After leading the Formula D Drift points race for the entire year, Team Mopar's Samuel Hubinette fell to second following the Round 5 event at Seattle. The heat was on and it was crunch time entering Round 6 at New Jersey's Wall Township Speedway. Hubinette knew it was do or die. The "Crazy Swede" had to deliver.

And deliver he did, piloting his NuFormz Racing Mopar Dodge Viper SRT10 to his third win of the season on Saturday, taking a 36-point lead over Rhys Millen entering the last event, scheduled for October 14 at Irwindale Speedway in California. If Hubinette, the inaugural 2004 Formula D champ, emerges on top after Irwindale, he will have earned his second championship in the first three years of the series.

Hubinette had his best qualifying effort of the year, taking the second spot and knocking out Seigo Yamamoto in the Top 16, followed by Kenji Yamanaka in the Great Eight round, and Hiro Sumida in the Final Four, setting up a final round match-up against Tanner Foust. With his win over Foust, Hubinette now has notched eight career Formula D event victories.

"Coming out of Seattle and dropping down from the points lead was hard to deal with," Hubinette said. "I had a rough time at this track last year, and I was so hungry when we got to New Jersey to climb up as high as possible in the points race heading into Irwindale. It's still a battle and anything can happen, but our performance here definitely gives us room to breathe."

"This was a great team effort," said Shaun Carlson, owner of NuFormz Racing. "Sam was on his game the entire weekend, and Kenny [Nevins] and the entire NuFormz Racing crew really earned their keep at New Jersey. If we want to win the championship, we can't have any let up at Irwindale. The competition is just too tough to let our game slip."

For information on the Round 7 season-ending event at Irwindale Speedway, log on to irwindalespeedway.com. For more info on Formula D or Mopar, log on to formulad.com, moparspeed.com or mopar.com.

Tony Stewart Racing Enterprises' Josh Wise won the battle in USAC National Sprint Car Series competition on Friday, as he drove the No. 20 machine to a victory at Lucas Oil Speedway in Missouri. Wise and his teammate Levi Jones have swapped the series points lead for the past few months, and Wise's win saw him regain the top position as the series heads into this week's race.

Jones and the No. 21 Tony Stewart Racing Enterprises team qualified second quick on the night and came back from a flip in the second heat race to finish the feature event in sixth. Jones wrapped up the weekend ranked second in the USAC National Sprint Car Series points chase.

Hoffman Auto Racing's Jerry Coons Jr., also turned in an outstanding performance, as he drove the No. 69 machine to a second-place finish in the feature event. Coons Jr., and the Hoffman team are currently ranked seventh in the series' championship standings.

Ganassi Racing development driver Bryan Clauson kicked off his night with a heat race win and was running well in the feature when a flip on lap 16 ended his night. The young standout was transported to a local hospital for x-rays. The USAC Racing Web site indicated that Clauson underwent surgery for neck injuries on Sunday and is recovering at St. John's Hospital in Springfield, Missouri. Clauson is currently ranked third in the USAC National Sprint Car Series Championship standings.

The USAC National Sprint Car Series will return to pavement racing this coming weekend, as Wise, Jones and the rest of the series are set to compete at Iowa Speedway on September 16-17. For more information regarding USAC Racing, log on to usacracing.com.

The Clabber Girl Hut Hundred USAC National Midget Car Series event at the Terre Haute Action Track on September 9 proved to be a challenge for Team Mopar, as Tony Stewart Racing Enterprises' Levi Jones drove away with the lone Top-10 finish for the group. The No. 21 team overcame a 30th-place qualifying run to battle the field for a sixth-place finish in the A-main event. Jones' effort helped him maintain his sixth-place standing in the USAC National Midget Car Series championship chase.

Wilke-PAK Motorsports' Jerry Coons Jr., drove the No. 11 machine to an 11th-place finish in the 100-lap feature event. Carrying the series points lead into the event, Coons Jr., was able to extend his championship lead over the field. His Wilke-PAK Motorsports teammate Tracy Hines won the first qualifying race en route to a 34th-place feature finish.

