Rich Romer recaps the weekend’s major racing in the current edition of RaceBeat.

NASCAR Nextel Cup: Casey Mears looked wide-eyed around Victory Lane, astounded by the celebration surrounding him. He gambled his way to his first Nextel Cup win, stretching his fuel to the finish line in the Coca-Cola 600. It put a Mears back in Victory Lane on the biggest day in racing for the first time since 1991, and the nephew of four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Rick Mears was overwhelmed by the moment. Struggling through his first season at elite Hendrick Motorsports, Mears ran strong all night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, but only took the lead when others ducked onto pit road for a splash of gas. The No. 25 team — considered the weakest of Hendrick’s four-team fleet — pushed its Chevrolet to the finish, finally running out of gas moments after Mears took his first checkered flag. It was Hendrick’s fifth consecutive win and the ninth in the past 10 Nextel Cup races, but it came from the unlikeliest driver. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch have all won races this season, but Mears came into the race 35th in the standings with only one top-10 finish. J.J. Yeley, like Mears considered one of the drivers in jeopardy of losing their ride to make room for free agent Dale Earnhardt Jr., finished second for the first top-five finish of his career. Kyle Petty was third — his first top five in 10 years — and quickly praised Mears, who was friends with Petty’s late son, Adam. Reed Sorenson was fourth, and Brian Vickers was fifth in the highest finish this season for Toyota In fact, the top five all celebrated their best result of the year. Tony Stewart, who seemed to have the win in the bag after Jimmie Johnson gave it away in the pits, wound up sixth after figuring he was two laps short on fuel and had to make a late stop.

NASCAR Busch Series: Kasey Kahne hasn’t forgotten how to drive. After a difficult start to the 2007 season, Kahne grabbed the lead from Greg Biffle with 42 laps to go and went on to win the Carquest Auto Parts 300 Busch Series race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Kahne won six Nextel Cup races last year but has only one top-10 finish in ‘07 and sits 30th in the point standings. In six Busch races this year for Evernham Motorsports, Kahne has one top-10, a seventh at Atlanta. But running outside the top 10 on a caution with 56 laps to go, Kahne and crew chief Mike Shiplett decided not to pit, restarting third on lap 148 of 200. Four laps after another restart, Greg Biffle slid up the track off Turn 2, and Kahne and third-place Casey Mears slipped past. Mears trailed Kahne the rest of the way. Mears ended up second in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, with Clint Bowyer (Richard Childress Racing) third Jeff Burton (RCR) fourth and Regan Smith (Ginn Racing) fifth. Sixth went to Jimmie Johnson (Hendrick Motorsports), seventh to Matt Kenseth (Roush Fenway Racing), eighth to Kyle Busch (Hendrick), ninth to Scott Wimmer (RCR) and 10th to Stephen Leicht (Robert Yates Racing). Point leader Carl Edwards had a rough night, spinning off Turn 4 to bring out the third caution and struggling with his car’s handling. He ended up 17th, finishing off the lead lap for the first time this season. Edwards leads Kevin Harvick - who isn’t running the full season - by 423 points, with Dave Blaney third, 578 behind.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: Dennis Setzer outwitted the competition for his 17th career NASCAR Craftsman Truck series victory, running the entire rain-delayed Ohio 250 without a pit stop at Mansfield Motorsport Park. Setzer, driving a Chevrolet, took the lead on the 239th of 250 laps around the half-mile oval when leader Rick Crawford cut down a tire in the fourth turn. Setzer, who started 16th in the 36-truck field, snapped a winless streak of 41 races and gave his Spears Motorsports team its fourth victory and first since 2004. The winner averaged just 52.873 mph, with 103 laps run under the caution — most due to track drying as rain showers produced three stoppages totaling 5 hours, 37 seconds. Jack Sprague, who was second for the third consecutive time after winning the inaugural Mansfield race in 2004, couldn’t believe that Setzer hadn’t pitted Nextel Cup veteran Ken Schrader finished third for Dodge’s first top five of the season.

