Coke 600 Recap

It is fantastic to finally see Kasey Kahne showing some success on the track. Since his season began with Hendrick Motorsports, there has been very little to celebrate for the #5 Farmers Insurances Chevy until his win on Sunday night. The win also marks Rick Hendrick's 201st win following Jimmie Johnson's victory two weeks ago at Darlington. Kahne also controlled the race at the end finishing over five seconds ahead of Denny Hamlin in second. Kyle Busch was third and Series points leader, Greg Biffle, finished fourth.

Speaking of Johnson, he had a rough race. Johnson was hurt by a pit road penalty where his jack-man dropped the jack early. This caused Johnson to leave his pit box with the fuel tank (and the pit crew member) attached to the car. For those not familiar with pit cues, it is customary for a dropped jack to signal to the driver that it is good to leave. It seems that there was a mix up regarding the number of tires to take. All in all, it was not the worse race for Johnson as he battled back to finish 11th. This races had all four Hendrick drivers within the top 11 with Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jeff Gordon sixth and seventh, respectively.

Of Note:
- Danica Patrick, who started the race 40th, finished the race in 30th place down five laps. This marks the best showing for Patrick this year. Her next Cup race will be August 25th at Bristol.

- Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart tangled on pit road as Keselowski tried to pull out of his box. He tagged stewart and send the #14 around on pit road almost taking out Stewart's crew and that of Aric Almirola as well as Almirola himself and Carl Edwards. Keselowski frantically called to his spotter to apologize to Stewart.

Results:
1. Kasey Kahne #5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet
2. Denny Hamlin #11 Fed Ex Toyota
3. Kyle Busch #18 M&M's Toyota
4. Greg Biffle #16 Fastenal Ford
5. Brad Keselowski #2 Miller Light Dodge
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr #88 National Guard Chevrolet
7. Jeff Gordon #24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet
8. Kevin Harvick #29 Budweiser Chevrolet
9. Carl Edwards #99 Fastenal Ford
10. Matt Kenseth #17 Fastenal Ford

Standings:
1. Greg Biffle 453
2. Matt Kenseth -10
3. Denny Hamlin -16
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr -18
5. Jimmie Johnson -48

Rumor: Saab To Be Saved By Mystery Swedish Electric Automaker

As the decaying corpse of Saab moves closer to nothingness, there are new reports of a mystery Swedish electric automaker stepping in to save the company. The company is called National Electric Vehicle Sweden and according to recent reports, a deal is close.

Looking at the company, the president is Karl-Erling Trogen. For those of you not familiar with Trogen, he is the former head of Volvo Trucks.

There is no explanation of what the company wants from Saab. As SaabsUnited points out, the company has no infrastructure, employees, dealer network, etc. It would require a great amount of time and funding to rebuild.

Speculation revolves around an interest in the electric rear axle program co-developed with eAAM. Your guess is as good as mine but it would be great to see the brand revived. Who knows, we may see electric or hybrid Saabs in the near future.

BMW Confirms Inline Six-Cylinder Returning to M3 F30

Long live the Inline six! It has been confirmed by Ludwig Willisch, BMW's North American head, on f30post.com that the new F30 derived M3 will be powered by an inline six-cylinder engine ruling out the return of the powerful V8 from the previous M3. Also dead are the prospects for a V6 powered M3 which was planned to be a modified version of the S65 4.0L V8.

It is assumed that the new M3 will use at least two turbochargers to provide greater power than the old V8. There are also rumors of a tri-turbo six power-plant as well. You can expect to see around 450 horsepower on tap in the new model.

The Forza 4 Porsche Car Pack | Complete List And Details

Property of Turn 10. Porsche 911 GT2.

Were you one of the millions disappointed about the lack of Porsche's in the original release of Turn 10's Forza Motorsports 4? If you said yes, you now have the privilege of giving Microsoft and Turn 10 another $20 for the new Porsche Pack and the opportunity to jump into 30 Porsche vehicles and 20 Porsche racing events. The full details of what to expect for tomorrow's release will be discussed at detail below.


