers were collected up in the first of 16 cautions. Tony Stewart dominated this race, and went on to win it. Chevrolet dominated, as all top five finishers drive them. Jeff Gordon was second, Jimmie Johnson finished third, Dale Earnhardt Jr. fought his way back to fourth, and Kyle Busch was fifth. Clint Bowyer finished 22nd. There were 12 lead changes among 6 drivers. Stewart won $220,000 for his efforts. Samsung/Radio Shack 500 Texas Motor Speedway 1.5 mile quad-oval 24 degree banking - 334 laps Kasey Kahne grabbed the pole by turning in a qualifying lap of 190.315 miles per hour. Greg Biffle led this race early and was pulling away when he was tagged in the rear by Kurt Busch. This led to some heated words by their significant others in the pits. Tony Stewart then took over, leading the most laps. Kasey Kahne took the lead away on lap 318 after pit stops, then drove away with the win. He is the 11th different winner in as many races at Texas. Matt Kenseth took second, Tony Stewart was third, rookie Denny Hamlin took fourth and Kevin Harvick finished fifth. Kahne won $530,000. There were 22 lead changes among 12 drivers, and 9 cautions for 43 laps. Subway Fresh 500 Phoenix International Raceway 1 mile oval 11/9 degree banking - 312 laps Kyle Busch got the pole with a lap of 133.745 miles per hour. This was an exciting “Saturday Night Under the Lights” race at Phoenix. This one looked to be another Rousch domination, as all 5 of his drivers led laps and finished in the top 15. Emporia native Clint Bowyer led his first laps of the year with a strong performance. In fact, 11 drivers led laps, with 20 lead changes. With only 7 cautions for 29 laps, there was a lot of green flag racing. In the end, several drivers ran out of fuel. Kevin Harvick, in the Goodwrench Chevrolet took the lead late and went on to victory, winning $228,000. Matt Kenseth was second, Tony Stewart was third, Carl Edwards was fourth, and Clint Bowyer was fifth, scoring his 1st top-5 of the year. The next race is at the Talladega Super Speedway on April 30th. I need to thank NASCAR, nascar.com, Sprint/Nextel, Jim Cates, Greg Palmer and Your Internet Service, and especially YOU, the fans! There’s the checkered flag, and I’ll see you in Victory Lane!