8-11-10 —     Kyle Busch won his ninth Nationwide race of 2010, his sixth in his last

seven starts and 39th of his career by dominating the U.S. Cellular 250 in

front of a packed grandstand at Iowa Speedway.

    The remaining top-10 finishers were: Kevin Harvick, Jason Leffler, Brad

Keselowski, Trevor Bayne, Steven Wallace, Michael Annett, Justin Allgaier,

Matt Dibenedetto, and Carl Edwards.

    Top-10 points leaders after 21 of 35: 1. Keselowski-3349, 2.

Edwards-3118, 3. Kyle Busch-2876, 4. Allgaier-2833, 5. Menard-2620, 6.

Harvick-2609, 7. S. Wallace-2488, 8. Bayne-2365, 9. Gaughan-2347, 10.

Leffler-2326

SADLER WINS POCONO TRUCK RACE

    Top-10 Truck points leaders after 13 of 25: 1. Bodine-1993, 2.

Almirola-1844, 3. Sauter-1800, 4. Peters-1791, 5. Crafton-1748, 6.

Dillon-1730, 7. Hornaday-1725, 8. Skinner-1724, 9. Starr-1652, 10.

White-1627

NASCAR CREDIBILITY IS SLIPPING

    NASCAR racing has been experiencing shrinking television ratings, and

more and more empty stadium seats.

    While the economy has hurt many fans by taking money out of their

pockets, CEO Brian France and the other NASCAR bosses appear to be

dangerously out of touch with the fans.

    Their words and action may be hurting the sport as much as the economy.

They have repeatedly told drivers to "voice their opinions," but it was

learned last week, they had fined two drivers for making statements that

"damaged" the NASCAR brand name.

    Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin were the drivers.

    "I was not happy about it," Newman said. "I was frustrated about it,

mostly because I didn't understand what it was and why it was.

    "There's no point in repeating it because that's what got me in trouble

in the first place."

    The fine was for comments Newman made following a crash in the April

race at Talladega. He said restrictor-plate races shouldn't be points races,

that "this was something different besides racing" and the events are more

marketing tools than competitions.

    "We all need to be positive about the sport in every aspect of it," said

Hamlin. "It's something we make our living on, its something we enjoy. Let's

sit back and think about something before we say it and NASCAR reminded us

of that.

    "You can be opinionated and they want you to be opinionated, you just

can't question whether it's a fixed sport or not.

    "I told them over and over, ŒWhat if I don't agree with something? What

do you want me to say? Do you want me to lie and tell something that I don't

really truly believe in, because I've never been brought up to do that.

    "They said, ŒNo, but there's different ways to do it.' Š if I am in the

heat of the moment, I for sure will pull the reins back.

    "They know how to make you pay one way or another."

    I received this e-mail from Peggy M. of Ellsworth, ME: "The drivers are

what makes NASCAR tick. Jeff Gordon is my favorite. If something were to

happen on the track and he couldn't speak his mind, I'd be terribly

disappointed. I get very emotional watching the races. If NASCAR tries to

turn the drivers into their clones, my emotions will disappear, and so will

fans like me."

    NASCAR is constantly telling drivers and everyone involved to work for

the good of the sport. When the tight lid of secrecy winds up putting them,

and not the drivers in a poor light, the time is quarter past midnight.

    E-mail us your take on NASCAR's recent actions towards Hamlin and

Newman. If we use your comments, we'll send you an 8X10 of your favorite

driver.

    Weekend Racing: The Sprint Cup and Nationwide teams are at the 12-turn

road course at Watkins Glen, NY, while the Camping World Trucks are at the

1.5-mile Nashville Superspeedway.

    Sat., Aug. 7, Nationwide Series Zippo 200, race 22 of 35; Starting time:

1:30 p.m. ET; TV: ESPN2.

    Sat., Aug 7, Camping World Series Tennessee 200, race 14 of 25; Starting

time: 8:00 p.m. ET; TV: Speed.

    Sun., Aug. 8, Sprint Cup Heluva Good Sour Cream Dip, race 22 0f 36;

Starting time: 1 p.m. ET; TV: ESPN.

    Racing Trivia Question: Where is Robby Gordon's home state?

    Last Week's Question: Who was the 2005 Sprint Cup champion? Answer. It

was Tony Stewart.

    You may contact the Racing Reporter at: hodgesnews@earthlink.net