Jessica Brunelli is a fan of "Jersey Shore" and "The Real World," so the 17-year-old race car driver knows just how addictive reality TV can be.

Addictive enough to draw in viewers who don't know Jeff Gordon from Jeff Burton? That's the gamble behind "Changing Lanes," a new show that airs not on a sports network but BET.

Yes, BET. Where better to reach a completely new audience?

Marcos Ambrose again took care of business in Nationwide qualifying at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. All he has to do now is finally take advantage of starting up front at the tricky 14-turn layout.

Ambrose turned a fast lap of 97.079 mph Saturday to edge Canadian star Jacques Villeneuve's 96.924 mph and take the pole for Sunday's Nationwide Series race.

Opportunity with KHI has given Sadler a second chance to stay in NASCAR

Elliott Sadler does a great job shilling for his sponsors, and he's a natural in front of cameras.

When his days as a NASCAR driver are over, the 13-year veteran probably is headed toward a healthy second career in television.

He just isn't ready to hang up his helmet yet.

As Kyle Busch crossed the finish line for a three-race sweep, his crew quickly credited the driver for his role in the record-setting moment.

"We are in the presence of greatness," a team member said over the radio.

Indeed, they were.

Busch completed an unprecedented sweep of three national races in one week, completing the trifecta with a victory in the Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway. He hoisted a broom in Victory Lane, where he made his third visit in four days.

Kyle Busch moved one step closer to sweeping the weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, winning the Nationwide Series race on Friday night after intentionally wrecking Brad Keselowski.

The boos rained down on Busch as he celebrated his 10th Nationwide victory of the season, and second since arriving at Bristol on Wednesday. He won the Truck Series race, and will try to make it a clean sweep Saturday night in the Sprint Cup Series race.

Busch is the defending champion of the Cup race.

Kyle Busch races to third straight NASCAR Trucks victory at Bristol Motor Speedway

Kyle Busch won his third straight NASCAR Trucks race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Wednesday night.

Busch, who won the pole position for the O'Reilly 200, was relegated to a 35th at the start because of an engine change after qualifying. It took him only 91 laps to power his way from the back of the field to the race lead.

The No. 18 Toyota driver then appeared to be cruising until a seven-truck crash on lap 198, put the race into overtime and a green-white checkered restart.

With a nondescript 19th-place finish at Michigan International Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. all but ensured he'll miss the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship for the third time in four years.

That wasn't supposed to happen. Not with all the resources Hendrick Motorsports poured into rebuilding Earnhardt's team in an effort to turn NASCAR's most popular driver if not into a champion, then at least a winner again.

Yet Earnhardt and his No. 88 team have fallen short again, and with three races left to set the Chase field, he's 129 points out of the 12th and final qualifying spot.

He was short with reporters following Sunday's race, in which he struggled most of the afternoon and was in no mood to discuss his Chase chances after his fifth consecutive finish outside the top 15.

"I just want to go home," he said. "It wasn't good. We were junk all day. We weren't good. We worked hard."

Earnhardt Jr. with National Guard troops in May in Charlotte. Photo by Jason Saine for the Lincoln Tribune.

A bum clutch didn't trip up Brad Keselowski. Neither did racing in close proximity with nemesis Carl Edwards.

Keselowski managed to make it through pit stops despite mechanical problems, then grabbed the lead on a restart with eight laps to go and pulled away to win the NASCAR Nationwide race at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday.

Paul Menard is taking his father's sponsorship money to Richard Childress Racing next season, giving that organization the financial security it needs to expand to the NASCAR-mandated maximum of four cars.

"When this opportunity to join RCR came about, it was a no-brainer," Menard said Wednesday.

RCR ran four cars last season, but let Casey Mears go at the end of the year when it failed to secure financing to keep that team running. As a four-car team, RCR struggled on the track and failed to put a single car in the 12-driver Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

Kahne to drive a Toyota for Red Bull in 2011 while waiting for Hendrick ride

Kasey Kahne finally has a ride locked down for 2011, at Red Bull Racing, where he will spend one season before moving to Hendrick Motorsports.

Kahne signed on to replace Mark Martin in the No. 5 Chevrolet at Hendrick in 2012, and team owner Rick Hendrick had to find a place to keep his new driver for one season. After negotiating for more than three months with different teams, Hendrick put together a deal for Kahne to drive one of Red Bull's two Toyotas.

"The process went on longer than any of us anticipated, but I'm glad that we took our time to make sure it was right," Hendrick said Tuesday. "And although I'm not looking forward to racing against him next year, I'm comfortable knowing this is the best situation for Kasey."

NASCAR moves championship Chase opener to Chicagoland Speedway for 2011

NASCAR will open the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup championship at Chicagoland Speedway, shifting the start of its title-deciding 10-race format to the second largest media market the series serves.

"I can't think of a better market than Chicago and the Chicagoland area to kick off NASCAR's version of the playoffs," track president Craig Rust said in an announcement made Monday in Chicago with NASCAR officials, current series points leader Kevin Harvick and defending race winner David Reutimann.

It was the first major change officially confirmed in what's expected to be several significant shifts to the 2011 Sprint Cup schedule.

Juan Pablo Montoya erased 113 races of futility Sunday, winning a duel with Marcos Ambrose and the Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen International.

Montoya, who started third, pulled away on a late restart from Ambrose, his biggest challenger all day, and beat Kurt Busch by 4.7 seconds in the 90-lap race around the 11-turn, 2.45-mile layout.

It was Montoya's second career victory, the other coming on NASCAR's other road course at Sonoma in 2007, 113 races ago. Ambrose was third, his third straight top-three finish at Watkins Glen, followed by AJ Allmendinger and polesitter Carl Edwards.

