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No one tames the Monster Mile at Dover better than Jimmie Johnson. The five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion held off a determined charge by teammate and pole sitter Dale Earnhardt Jr. for a record breaking eighth win at the one mile concrete oval.

With Johnson's victory, his sixth of the year and 65th in his career, he broke the seven win tie at Dover he had with NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Bobby Allison.

“It's incredible. To do anything that Bobby or Richard has done is quite an accomplishment. We've had a few sneak away from us here, too, over the years. I'm just so happy to get that done and be the sole leader of race wins here,” Johnson.

After the last pit stop, with about 26 laps of racing to go Johnson had taken two tires and Earnhardt took four. The usual advantage of four fresh tires on a relatively long run didn't pay off on Sunday.

Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet SS, Dover. (Photo: NASCAR)

"Two (tires) worked good for us in practice," Johnson who led a race high 243-laps said. "And believe me, I wanted to see four tires line up in the fourth or fifth row. When they lined up right behind me, I thought I was going to have my hands full. And I really did. Junior drove a whale of a race, and track position really gave me the advantage I needed to hold him off."


Jimmie Johnson had a comfortable lead when the fourth caution of the relatively caution free race waved. All the leaders pitted. Earnhardt had little to lose and everything to gain taking four new tires. Especially after he had recovered from two miscues early in the race while looking to end a 47-race winless drought.


"Yeah, if you really look at the race as a whole, they did cost us a little bit, at least the mistake I made missing pit road completely. We had the lead, gave up the lead. Jimmie had the lead and was able to take advantage of that clean air when it counted.


"If I had not given up that track position, had a smart enough race to keep the lead when it counted right at the end, we might have won the race. It would have been hard to get by us, just like it was (hard) to get by Jimmie,” Earnhardt said.


Joey Logano recovered from a slow start to finish third was followed by Jeff Gordon in fourth (the third Hendrick Motorsports driver in the top four).

Series points leader, Matt Kenseth, led 36 laps but faded at the end to finish seventh. He holds a slim eight point lead over Johnson with seven races to go in the Chase. Kyle Busch, third in the Chase, was never a factor in the race but still finished fifth but fell to third in the points 12 points behind his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate.

Gordon and Kevin Harvick (who finished sixth) are tied for fourth in the points 39 markers behind.

From GMM

Antonio Felix da Costa is set to be announced as Daniel Ricciardo's successor at Toro Rosso for 2014.

That is the claim of Livio Oricchio, the respected F1 correspondent for Brazil's O Estado de S.Paulo newspaper, who was at Paul Ricard at the weekend for the latest Formula Renault 3.5 series race.

He wrote: "Only the official announcement is missing, but that should happen in the coming days."

Portuguese da Costa, 22, had suffered a performance dip earlier this season, but he won in France, and also last time out in Hungary.

"Today was an important day for me," he told Oricchio.

"I received a message from (Toro Rosso boss) Franz Tost, congratulating me for the result," da Costa also revealed.

Antonio Felix da Costa. (Photo: Renault)

The ultimate decision, however, will probably be made by Red Bull's driver manager, Helmut Marko.

"I think Dr Marko will be very happy for me to drive in formula one," said da Costa. "But the contract we signed last year is that he can put me wherever he wants. I like him (Marko) very much -- a hard man, but what you see is what you get."

Antonio Felix da Costa will now return to Red Bull's Milton-Keynes headquarters, to play an important role for the forthcoming Korea-Japan double header.

"I will be performing simulations (in the driver simulator) at dawn," he smiled.

Ahead of da Costa in the Formula Renault 3.5 standings, however, are the McLaren-backed Kevin Magnussen and Stoffel Vandoorne.

"All three of them, Magnussen, Vandoorne and da Costa, are very good drivers," quadruple world champion Alain Prost told Eurosport.

"But in my opinion, Magnussen should win the championship," he added, referring to the 20-year-old Danish son of former F1 driver Jan.

