SPRINT Cup Series

Mayfield, driver of the No. 36 360 OTC Camry, had the best result among the four Camry drivers in the field. Although he battled handling problems early in the race, Mayfield and his crew were able to improve the car throughout the 267-lap event at the 1.5-mile oval. Even though he finished 26th, Mayfield felt his car improved late in the day.

"I started off real loose," said Mayfield, after the race. "We just kept working on it and working on it. We finished 26th -- but we could run with any of them at the end of the day. We were probably a 10th or 12th-place car at the end. When we started out, we were a 43rd-place car -- and at the end that's probably the best car I've had all year. Whatever the car was doing, I would come in and we would get better and better every stop. If we started the way we ended it -- we could have been in contention."

The three other Camry drivers that started the Chicagoland race were Michael Waltrip, Dave Blaney and David Reutimann. Waltrip ended up 30th in the No. 55 NAPA Camry, while both Blaney and Reutimann had their days end early.

Blaney, driver of the No. 22 Caterpillar Camry, had a tire go down and made contact with the wall after 199 laps, while Reutimann retired early with an engine problem and ended up 43rd.

Toyota drivers that did not start the race were AJ Allmendinger, Dale Jarrett and Brian Vickers.

Stewart moved his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing entry past Matt Kenseth and led the final 36 laps en route to victory lane. The 36-year-old veteran led the field 6 times for a race-high 108 laps to record his first victory of the season and the 30th win of his career.

Kenseth (second), Carl Edwards (third), Kevin Harvick (fourth) and Casey Mears (fifth) followed Stewart to the checkered flag.

The next NASCAR Nextel Cup race on the schedule will take place at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 29.

In Saturday afternoon's USG Durock 300 NASCAR Busch Series race at Chicagoland, Kevin Harvick led the final 27 laps en route to victory lane, and Blaney's ninth-place finish was the top result among the three Camry drivers in the field.

Blaney started fifth in the No. 10 ABF U-Pack Moving Camry and ran among the leaders throughout the race. "That was about all we had," said Blaney, after the race. "We could never 'free' the car up enough. On one run we had it too free, but we were scared to go back too far with the adjustments. We never quite hit on the right set-up like a few of those guys in front of us. Overall, it was not a bad day."

While Blaney was content with his run, Reutimann was upset about finishing 17th in the No. 99 XM Satellite Radio Camry. "We weren't even close today," said Reutimann. "I can't figure out how we missed it this bad. It was totally opposite of what the car did in practice. Everything it did during the race it never did in practice. It's hard for me to believe that we could be that far off because we really didn't change that much stuff. I thought we would be much, much better."

Jason Leffler, who drove the third Camry in the field, crossed the finish line 33rd in the No. 38 Great Clips Toyota.

Harvick started eighth in his Richard Childress Racing entry and ran among the leaders throughout the day in the 200-lap. The veteran Cup driver crossed the finish line ahead of Matt Kenseth (second), Jeff Burton (third), Clint Bowyer (fourth) and Kyle Busch (fifth). It was the 29th career Busch Series win for Harvick, his second win in five races at Chicagoland and his third Busch victory of the season.

After 21 Busch Series races, Reutimann sits third in the Busch Series championship point standings, behind points-leader Carl Edwards and Harvick (second). Blaney (fourth) and Leffler (sixth) trail Reutimann in the standings.

The next race on the NASCAR Busch Series schedule is July 21 at Gateway International Raceway outside St. Louis.

In Saturday night's NASCAR Craftsman truck Series (NCTS) race at Kentucky Speedway, Mike Skinner scored his fourth victory of the season in the Bill Davis Racing No. 5 Toyota Tundra, leading 135 of 150 laps en route to a dominating victory.

Skinner started fourth in his Tundra, was leading the field by lap three, and was never seriously challenged in winning the 23rd race of his NCTS career, his fourth win (California, Atlanta, Martinsville and Kentucky) of the year -- and his seventh victory driving a Tundra.

"My truck was awesome," said Skinner after the race. "We just kept getting better and better throughout the race. I knew we had a pretty good truck after practice, but I didn't know it was going to be this good."

Four Tundras finished in the top-five at Kentucky, and seven Tundras recorded top-15 results. Finishing behind Skinner were Ted Musgrave (third), Ryan Mathews (fourth) and David Green (fifth) -- who was making his first-career start in a Tundra and his first NCTS start since 1997. Tundra drivers Todd Bodine (11th), Jack Sprague (13th) and Johnny Benson (14th) scored top-15 finishes. The other Tundra drivers in the field were Josh Wise (21st) and Terry Cook (31st).

The victory enabled Skinner to maintain his lead in the NCTS point standings, and he now leads the championship standings by 164 points over Ron Hornaday. Tundra drivers Bodine (third), Benson (sixth), Sprague (seventh) and Musgrave (eighth) are also in the top-10 in standings.

The victory was the 32nd for Toyota since joining the NCTS at the beginning of the 2004 season, and the pole was the 43rd for the Tundra in NCTS competition.

The next race on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is July 27 at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis.