(File Photo by Jason Saine)

Bodine extends points lead in truck series with victory in Nashville

Points leader Todd Bodine earned his second victory of the season, winning the Nashville 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday.

Rookie Austin Dillon, the grandson of car owner Richard Childress, finished second, followed by Aric Almirola.

Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson say Pocono crash is in the past

"You wrecked me!"

"Did not!"

"Did so!"

"It was an accident."

"Was not."

"Was so."

Welcome to the prickly world of Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson, who just can't seem to stay out of each other's way on the racetrack.

A person familiar with the 2011 NASCAR schedule says Kansas Speedway will get a second race next year.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on Friday on condition of anonymity because the schedule hasn't been released. A formal announcement regarding a second Sprint Cup date at Kansas Speedway may come as soon as next week.

NASCAR team owner Jack Roush upgraded to fair condition as he recovers from plane crash

NASCAR team owner Jack Roush's condition has been upgraded to fair as he recovers from last week's plane crash in Wisconsin.

The 68-year-old Roush is at the Mayo Clinic. His team said Monday he will remain at the Minnesota clinic indefinitely to treat facial injuries.

Biffle snaps 64-race winless streak and wins for injured owner Jack Roush at Pocono Raceway

Greg Biffle won it for Jack Roush.

Biffle raced to victory in an often-delayed Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway on Sunday to snap a 64-race winless streak and take the checkered flag for his injured team owner.

Biffle hadn't won since the first two races in the 2008 Chase for the Cup championship. But with Roush in the Mayo Clinic for injuries sustained in a plane crash in Wisconsin, Biffle found Victory Lane.

Familiar position: Stewart takes pole at Pocono; Montoya, Hamlin next

Tony Stewart unbuttoned the top button on his racing suit and let out a sigh.

Qualifying for the pole always makes a trip to Pocono Raceway more fun. Stewart zipped his No. 14 Chevy for a qualifying lap Friday of 171.393 mph around the 2.5-mile triangle track to start from the top for Sunday's Pennsylvania 500.

"Man, it felt good," Stewart said. "If you want a place where you want good track position, it's here at Pocono."

File Photo: Tony Stewart at the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte in May. Photo by Jason Saine.

Hendrick Motorsports has signed Jeff Gordon crew chief Steve Letarte to a multiyear extension.

Letarte has been with Gordon since the end of the 2005 season. Gordon has 10 wins, 14 poles and leads NASCAR in top-five finishes since they teamed up.

File Photo: The pit crew of Hendrick Motorsports Dupont sponsored #24 car pushes the car onto pit row at Charlotte in May. The car is driven by Jeff Gordon.

Newman acknowledges he was fined by NASCAR for critical comments against series

Ryan Newman says he was one of the drivers fined by NASCAR for making critical comments about the racing series and hinted that Denny Hamlin was another.

Newman refused to disclose on Friday the amount of the fine or what he said. He implied that it was for comments he made after he crashed at Talladega Superspeedway.

File photo of Ryan Newman driving the #39 U.S. Army sponsored car at Charlotte in May.

NASCAR team owner Roush injured in Wisconsin plane crash, but walks away

NASCAR team owner Jack Roush was in serious but stable condition after walking away from a plane crash in Wisconsin on Tuesday night.

"There are injuries. Possible surgery," Roush Fenway Racing president Geoff Smith said in a text message to The Associated Press. "But he walked out of the plane."

Smith confirmed that the plane belonged to Roush, and he was flying it. Smith said Roush's injuries include facial lacerations.

NASCAR THIS WEEK
By Monte Dutton

Jeff Gordon's hometown could be considered Vallejo, Calif., where he was born, or Pittsboro, Ind., where he grew up.

Based on his record there, Indianapolis Motor Speedway is another place where Gordon feels right at home. He has won NASCAR's annual visit to the Brickyard a record four times. (As an aside, Gordon has won five times at Infineon Raceway, the track closest to his birthplace.)

Gordon's most recent Indy victory occurred in 2004. In the five races since then, though, Jimmie Johnson has won three times and Tony Stewart twice.

Photo: Former NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon (right, with team owner Rick Hendricks) is second in the standings despite not winning a race. (John Clark/NASCAR This Week photo)

Concerns about a half-empty race track dogged NASCAR long before Sunday's race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the sanctioning body's top officials didn't want to discuss attendance or any other ailments plaguing the nation's No. 1 racing series.

The conversation was instead steered to all the things NASCAR is doing right, a theme that became evident before the season started, when competitors spread a message of hope and unity.

Turns out that the racing series was serious about keeping everybody on point.

McMurray takes car owner Ganassi into record books with Brickyard victory

Juan Pablo Montoya once again had victory within reach at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Then questionable strategy cost him first the lead, and ultimately the race.

The benefactor of Sunday's gaffe was Jamie McMurray, Montoya's teammate at Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, who earned a spot in the history books with his surprise victory.

McMurray joined Jimmie Johnson (2006) and Dale Jarrett (1996) as the only drivers to win both the Daytona 500 and The Brickyard 400 in the same season by capitalizing on Montoya's collapse.

Former Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya wins Brickyard pole position

Juan Pablo Montoya is in a familiar spot at Indianapolis Motor Speedway — out front.

A year after a late speeding penalty denied him a victory at the Brickyard, he's hoping it sticks this time.

Montoya has steadfastly denied any lingering bitterness from last year's near-miss, or any notion that the Brickyard owes him one. Instead, the pole-sitter for Sunday's race is treating this visit as an entirely new opportunity.