The good folks at Top Speed magazine recently came up with a speculative review of the 2015 Toyota Tundra Baja 1000, which could pose a threat to the fearsome Ford F-150 SVT Raptor. The image was created by designer David Kiss using several spy shots.

The editorial team also imagined what the 2015 Raptor will look like. Excited yet?

Click here to see the pictures: TopSpeed.com

Toyota Canada has issued a voluntary recall on 144,744 Corolla sedans from 2009-2010 because the trunk lid may begin to close after it has been opened. An unsuspecting user may be hit by the trunk lid and suffer a minor injury.

Owners who are dissatisfied with the performance of their Corolla's trunk lid can have the trunk springs replaced under special warranty coverage.

Source: Transports Canada

Photo: Philippe Champoux

On September 30th, 1955, James Dean suffered a deadly car accident in Cholame, California. Famous for his roles in Rebel Without a Cause and East of Eden, the 24-year-old actor failed to steer his Porsche 550 Spyder away from another vehicle at a road crossing.

Dean died, but the "curse" of his car lived on. Hollywood's George Barris broke one of his legs soon after buying the wreck for $2,500. He later sold some of the parts.

Two physicians, William Eschrid and Troy McHenry, bought the 550 Spyder's engine and transmission, respectively. During a race, the former was injured when he drove off the road, while the latter had a fatal encounter with a tree.

The person who bought the tires also crashed, while the two teenagers who attempted to steal the car suffered injuries in the process.

Wait, there's more: The California Highway Patrol got a hold of Dean's car and wanted to use it as a safety exhibit, but a fire occurred and slightly damaged the 550 Spyder while the other cars in the garage were unaffected.

Later, a trucker hauling the cursed Porsche was injured during an accident. Both the truck and the car mysteriously vanished in 1960 and were never seen again.

Photo: Wikipedia

From GMM

F1 veteran Gerhard Berger thinks it is possible Sebastian Vettel will break Michael Schumacher's records.

Not too long ago, former F1 driver and team co-owner Berger was among those who regarded Schumacher's title and victory records as near-unassailable.

The great Austrian has changed his mind.

"Sebastian can break Michael Schumacher's records," he told Servus TV, referring to Schumacher's huge tally of seven titles and 91 wins.

"He is quite clearly already in that direction, and I think he will do it," said Berger, who was Vettel's team boss at Toro Rosso when the German won his first race in 2008.

"He's not even 30 and he's already a four-time world champion," said Berger, who obviously assumes Vettel will convert his points lead into a fourth consecutive drivers' title this season.

"This (Vettel's career success so far) is really incredible," Berger added.

Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher, Brazil 2012. (Photo: WRi2)

Indeed, even Toto Wolff - Mercedes' competition boss - thinks Vettel could continue his run of form into 2014.

Bernie Ecclestone said recently that the huge rules shake-up could produce a different winner next year, but Wolff is quoted by the Telegraph: "The performance is being driven by people, and with people staying where they are in the top teams, I don't see there will be a big swing in the balance of power."

General Motors, introducing its first redesigned pickups since 2006, can't make enough of the most popular versions of its new Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, three people familiar with the effort told Bloomberg.

Mazda is recalling 161,400 Mazda6 sedans in the United States over defective door latches. The recalls affect Mazda6 models built before Aug. 24, 2012, for the 2009-2013 model years.

America's love affair with the automobile was on full display this weekend as thousands of people converged on a muddy field in rural Nebraska for the auction of one of the nation's largest collections of vintage Chevrolets

Day 1 of the

Editors note: The auction is done, and so is the live stream. Be sure to check out our look at the top sales from day 2 here.

Carmakers in Brazil are anticipating leases will spur demand for new models as a tax incentive expires and companies such as Audi start local production.

Lapo Elkann, whose older brother John is Fiat chairman, has become as a global ambassador for Italian design after a past as the wild child of Italy's billionaire Agnelli family.

The dashing Lapo Elkann is one of Italy's most eligible bachelors and habitué of male best-dressed lists. He has flirted with scandal and nearly died of a drug overdose in 2005. But those days are long gone.

