Below are the unofficial 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver standings, as of April 22:

Below are the unofficial 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series driver standings, as of April 22:

Below are the unofficial 2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver standings, as of April 22:

Denny Hamlin (#11) crosses the finish line to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, April 22.

Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, passed the No. 56 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota, driven by Martin Truex Jr., with 31 laps remaining in the STP 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway on Sunday and held on to the top spot to claim his second win of the season.

“I’d love to see one of his (Michael Waltrip‘s) cars win,” Hamlin said of passing one of the MWR cars late in the race. “They’ve put together a great program.”

Truex finished second and Jimmie Johnson finished third in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Truex dominated the event after cycling to the lead during a round of green flag pit stops that began on lap 44. He then stayed up front through a caution and another round of green flag pit stops around lap 90.

Truex had built up a lead margin of more than five seconds by the time the second round of green flag pit stops got underway. Through pit stops, Truex and the No. 56 team gained another three seconds to give the driver a margin of more than eight seconds on the rest of the field.

That large lead was erased, though, by a caution that came out for debris on lap 132. Matt Kenseth in the No. 17 Roush Fenway Ford lined up next to Truex in the second position for the following restart but spun his tires, allowing Hamlin to move into second.

Hamlin lost the position to Johnson with 108 laps to go in the 267-lap race and then watched Truex and Johnson pull away from him and the rest of the field.

Hamlin regained the second spot when Johnson, along with a few other frontrunners opted to pit during a caution that came out with 80 laps to go. Truex, meanwhile, stayed out to retain the lead and Hamlin remained on the track to move into second.

The field cycled through green flag pit stops for the final time with about 45 laps remaining. Truex, once again, cycled back to the lead, but this time around, Hamlin wasn’t far behind.

“It was a great day for our race team,” Hamlin said. “The crew did a great job on that green-flag pit stop.”

As the sun came out and heated up the race track late in the event, Truex reported to his team that his car was the loosest it had been all day.

“I don’t even think it was the sun,” Truex said, instead blaming the looseness on the last set of tires his team put on the car.

As Truex fought loose conditions in the late laps, Hamlin was able to take advantage by making the final pass for the lead with 31 laps to go. The No. 11 car then began to pull away from the somewhat ill-handling No. 56, but as the laps wound down, Truex was able to reel Hamlin in.

Truex managed to pull up beside Hamlin a couple of times in the final 10 laps but was unable to complete the pass.

“I was better than he was at the end, but he was running where we were,” Truex said of wanting to run the same line as Hamlin late in the race.

Kenseth finished fourth, and his Roush Fenway Racing teammate, Greg Biffle in the No. 16 Ford, rounded out the top-five.

“It was a good run for us, not great,” Kenseth said. “I wish we could have got up there and mixed it up with the top-two a little bit more but, overall, it was a solid day.”

AJ Allmendinger stands by his car after winning the pole for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at the Kansas Speedway on Saturday, April 21.

A.J. Allmendinger got his No. 22 Penske Racing Dodge around Kansas Speedway in 30.683 seconds on Saturday to claim the pole for the STP 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race to be held at the track on Sunday.

“Obviously, Sunday is the important day,” Allmendinger said. “We’re just trying to get momentum.”

Allmendinger becomes the seventh different driver to claim a Sprint Cup Series pole, eight races into the 2012 season.

Kevin Harvick was the second-fastest in qualifying with a 30.726-second lap and will start his No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet next to the No. 22 on the front row. Joey Logano qualified third in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a lap time of 30.730 seconds.

After going out first in qualifying, Logano held the provisional pole through much of qualifying. He won’t start the race in the third spot, though. Because of an engine change, Logano will start Sunday’s race in the back.

Harvick, who went out 32nd, was the driver who finally knocked Logano off the pole, after his team made significant changes to the No. 29 after practice on Friday.

“These guys have done a great job with qualifying,” Harvick said of his crew. “We were a little off yesterday.”

Allmendinger went out seven cars after Harvick to become the third and final provisional pole sitter of the day.

“I didn’t feel amazing on that lap,” Allmendinger said soon after climbing out of his car. “When (crew chief) Todd Gordon told me (that I was on the pole), I was surprised.”

Denny Hamlin qualified the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota fourth with a lap time of 30.740 seconds. Mark Martin was fifth in the No. 55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota with a fast lap of 30.772 seconds.

