Mopar power ruled the weekend in the K&N Filters SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway in Englishtown, N.J., as the Hemi-powered Brut Dodge Charger R/T piloted by Ron Capps went head-to-head with the Hemi-powered Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T of Gary Scelzi. In the end, despite qualifying 14th, Capps pulled out the victory, grabbing his fifth win of the NHRA POWERade Funny Car season and widening his points lead over John Force to 106 markers.

Capps knocked off Jim Head, Phil Burkart, and Tommy Johnson on his road to the final. Scelzi dispatched of Cruz Pedregon, Tony Pedregon and Tony Bartone en route to his first final of the year. Capps took the win on a holeshot, with a .079 reaction time to Scelzi's .133.

"If we do what we did last year from here on out, we're going to be fine," said Capps, who earned his 22nd career win and seventh finals appearance of the season. "I'm just trying to slowly enjoy this. It's an old race, it's historic, [it's on the] East Coast, everything about it is big. It's a dream come true."

"Everything is better now," said Scelzi, now seventh in the points standings. "We really started turning things around in Bristol, but we got behind and it's hard to make up that ground, especially when you have somebody like Capps, who is doing so well. And, good for him. They we're great last year and they're continuing it on, so good for them."

Whit Bazemore, the third member of Team Mopar's Funny Car contingent, qualified his Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Charger R/T ninth, but drew John Force in the first round. Force grabbed the win by a .0557 second margin of victory. Bazemore is eighth in the points chase.

Next up for the Team Mopar Funny Car drivers is this weekend's O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis. For more info on Capps, Scelzi, Bazemore or the NHRA, log on to shoeracing.com or nhra.com.

Team Mopar driver Allen Johnson has been hot as of late, and his run of solid performances saw no stopping in the K&N Filters SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway in Englishtown, N.J., over the weekend. Johnson piloted his J&J Racing Mopar Dodge Stratus R/T to his second pole of the season, with a pass of 6.645 at 207.53 mph, then defeated Mark Pawuk and the Hemi-powered Team Mopar/Valspar Dodge Stratus R/T of Richie Stevens Jr., on his way to a semifinals appearance, his second of the season.

In the semis, Johnson matched up with Jason Line. AJ was unable to take the win, losing to Line, the event winner, with a pass of 6.768 at 205.22 mph to Line's 6.725 at 206.42 mph. Johnson has now advanced to at least the quarterfinals in the past five races.

"We've picked up quite a bit of horsepower. Dad's [co-owner and crew chief Roy Johnson] done really good on the engines," said Johnson on his recent resurgence. "That's about 100 percent of [the improvement]."

The Team Mopar trio of Johnson, Stevens Jr., and rookie Shaun Carlson, who will look to qualify for his second Pro Stock race of the season in his Team Mopar/SRT Dodge Stratus R/T, will do battle this weekend in the O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis. For more info on Stevens Jr., Carlson, Johnson or the NHRA, log on to shoeracing.com, allenjohnson.com or nhra.com.

Team Mopar turned in solid performances in the weekend's USAC National Sprint Car Series Buckeye Nationals events at Limaland Motorsports Park and Eldora Speedway, both in Ohio. Tony Stewart Racing Enterprises' Josh Wise drove to a third-place finish at Eldora Speedway on Saturday night, after finishing eighth Friday at Limaland Motorsports Park. The No. 20 team also took top qualifier honors at Eldora. Wise continues to lead the series points chase.

Levi Jones and the No. 21 Tony Stewart Racing Enterprises team finished sixth on Friday. Battling chassis woes on Saturday, the 2005 USAC National Sprint Car Series champion ended his night in 12th place. Jones is currently third in the series points battle. Kyle Nicholas also competed for TSRE in both events, posting a 14th-place finish at Limaland on Friday.

Jerry Coons Jr., and the No. 69 Hoffman Auto Racing team had consistent runs at both facilities, earning ninth place on Friday and eighth place on Saturday. Coons Jr., is ranked eighth in the USAC National Sprint Car Series points chase, competing in dirt-only events. Ganassi development driver Bryan Clauson also had good runs, driving the No. 67 Keith Kunz Motorsports entry to a solid fifth-place finish on Friday and a fourth-place finish at Eldora on Saturday. Clauson is ranked fourth in series points.

The USAC National Sprint Car Series will resume action on June 23 at the Richmond International Raceway in Virginia. For more information regarding USAC Racing, log on to usacracing.com.

Dodge Motorsports' Ryan Newman returned to his USAC racing roots last week, as he competed in the Ryan Newman Night USAC Regional Midget Car Series event at South Bend Motor Speedway in Indiana, on June 14. Newman qualified the No. 39 Keith Kunz Motorsports machine in fourth place and transferred from the fourth heat race event to make the feature. The NASCAR star drove his Gary Stanton built Mopar-powered machine to a ninth-place finish in the feature event.

Ganassi Racing's development driver Bryan Clauson also competed in the event. Clauson qualified the No. 67 Keith Kunz Motorsports entry in second place and finished second in the second heat race event to transfer to the feature. The No. 67 team finished second in the feature event on the night.