Tony Stewart Racing Enterprises' Josh Wise also competed in the event. While running in traffic, Wise flipped on lap 32, and the No. 20 machine was retired early from the event. Wise was credited with a 26th-place finish and remains fifth in the series' championship chase.

The USAC National Midget Car Series will resume action on September 16-17 at Iowa Speedway. For more information regarding USAC Racing, log on to usacracing.com.

Paul McMahan and the No. 20 Tony Stewart Motorsports team continued its onward march on the western swing last week, as McMahan earned two Top-five finishes and one Top-10 finish in National Sprint Tour Series and World of Outlaws Sprint Series action. The team kicked off the week with a heat race win and a ninth-place finish in National Sprint Tour Series action on September 5. McMahan is currently ranked sixth in the series championship chase.

The No. 20 team moved on to Silver Dollar Speedway on September 7-9 for the 53rd Annual Gold Cup Race of Champions event. McMahan set quick time on Thursday night to kick off the weekend. He drove to a fourth-place finish in the A-main. In Saturday's A-main final, McMahan battled through traffic en route to a solid fifth-place finish in the World of Outlaws Sprint Series sanctioned event.

Joey Saldana and the No. 9 Kasey Kahne Racing team also picked up a Top-10 finish in Gold Cup preliminary action. Saldana drove the No. 9 machine to a sixth-place finish in Friday night's preliminary event. The No. 9 team wrapped up the weekend with a 16th-place finish in Saturday's A-main event finale. Saldana remains second in the World of Outlaws Sprint Series points championship.

McMahan and the National Sprint Tour Series will move on to Sweetwater Speedway on September 15-16. Saldana and the World of Outlaws Sprint Series will return to action on September 15 at Eagle Raceway and on September 16 at Jackson Speedway.

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 Eldora Speedway over the weekend to compete in the legendary World 100 event. Francis kicked off the event by qualifying solidly for the event on Friday night, setting himself up for a starting position in the sixth heat race on Saturday.

Francis drove the No. 15 machine to a fourth-place finish in the sixth heat and nabbed the final transfer spot in the second B-main event on Saturday to lock himself into the feature event field. "The Kentucky Colonel" battled mechanical issues throughout the feature event and wrapped up the weekend with a 25th-place finish in Saturday night's finale.

Francis also fielded a car for NASCAR star Ryan Newman in the "NEXTEL Prelude to the World" event at Eldora Speedway in Ohio on September 6. Newman earned second-place qualifier honors and won the B-main event en route to a 14th-place finish in the A-main. An on-track altercation led to Newman's early departure from the event.

Francis will compete in late model racing action in Virginia this coming weekend, before returning to World of Outlaws Late Model Series competition on September 22-23 at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway. Francis is currently ranked sixth in the World of Outlaws Late Model Series points chase, only 62 points behind series leader Tim McCreadie. For more information regarding the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, log on to woolms.com.

By Judy Stropus

Team Mopar driver Ron Capps, who drove his Brut Revolution Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car to the semifinals at the prestigious NHRA U.S. Nationals last week and took back the points lead, made a diversion from the quarter-mile and headed to Eldora Speedway on Wednesday.

Capps competed in the NEXTEL Prelude to The World for the second straight year. He squared off against 17 NASCAR, USAC and dirt-racing stars on the half-mile clay high-banked oval, including Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, JJ Yeley, Kenny Wallace, Denny Hamlin, Bill Elliot, Red Farmer, Bobby Labonte, Levi Jones, Dave Blaney, Mike Wallace, Ken Schrader, Ryan Newman, Mark Martin, Kurt Busch and Josh Wise.

After qualifying sixth with a 16.1-second lap time (Stewart set best time at 15.457 seconds), Capps finished second in his 10-lap heat to Blaney, qualifying for the 25-lap A-main. In that event, he ran as high as third and had an exciting back-and-forth rally with Schrader, but failed to hold off a hard-charging Stewart, who came from the back row to pass Capps and two others to take the victory. Capps captured fourth place.

"It was awesome," said Capps. "It raised a lot of money for Kyle Petty and the Victory Junction Gang. It [the event] was packed again. There were about 28,000 people there. It was pretty wild."

For more info on Capps or the NHRA, log on to shoeracing.com or nhra.com.