Toyota claimed the second and third rows on the starting grid, with JGR teammates Logano and Hamlin in row two and MWR teammates Martin and Martin Truex Jr. on row three. Truex qualified sixth in the No. 56 MWR Toyota with 30.779-second qualifying lap.

As temperatures heated up late in session, lap times slowed down significantly. Only two of the seven drivers to qualify after Allmendinger, Hendrick Motorsports teammates Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne, made laps inside the top-10. Earnhardt was seventh in the No. 88 Chevrolet with a 30.802-second lap, and Kahne was ninth with a 30.841-second lap in the No. 5 Chevrolet.

Sam Hornish Jr.‘s No. 12 Penske Racing entry qualified 10th with a lap time of 30.842 seconds. The No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford of Greg Biffle was the fastest Ford. Biffle qualified 17th with a lap time of 30.909 seconds.

Forty-six drivers attempted to be a part of the 43-driver race field. Drivers failing to make the race included Tony Raines, Tim Andrews and Jeff Green.

The BMW Z4 scored its first win in the GT1 World Championship at Zolder on Saturday, in the hands of Michael Bartels and Yelmer Buurman of Vita4One Racing. In classic GT1 style, a hectic one-hour qualifying race saw close fights for all the podium positions right up to the checkered flag.

The German-Dutch duo had qualified in sixth place, but a series of dramatic developments saw the cars ahead of them shuffled back. First to fall was second-place qualifier Peter Kox, who broke formation during the rolling start and crossed the start line ahead of polesitter Oliver Jarvis. Taking the lead down the pit straight, he built up a reasonable cushion before being called in for a drive-through penalty, which he served shortly before taking his scheduled pit stop. Co-driver Darryl O’Young was left to bring the car home in eighth.

Behind Kox, it was all kicking off, as second-place Jarvis, third-place Basseng and fourth-place Enge ran in a close train around the circuit. The race started on a wet track, but the heavy shower that came down after qualifying had stopped, so the surface was drying out. In these variable conditions, Buurman was immediately on the move in the early stages, passing Mike Parisy’s Porsche to take the sixth place he lost off the grid, and then overtaking Nicky Pastorelli‘s All-Inkl.com Mercedes SLS when the latter ran wide in the tricky conditions. Tomas Enge in the other Reiter Lamborghini was next to fall, dropping to fifth.

Buurman’s charge continued and he began hassling Marc Basseng in the other All-Inkl.com Mercedes for third. The pair ran nose-to-tail for several laps in one of the most entertaining battles of the race. Behind them, Mike Parisy had taken fifth from Pastorelli, while erstwhile fifth-place man Enge retired with gearbox problems. Buurman started to struggle as a dry line emerged, and the third place he’d gained after Kox’s penalty now looked under threat from a fast Parisy in fourth. Yet there were still dark clouds hovering close to the circuit and the pitstop window was rapidly approaching. Big decisions had to be made on the pit wall, which would ultimately decide the outcome of the race.

Jarvis, now in the lead in the #33 WRT Audi after Kox’s penalty, requested a switch to dry tires, but a radio problem (possibly caused by the dense trees around Zolder) meant he was not heard, and when Frank Stippler took over the car, it was given a new set of wets instead. The conseqences when he joined the track were severe: several places, as well as any chance of a win, disappeared almost immediately. The same fate befell the #32 WRT Audi of Laurens Vanthoor/Stephane Ortelli, and although both cars pitted again for slicks, their races were ruined and they would finish down in 11th and 12th.

Following WRT’s disaster, Markus Winkelhock was now leading the race on dry tyres, having taken over the #6 Mercedes from Basseng. Buurman had handed over his BMW to Vita4One team boss Bartels. Third after the stops was Thomas Jaeger, Pastorelli’s co-driver in the second Mercedes – and now the fastest man on the track as he closed up on the Z4. But more drama was to come: Winkelhock’s car suddenly slowed with mechanical trouble, leaving Bartels and Jaeger through to battle for the lead. The gap between them was never more than a few tenths of a second for the rest of the race, but Jaeger was unable to find a way through around Zolder’s tight twists and turns.

Fred Makowiecki had been enduring another torrid weekend with the Hexis Racing McLaren MP4-12C, right up to the pitstops, when typically slick work from last year’s GT1 champion team pushed him up to fifth behind Matt Halliday. Their battle for fourth became a fight for the last podium spot once Winkelhock hit trouble, but Halliday just about held on from a very determined ‘Mako’ at the last chicane. Nikolaus Meyr-Melnhof and Mathias Lauda completed a promising day for the Vita4One BMW team by bringing their Z4 home fifth overall, while Winkelhock’s car limped over the line in a disappointing sixth, before coming to a halt shortly after the finish line.