Josh Wise, Levi Jones, Kyle Nicholas, Jerry Coons Jr., Clauson and the rest of the USAC National Midget Car Series will resume action on July 1 at Indianapolis Raceway Park. Coons Jr., leads the points chase heading into the event. For more information regarding USAC Racing, log on to usacracing.com.

Paul McMahan and the No. 20 Tony Stewart Motorsports team returned to National Sprint Tour action last week and saw tragedy strike the series. Days after McMahan posted an 11th-place finish at the NST event in Davenport, Iowa, on June 14, the National Sprint Tour event scheduled for June 18 at Tri-City Speedway was canceled, due to the untimely passing of National Sprint Tour promoter/owner Fred Brownfield. Race fans can send condolences to the Brownfield family by sending an e-mail to Erics@capdes.com with Fred Brownfield in the subject line. All messages will be passed on to the Brownfield family.

McMahan competed at Knoxville Raceway on June 17, winning the first heat race and driving to an eighth-place finish in the A-main for the night. McMahan and the NST series will resume action on June 21 at the Missouri State Fair Speedway in Sedalia, Missouri.

Joey Saldana and Tyler Walker were also in action last week, competing in World of Outlaws Sprint Series events at The Raceway @ Powercom Park and the Red River Valley Speedway on June 14, 16 and 17. Saldana kicked the week off with a sixth-place finish for Kasey Kahne Racing at The Raceway @ Powercom Park on June 14. The No. 9 had a strong finish to the week, earning a heat race win in the Duel In the Dakotas preliminary on Friday night. Saldana drove to a third-place finish to lock himself into Saturday's A-main. The team capped the weekend off with a third-place finish in Saturday's A-main event finale. Saldana is currently third in World of Outlaws Sprint Series points.

Walker and the No. 5 Forbrook Motorsports team picked up two second-place finishes at Red River Valley Speedway. Walker drove to a solid second-place finish in Friday's preliminary event. Winning Saturday's dash race, Walker took second for the second night in a row, to finish the weekend. The World of Outlaws Sprint Series will resume action on June 23-24 at Knoxville Raceway in Iowa.

For more information regarding the National Sprint Tour Series or the World of Outlaws Sprint Series, log on to nationalsprinttour.com or theworldofoutlaws.com.

Steve Francis and the No. 15 team returned to their home state over the weekend, as the World of Outlaws Late Model Series rolled into Western Kentucky Speedway. The "Kentucky Colonel" qualified 14th quick and took third in the second heat race event to transfer to the night's A-main event. Francis battled throughout the feature and drove the No. 15 machine to a 13th-place finish.

The No. 15 capped the weekend with a ninth-place finish in the Father's Day 50 at East Alabama Motor Speedway on June 18. Francis qualified fifth and ran strong throughout the feature event to earn another Top-10 finish.

The World of Outlaws Late Model Series will resume action on July 1 at Stateline Speedway. Francis is currently ranked fifth in series points and has won six late model races thus far in 2006.

For more information regarding Francis or the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, log on to stevefrancisracing.com or woolms.com.

In what will amount to a tire-smoking, sideways battle between drivers from two vastly different motorsports disciplines, Team Mopar's Samuel Hubinette, along with some of the hottest names in the D1 Professional Drift Grand Prix Series, including Yasuyuki Kazama and Ken Nomura, will take on Dodge Motorsports' Kasey Kahne, Bill Elliott and several of their NASCAR friends in the "Mopar D1 All-Star Duel presented by ShiftIntoGear." The event is the first-ever exhibition pitting drifting and NASCAR stars in head-to-head battle.

The "Mopar D1 All-Star Duel presented by ShiftIntoGear" is slated for August 31 at California's Irwindale Speedway, known as the "House of Drift," and the site of the first U.S. D1 drift event in 2003. The exhibition event pits eight headliners from America's most recognized form of racing, the Nextel Cup stock car series, against an equal number of pro drifters. Proceeds from the event, a natural lead-in to that weekend's NASCAR Nextel Cup race at the nearby California Speedway in Fontana, will benefit the Kasey Kahne Foundation, which raises and donates funds to charitable organizations that care for chronically ill children and their families.

"Drifting is really starting to take its place in the mainstream," said Kevin Miller, Senior Manager, Mopar Brand, Performance & Motorsports. "Mopar was there at the ground level, helping to grow the sport, and we're proud to help continue that growth by sponsoring this ground-breaking event and teaming up with NASCAR stars such as Kasey Kahne."

ShiftIntoGear, Inc., is one of the world's premier personal training and coaching resources for established racing professionals and young, up-and-coming development drivers alike. The company is jointly owned by Pennsylvania businessman Chris Evans and longtime driving instructor and professional racer Chris Cook, who carried the "Mopar D1 All-Star Duel presented by ShiftIntoGear" logo on his No. 43 Dodge while competing in the NASCAR Busch Series race at Kentucky Speedway over the weekend. Cook will also be training the NASCAR drivers in drifting technique prior to the event.

Tickets for the event can be purchased online at irwindalespeedway.com. For info on Hubinette, Kahne, D1, ShiftIntoGear, Mopar or the "Mopar D1 All-Star Duel presented by ShiftIntoGear," log on to samuelhubinette.com, kaseykahne.com, d1gp.com, shiftintogear.com, mopar.com or moparspeed.com.