Indy Racing League: In 2002, Dario Franchitti contended the Indianapolis 500 was an interruption of his CART schedule. It was the Scotsman’s first foray to the historic 2.5-mile ribbon of asphalt with then-Team Green, and “I just didn’t get it.” Five years removed, Franchitti is the Indianapolis 500 champion The Andretti Green Racing driver inherited the lead on Lap 155 when teammate Tony Kanaan pitted, and the No. 27 Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone splashed across the finish line under the yellow/checkered flag combination on Lap 166 as rain doused the cavernous facility. Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon was runner-up, while pole sitter and two-time 500-Mile Race winner Helio Castroneves of Team Penske finished third. Sam Hornish Jr., who last year gave team owner Roger Penske his 14th Indy 500 title, finished fourth and Ryan Briscoe in the No. 12 Luczo Dragon Racing car (a Team Penske satellite program) rounded out the top five. Franchitti’s sentiments about the “500″ began to turn in 2003, when he competed full time in the IndyCar Series with Andretti Green Racing. He finished where he started (sixth) in 2005 and last year advanced 10 positions to finish seventh. And the 2007 edition of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” played out before a boisterous crowd of more than 250,000, had numerous turns that determined the finish order. Race Day started and ended with rain. Though the 33 cars took the green flag from honorary starter Peyton Manning at the appointed time, the red flag flew on Lap 113 because of a cloud burst that enveloped the racetrack. After a 2-hour, 57-minute delay, Kanaan led the field to the green flag. During the three pace laps, Franchitti pitted because of a right-rear tire puncture. AGR drivers - Kanaan, Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti - took turns on the point during the ensuing 20 laps (Kanaan leading Patrick by 0.4277 of a second on Lap 135). But the teammates, who last pitted on Lap 100, ducked in for 22 gallons of ethanol and four Firestone Firehawks under green on Lap 137, Franchitti assumed the lead. The deal was sealed on a Lap 163 when a multi-car crash on the backstretch, sparked by the Nos. 10 (2005 winner Dan Wheldon) and 26 (Marco Andretti) cars touching wheels. The cars of Ed Carpenter and Buddy Rice also were involved. As the Delphi Safety Team was clearing the racetrack, the skies opened.

Formula One: Spain’s two-time Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso won his second successive Monaco Grand Prix to record his McLaren team’s 150th success. Alonso — recording his 17th career victory — beat team-mate Lewis Hamilton, his fourth successive second place in his maiden season, while Felipe Massa of Ferrari was third, his best result in the race. Alonso led by seven seconds after 20 laps with Hamilton recording the fastest lap of the race at the time and Massa in third. It was the McLaren team’s first one-two finish at the famous race on the unforgiving Mediterranean street circuit since 1989, the heyday of Brazilian Ayrton Senna, who won, and Alain Prost of France, who was second. It was Alonso’s second win this season, following his maiden win for the team in Malaysia, and the team’s second one-two. They did the same by finishing in the same order in Kuala Lumpur. Alonso’s win lifted him to the top of this year’s drivers’ championship standings ahead of Hamilton on races won. The result left both men on 38 points at the head of a title race that now looks as likely to be as dominated by them as was Sunday’s processional 78 laps demonstration of supremacy around the harbor. Massa was the only driver not lapped by the 25 year-old Spaniard and the 22 year-old Briton in the race. Italian Giancarlo Fisichella was fourth for Renault, Poland’s Robert Kubica fifth for BMW Sauber ahead of his team-mate German Nick Heidfeld. Austrian Alex Wurz was seventh for Williams and Finn Kimi Raikkonen, who started from 16th position on the grid, came home eighth to grab a point for Ferrari. The race did not produce a single notable passing move as Alonso came home in a winning time of one hour 40 minutes and 29.329 seconds, at an average speed of more than 260kph, on the 3.34km circuit. The race began under a cloudy sky with intermittent sunshine and some breeze, but the threat of rain diminished as time passed. When the lights went out, Alonso made a smooth start and swept unchallenged down the road to Ste Devote and up the hill towards Casino Square ahead of Hamilton in second. Hamilton, seeking to become the first driver in his rookie season to win the Monaco Grand Prix, chased Alonso hard, but was more than seven seconds behind him before the first round of pit-stops These allowed him to lead for three laps from lap 36 to 39 until he pitted himself and Alonso regained the advantage. The Spaniard stayed in front with few alarms until he pitted again for a second time after 51 laps. This time Hamilton enjoyed a stronger position and after leading briefly he trailed Alonso by only 1.9 seconds after 57 laps with Massa 46 seconds adrift in third place for Ferrari. It was by now clearly a one-team race, but in the end there seemed little chance of Hamilton passing his partner. It was the McLaren team’s 14th win in Monaco.

Thanks to Thomas Chemris for forwarding RaceBeat to us.