Lexus' F Sport lineup is moving into a higher gear.

Mitsubishi's U.S. dealers desperate for compelling new product will instead be getting the Mirage.

Bulgaria is stepping up efforts to win more auto industry investment to build on the success of attracting a new vehicle plant for China's Great Wall Motors.

Rudolf Diesel, who invented the engine that bears his name, disappeared under strange circumstances on the evening of September 29th, 1913, while crossing the English Channel on the Dresden post office steamer.

Was it a suicide? A murder? No one knows exactly, even to this day, but Diesel was a German engineer born in France, and pre-WWI tensions were already high.

Diesel obtained patents for his design in Germany and other countries in 1897. Three years later, at the Exposition Universelle (world's fair) in Paris, he presented the first ''heavy oil'' engine on the market.

Mercedes (1936) and Peugeot (1938) sold the first Diesel-powered passenger cars in history.

From press release

Brendon Hartley and Jonatha Hirschi won the last round of the European Le Mans Series at Le Castellet in the Murphy Prototypes Oreca-Nissan, as Nelson Panciatici and Pierre Ragues clinched the title driving their Signatech Alpine.

Natacha Gachnang and Christian Klien took second place driving their Morand Racing Morgan-Judd ahead of the Jota Sport Zytek driven by Simon Dolan and Oliver Turvey.

However the day belonged to the Signatech Alpine team and the driver line up Nelson Panciatici and Pierre Ragues who were crowned 2013 ELMS Champions despite finishing 4th overall after a unscheduled pitstop for a replacement steering wheel.

Photo: Signature-team.com

Their nearest rivals for the title, Thiriet by TDS Racing and Pierre Thiriet had a torrid race after Mathias Beche lost a rear wheel forcing the car into the pits for several laps and destroying any title hopes they had.

The LMPC title went to Gary Hirsch and Paul Loup Chatin but the victory belonged to Soheil Ayari and Anthony Pons again despite technical issues for the championship winning car, forcing the team to take the car to the paddock for repairs.

However the Team Endurance Challenge crew got the car back on track and they secured enough points to be confirmed as 2013 champions.

Matt Griffin and Johnny Mowlem dominated the LMGTE proceeding to take the 2013 title in style with their third win of the season in the No. 52 RAM Racing Ferrari.

In GTC  the No. 69 SMP Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Fabio Babini, Viktor Shaitar and Kirill Ladygin took their 4th win from four starts in the 2013 ELMS to take the GTC title for the Russian team in their inaugural season on the European stage.

The "unflappable" Sébastien Loeb has overtaken Walter Rohrl as the best ever rally driver, according to the boss of M-Sport, Malcolm Wilson, as the World Rally Championship (WRC) gears up for the Rallye de France, probably Loeb's last ever WRC appearance.

It's a special relationship that bonds Loeb and Wilson, himself a former rally driver and two-time British champion, as the 57-year-old heads a rival team. Wilson's M-Sport is Ford's official partner in the WRC since 1997.

"I feel privileged that I've been here to see all of his nine championship wins," he admits in an interview with WRC.com, before adding "and sad too, because he's probably cost me seven out of the nine."

But Wilson doesn't seem to hold a grudge against the Frenchman: "He's my all time number one. It used to be Walter Rohrl, but then, sadly, his achievement was way surpassed.

The legendary Walter Rohrl (photo: WRC.com)

"To win nine consecutive championships is incredible."

Loeb is better than anyone else in the eye of Wilson because of the way he deals with pressure, and because of the way he deals with all types of surfaces.

"I think he's the complete all-rounder. He's won on every surface possible and has always had the speed," Wilson analyzes.

"But for me, the most important thing is the way that he's managed his rallies and, in fact, his whole career. He's totally unflappable and pressure just doesn't seem to faze him."

Sébastien Loeb is now looking for new challenges (Photo: V-Images.com/Eric Fabre)