Joey Saldana and the No. 9 Kasey Kahne Racing team wrapped up World of Outlaws Sprint Series action at Knoxville Raceway last week with a solid performance. Saldana won the third heat race event to lock himself into the A-main feature, where he drove to an eighth-place finish. The team is ranked third in the World of Outlaws Sprint Series points chase, heading into the series' final events of 2006.

Paul McMahan and the No. 20 Tony Stewart Motorsports team once again battled Mother Nature, as rain washed out a second attempt for the National Sprint Tour Series to compete at Southern New Mexico Speedway in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on October 7. As the series heads into its final events of the season, McMahan is ranked sixth in the championship chase.

The World of Outlaws Sprint Series will resume action this Satuday at Wilmot Speedway in Wisconsin. The National Sprint Tour Series will return to action on Friday and Saturday at the Tulare Thunderbowl in California. For more information regarding the National Sprint Tour Series or the World of Outlaws Sprint Series, log on to nationalsprinttour.com or theworldofoutlaws.com.

Hoffman Auto Racing's Jerry Coons Jr., wrapped up the USAC National Sprint Car Series' last appearance in the Midwest this season by earning two Top-Five finishes in the Fall Harvest Classic at the Terre Haute Action Track on October 6-7. Coons Jr., drove the No. 69 machine to a third-place finish on Friday night in the 20-lap preliminary feature event. The Hoffman Auto Racing team wrapped up the weekend with a solid fifth-place run in the event finale on Saturday night.

Keith Kunz Motorsports' driver Brady Bacon, in only his third and fourth USAC National Sprint Car Series starts, drove the No. 67K machine to an impressive seventh-place finish on Friday night. Bacon followed his performance up with a ninth-place finish in Saturday's feature event. Darren Hagen also had a solid weekend for Keith Kunz Motorsports, as he drove the No. 67 to an 11th-place finish on Friday and an eighth-place finish on Saturday night.

Tony Stewart Racing Enterprises' Josh Wise and Levi Jones were able to extend their lead in the USAC National Sprint Car Series, as Wise set quick time on Friday night en route to a fourth-place finish in the No. 20 machine in the feature event. He wrapped up the weekend with a 17th-place finish. Jones won the first heat race event on Friday to cap the night with a 13th-place finish. He and the No. 21 team ended the weekend with an 18th-place finish on Saturday.

Wise continues to lead the USAC National Sprint Car Series points championship, followed by Jones in second place. Hagen is currently ranked sixth in the championship standings, followed by Coons Jr., in seventh.

Steve Francis and the No. 15 Steve Francis Racing team returned to Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway again over the weekend, with this trip seeing the World of Outlaws Late Model Series winning the battle against Mother Nature. The Pittsburgh 100 event, which had been rained out earlier in the season, was completed on October 8. Francis drove to a second-place finish in the dash, setting the stage to collect a ninth-place finish in the A-main event.

Francis is currently ranked sixth in the World of Outlaws Late Model Series championship chase. The "Kentucky Colonel" has earned two series victories in 2006, as well as 12 Top-five finishes and 22 Top-10 finishes in feature event action. He is only 60 points behind series leader Tim McCreadie.

Francis and the World of Outlaws Late Model Series will return to action on October 13-14 at Volusia Speedway Park. For more information regarding the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, log on to woolms.com.

Entering the final Formula D event of 2006, Team Mopar's drifting star Samuel Hubinette holds a 36-point lead in the chase for the Formula D championship. The "Crazy Swede" can almost taste his second title, but he knows the path to victory won't be easy with the tough competitors he will face at Southern California's Irwindale Speedway this Saturday in what is being billed as the "Final Fight" for the championship.

"Rhys [Millen, second in points] is still in this, and I know he's going to be on top of his game," said Hubinette. "He wants this championship just as much as I do. Tanner Foust also has a chance to take the title, and there are so many other drivers who are capable of great performances. I know how tough these guys are, so I'm not taking anything for granted. I know I need to stay focused to bring home this championship for myself and for Mopar."

Hubinette, the inaugural 2004 Formula D champion and runner-up in 2005, began the 2006 campaign with a win at Long Beach in April. He scored a runner-up at Atlanta in May, another victory at Chicago in June, and a fourth-place showing at Sonoma in July. At the August event in Seattle, Hubinette's NuFormz Racing team, led by owner Shaun Carlson and with help from Seattle's Maltby Motorsports, swapped a new engine into Hubinette's Mopar Dodge Viper SRT10 overnight after practice. Hubinette came back to score a hard-fought, seventh-place finish at the event and kept his title hopes alive.

At the last race, the Round 6 event in New Jersey, Hubinette displayed the power of his new engine, qualifying second, taking the win and regaining the points lead. His three wins are a series high, and the "Crazy Swede" will look to carry over the momentum from his Jersey victory to Irwindale Speedway, which is known as the "House of Drift."

The Round 7 final event of the 2006 Formula D season takes place this Saturday, October 14, at Irwindale Speedway. For schedule and ticket information about the event, log on to formulad.com or irwindalespeedway.com.