For those not familiar with the saga of the missing Porsche's, the issue stemmed from the rights to use the Porsche name, symbol and likeness which was sold to Electronic Arts years ago (that should explain the multiple Need For Speed Porsche-based games). In the past, EA has lent the rights to other companies including Turn 10 for previous Forza Motorsports releases. After rendering all of the vehicles, EA decided to withhold the rights for Porsche preventing Forza from putting them in the game. In some strange turn of events, these cars are now being released (maybe Forza threatened to withhold their Ferrari license). As far as the $20 price, I personally feel they should be free as they were designed to be original content and the "replacement cars" were beyond garbage (who seriously wants a Prius in Forza... or in general for that matter), but what can you do.


Back on topic. As I mentioned the new pack includes 30 Porsche vehicles from the last 57 years with vehicles ranging from high performance SUVs to world famous race cars. Turn 10 studios has been releasing the cars over the past two weeks releasing two cars a day on Facebook and I have compiled a list of the cars below. It may not come as a shock that some historic Porsche models are included in the pack. Examples include the classic 914/6, 550 Spyder, 944, and 959. You also have newer Porsche's making the list including the Panamera Turbo, Cayman, and Boxster. Also, it would not be a Porsche pack without a few 911's (18 in fact). However, I must admit that I am slightly disappointed to see the new 2013 Boxster, 911 and the upcoming 918 hybrid missing from the list. Future car packs perhaps?


The list of cars is broken down into two categories (road and race).
Porsche Pack Road models:
1955 Porsche 550 Spyder
1970 Porsche 914/6
1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS
1982 Porsche 911 Turbo 3.3
1987 Porsche 959
1989 Porsche 944 Turbo
1995 Porsche 911 GT2
2003 Porsche Carrera GT
2004 Porsche 911 GT3 (996)
2007 Porsche 911 GT3 RS (997)
2007 Porsche 911 GT3 RS (997)
2007 Porsche 911 Turbo (997)
2010 Porsche Boxster S
2010 Porsche Panamera Turbo
2010 Porsche 911 Sport Classic
2012 Porsche 911 GT2 RS (shown above on the left)
2012 Porsche Cayenne Turbo
2012 Porsche Cayman R


While there have been many varied racing models throughout Porsche's history, the selection of cars included in this pack mark some of the most successful in company history even is it is mostly 911's (a little variety would be nice).


Porsche Pack Race models:
1987 Porsche #17 Racing Porsche AG 962c
1998 Porsche #26 Porsche AG 911 GT1-98
2005 ALMS GT #31 Petersen-White Lightning 911 GT3-RSR (996)
2005 Porsche #66 AXA Racing 911 GT3 Cup (996)
2007 Porsche #80 Flying Lizard 911 GT3-RSR
2008 Porsche #2 Gruppe Orange Racing 911 GT3 Cup
2008 Porsche #16 Dyson Racing RS Spyder Evo
2008 Porsche #7 Penske Racing RS Spyder Evo
2011 Porsche #54 Black Swan Racing 911 GT3 Cup
2011 Porsche #45 Flying Lizard 911 GT3-RSR
2011 Porsche #17 Team Falken 911 GT3-RSR
2011 911 #23 Alex Job Racing 911 GT3 Cup


Additional Information:  As a result of these new cars, users can expect to see them in a new Porsche dealership and within races driven by AI characters. It is also expected that some Porsche models will appear in the car reward system which provides a selection of cars as you go from level 1 to 50. Though this is frustrating to those who have already passed the level 50 threshold. 


In addition, you can also expect to see 20 new events designed for your new toys from Stuttgart. One would also assume that there will be a 911 series race based on the 18 models in the pack. 


The pack will be available for download tomorrow, May 22, for 1,600 Microsoft Points (or $20 for those who do not like the "Disney Dollar" concept that Xbox has developed). As I mentioned above, I still feel this content should be free but everyone has to make money so here we are. Also, this pack is NOT covered in the season pass as that ended last month and did not even include the Top Gear pack for the beginning of May.