Toyota NNCS Finishing Positions @ Chicagoland Speedway
26th, JEREMY MAYFIELD
30th, MICHAEL WALTRIP
40th, DAVE BLANEY
43rd, DAVID REUTIMANN
DNQ, AJ ALLMENDINGER
DNQ, DALE JARRETT
DNQ, BRIAN VICKERS

Toyota Drivers in the NNCS Point Standings - following Chicagoland Speedway**
35th, DAVE BLANEY 1,240 points
39th, BRIAN VICKERS 899 points
40th, DALE JARRETT 835 points
41st DAVID REUTIMANN 823 points
46th JEREMY MAYFIELD 473 points
47th, AJ ALLMENDINGER 464 points
52nd, MICHAEL WALTRIP 264 points

Toyota NBS Finishing Positions @ Chicagoland Speedway
9th, DAVE BLANEY
17th, DAVID REUTIMANN
33rd, JASON LEFFLER

Toyota Drivers in the Busch Series Point Standings - following Chicagoland Speedway**
3rd, DAVID REUTIMANN 2,207 points
4th, DAVE BLANEY 2,194 points
6th, JASON LEFFLER 2,097 points

Toyota NCTS Finishing Positions @ Kentucky Speedway
1st, MIKE SKINNER
3rd, TED MUSGRAVE
4th, RYAN MATHEWS
5th, DAVID GREEN
11th, TODD BODINE
13th, JACK SPRAGUE
14th, JOHNNY BENSON
21st, JOSH WISE
31st, TERRY COOK

Toyota Drivers in the NCTS Point Standings - following Kentucky Speedway**
1st, MIKE SKINNER 2,238 points
3rd, TODD BODINE 1,950 points
6th, JOHNNY BENSON 1,721 points
7th, JACK SPRAGUE 1,629 points
8th, TED MUSGRAVE 1,601 points
14th, TERRY COOK 1,439 points
26th, RYAN MATHEWS 873 points
28th, AJ ALLMENDINGER 755 points
37th, JOSH WISE 412 points

**unofficial point standings

* Jeremy Mayfield started the race 20th in the No. 36 360 OTC Camry and ended up 26th.
* Michael Waltrip finished 30th after qualifying 28th in the No. 55 NAPA Camry.
* Dave Blaney started 15th in the No. 22 Caterpillar Camry and crossed the finish line 40th.
* David Reutimann finished 43rd in the No. 00 Burger King Camry after beginning the race 21st.
* AJ Allmendinger, Dale Jarrett and Brian Vickers did not qualify for the race.
* The best finish by a Camry in NNCS competition was when Vickers finished fifth at Lowe's Motor Speedway (May 27).
* The best start for a Camry in NNCS competition was when Blaney started from the pole at New Hampshire International Raceway (June 30).
* Camrys have led a total of 124 laps in NNCS competition this season. Vickers has led 84 laps and Blaney has led 35 laps. Jeremy Mayfield (four) and Michael Waltrip (one) have also been in front of the field this year.

JEREMY MAYFIELD, No. 36 360 OTC Toyota Camry, Bill Davis Racing
Finishing position: 26th
How was your car today?
"I started off real loose. We just kept working on it and working on it. We finished 26th -- but we could run with any of them at the end of the day. We were probably a 10th or 12th-place car at the end. When we started out, we were a 43rd-place car -- and at the end that's probably the best car I've had. Whatever the car was doing, I would come in and we would get better and better every stop. If we started the race the way we ended it -- we could have been in contention. That car was fast. My motor was awesome. That's the best motor I've had in four or five years."

Is this a step in the right direction for the team?
"We have to keep building on it -- not think that we're good enough yet. You have to continue on getting better and better. Our goal needs to be to get where the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) and the 24 (Jeff Gordon) are -- and we have to keep working towards that. Just take it one step at a time. We're so far back, we just have to take baby steps to get back up there."

MICHAEL WALTRIP, No. 55 NAPA Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing position: 30th

DAVE BLANEY, No. 22 Caterpillar Toyota Camry, Bill Davis Racing
Finishing position: 40th
What happened?
"I don't know. After that last pit stop we had a vibration and one of the tires went down. I'm not even sure if it was the left rear or the right rear. It vibrated there for about 10 laps. I really didn't think it was a big problem, but it ended up being one."

How was your car?
"We struggled. I made a mistake on pit road and it got us a lap down. We maybe could run 20th with the car we had. After that last run we slowed way down and were just hoping for a caution."

How were the track conditions?
"They were fine, just like always. The track was really wide. You could run wherever you wanted if your car was handling good."

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Burger King Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing position: 43rd
What happened?
"It looks like it maybe broke a piston or something like that. It was running fine, then all of a sudden it dropped a cylinder and started smoking. It was just blowing smoke out of the exhaust, so it's sucking oil from somewhere. Things were going okay. We had a good day going. We were moving forward and the car was driving good. The car was much, much better that what it was when we practiced, and then we just had a failure there. It's extremely disappointing. We were running well, so if you can take anything good away from it I think we learned a lot"