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One week after finishing third in the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix, Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen is preparing to make his asphalt rally debut at the Rally della Marca in Italy this weekend.

Raikkonen, who was F1 world champion in 2007, will drive an Abarth Grande Punto S2000 on Saturday’s event, which starts from the town of Pederobba. The one day rally comprises ten special stages and a total of 124 competitive kilometres.

So far this season, rally fan Raikkonen has already contested two winter rallies in his native Finland - the Arctic Rally and the Rally of Mikkeli - but this weekend marks his first rally on asphalt.

As on his previous rallies, he will be co-driven by fellow Finn Kaj Lindstrom, the man who formerly partnered multiple WRC champion Tommi Makinen.

Congrats go out to Helio Castroneves for not only turning his life around in a complete 360 from the bad year he had in 2008 and uncertain future with the IRS, but for also winning the Indy 500 - for the THIRD time!

“This is incredible,” Castroneves said. “I think my tears speak for everything. What a great team. I just have to thank, first of all, the Lord for giving me this opportunity, to be strong, to have a family that I have. I have to think Roger (Penske), Tim (Cindric), my guys, Phillip Morris, all the associates (sponsors), Verizon, everybody because they gave my life back. I’m here today because of those guys. And obviously the fans. You guys don’t understand. You guys kept me strong. You guys are the best. I’m honored to have fans like you. Thank you so much. Let’s celebrate now.”

Sebastien Loeb, the winningest driver in the World Rally Championship series, is in a slump. No doubt about it, the “king of wins” in FIA’s WRC series is not having a good week - or a good season for that matter.

The extraordinary run of wins from the Citroen Total World Rally Team and its lead driver Sebastien Loeb came to an end in Sardinia today, where the team had to console itself with fourth place for Loeb and 22nd for Dani Sordo.

Loeb and his co-driver Daniel Elena had actually completed the final stage in third place but soon after were handed a two-minute time penalty which dropped them back a spot.

At the end of the first day of the rally, Loeb had seemed well placed to challenge for a record breaking seventh consecutive rally victory this weekend. But his puncture on Saturday afternoon ended his chances.

Best of luck to Loeb and his team for the rest of the 2009 season.

What’d I tell you? Jenson Button was on the top of the podium again following the Monaco Grand Prix in the Formula One series this weekend.

This is Button’s fifth win in the 2009 season - how far will he go? - it’s still pretty early in the season!

There was not a single moment when he ever looked like losing this one, as he stretched his points score to 51, and his lead to 16 over Barrichello. His only error came following the chequered flag when, in his jubilation, he parked his car in the wrong parc ferme area and had to jog all the way to the podium like the triathlon runner he is. It was a pluperfect performance.

Here we go again (and again and again and again)… NASCAR has posted on its website that a penalty has been imposed upon Carl Long and his team in the #146 car… Already fans are questioning the severity of this penalty based upon what seems to be such a minor infraction:

NASCAR has issued penalties, suspensions and fines to the No. 146 team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, as a result of rules infractions committed during last weekend’s event at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Driver Carl Long and owner Danielle Long have been penalized with the loss of 200 driver and 200 owner points, respectively, suspended from the next 12 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship events, suspended from NASCAR until Aug. 18 and placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31.

The final act in Hollywood Hills Speedway history will play out this weekend as the Discount Tire Co. ASCS Canyon Region takes to the semi-banked, 3/8-mile clay oval in San Felipe Pueblo, NM for the 30th Annual Buddy Taylor Memorial.

The wingless forces of the ASCS Canyon Region will battle it out on both Saturday and Sunday night, with Sunday night’s feature winner pocketing $2,500. Midgets and Micro Sprints will be on the card as well.

The weekend also marks the opening two legs of the Discount Tire Co. ASCS Wing vs. Non-Wing Challenge Series, a selected slate of eight events including both the wingless ASCS Canyon Region and the winged ASCS Southwest Region.

This weekend’s action will also bring the final curtain down on Hollywood Hills Speedway as the facility will be closed due to unsafe conditions of the masonry structures at the track.

“The closing is unfortunate as it seems that great things were beginning to happen at the speedway,” commented Ron Brown of Casino Hollywood in an official release distributed last week. “The speedway has some issues and we felt it was too much liability to keep it operating. This is really an unforeseen turn of events and is truly a sad day for Casino Hollywood and the speedway.”

2009 is shaping up to be a BIG year for open wheel race car driver Sarah Fisher. This week Sarah’s camp announced that Angie’s List, the nation’s leading provider of ratings on local service providers, signed on to support hometown Sarah Fisher during the Indianapolis 500.

With a bevy of new sponsors, TV commercials and opportunities, perhaps 2009 will be “the year” for Sarah Fisher - and maybe even an IRL win as well?

Best of luck to Sarah and her team this season!

OK - so it’s no secret that I’m a major Tony Stewart fan. I think the only one happier than Tony that he was switching from the Joe Gibbs Toyotas back to Chevy with his own team at Stewart-Haas racing was ME! I just knew this would be an unforgettable season, and with Tony’s first Cup Win in his own car from his own team being at the 2009 All-Star race in Charlotte is just icing on the cake!

Congrats Tony - and here’s to many, many more wins in 2009!

Ah… Toledo Speedway, my home town track. I grew up in Toledo suburb Maumee, just blocks away from the Lucas County Recreation Center where the midget racing track was located. I could hear the sounds of the race - and the Toledo Mud Hens game - from my bedroom window on still, muggy Ohio summer nights.

Wish I could have made it to Toledo Speedway just once. Now out on the left coast, all I read about are the awesome ARCA series events that happen at this track, all the amazing action that I’m missing out here in California.

This week, you can catch the action in LIVE VIDEO and AUDIO STREAMS from Toledo Speedway and get a little taste of the action for yourself. Just tune in to www.arcaracing.com and don’t miss a moment!

Live streaming video and audio returns to ARCAracing.com/ARCA Nation this Saturday and Sunday, May 16 & 17 from Toledo Speedway for both the ARCA RE/MAX Series Menards 200 finale and the ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series K-100.

All on track activity for both series, including practice, qualifying and the races, will feature live video and audio streams all weekend long.

Last week we talked about all the drug/substance abuse violation suspensions in NASCAR in the 2009 season, and now we must discuss the high volume of rule violations in this series as well.

WHAT IS GOING ON?

Again I must ask, is NASCAR just becoming more diligent (while still turning a blind eye to blatant rules violations by “pet” drivers) or are these violations a sign of something bigger? As more teams outside the Toyota realm try to find ways to get wins, cheating is becoming more and more prevalent. Fans have expressed outrage at series forums and in online discussions about specific drivers and teams, demanding an investigation by NASCAR sanctioning staff, but no relief has come.

Until then we must be content to see violators punished and fined as we have in this week’s example. According to CarRacing.com: NASCAR announced that Michael Allen, crew chief for the No. 91 Chevrolet driven by Terry Cook in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, has been fined due to rule violations during this past Friday’s event at Darlington Raceway.

The infractions were discovered on May 7 during opening-day inspection.