Mercedes Formula One driver Nico Rosberg of Germany drives during the second practice session of the Bahrain F1 Grand Prix at the Sakhir circuit in Manama on Friday, April 20.

Nico Rosberg laid down the fastest lap time in the two Friday practice sessions for this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix. After taking his first FIA Formula One victory this past Sunday in China, the German was back in the cockpit of his Mercedes. Rosberg’s best lap of 1:32.816 was set toward the end of the afternoon practice when he and his top rivals were trading off the top spot.

Second fastest belonged to Mark Webber with a 1:33.262, and taking third was his Red Bull Racing teammate, Sebastian Vettel. The German two-time world champion has not had a happy new year, thus ending third fastest is a good start.

Lewis Hamilton set the best lap time of 1:33.572 in the morning practice, and in practice two, his best was a 1:33.747 which left the McLaren driver fourth for the day.

The warm temperatures were expected and a welcome, and instead of rain, the drivers are dealing with the dust flying in the air. The surface layer of sand on the asphalt and just off racing surface can cause a fine layer of sand dust floating in the air.

Lewis Hamilton has hinted again that he sees his future with McLaren.

Just prior to the new season, the 2008 World Champion indicated he would like to renew his deal with the Woking-based team in the early phase of this year.

Hamilton’s current contract runs out at the end of 2012.

Asked by British publications if he is being persuaded by his boss Martin Whitmarsh to stay, the 27-year-old answered: “I don’t need persuading.

“The team are doing fantastic. I could not be happier in the team.”

Also asked if it would be hard for him to leave the team he has spent his entire career with, Hamilton admitted:

“Yeah. I don’t feel like walking away.”

The Briton had a tumultuous 2011 season, but so far in 2012 he has appeared happy as he raced onto the podium at the end of every Grand Prix.

“Everything is better this year,” said Hamilton. “The team is better. The car is better. I am a lot better. I have got my dad here (in China) and that is not fake; we have a real, real good bond now.

“Things are great and that’s reflected in my performances.”

Jenson Button, who already has a deal in place for 2013 and beyond, indicated he would like Hamilton to remain his teammate.

“It’s good to have competition, it drives the team forward,” said the 2009 World Champion.

As for when the new deal might be done, Hamilton said the timeframe for talks is open “so long as it is before next year.”

Audi is reinforcing its sports car line-up with another driver. The Spaniard Marc Gené will be available to Audi as a reserve driver, standing in for Timo Bernhard in the Audi R18 ultra as early as at the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) at Spa-Francorchamps on May 5.

This year, Audi again decided to sign a reserve driver for the Le Mans 24 Hours. Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich selected Gené for this role, a very experienced sports car racer who brings long-standing Formula 1 experience to the team as well. The 38-year-old Spaniard has been under contract as a test or race driver with Formula 1 racing teams since 1999. He also contested the past five events of the Le Mans 24 Hours, clinching overall victory in 2009. After Timo Bernhard was injured in a testing accident that was no fault of his own in mid-March and is still recovering, Gené will be sharing the number “3″ Audi R18 ultra with Romain Dumas (F) and Loïc Duval (F) at Spa.

“At our first meetings I immediately had the impression that Marc (Gené) will blend well with our sports car squad,” emphasizes Ullrich. “We very quickly reached an agreement. It’s very unfortunate that Timo Bernhard won’t be able to compete for us at the second WEC round at Spa as planned. At the same time, I’m pleased to see his recovery making significant progress. That’s why we’re sticking to our original plan of having him run at the Le Mans 24 Hours.”

This is not the first time for Audi to rely on a reserve at the most important endurance race of the year. Following Lucas Luhr (D) in the 2010 season and Marco Bonanomi (I) last year, Gené’s nomination as a reserve driver marks the third one in succession. After ten Le Mans victories, Audi will be fielding the first ever diesel hybrid sports car in history with all-wheel drive at La Sarthe in the summer – the new Audi R18 e-tron quattro. Like its conventionally powered sister model, the Audi R18 ultra, it will be celebrating its race debut three weeks from now at Spa.

NASCAR announced today that Wayne Grubb, crew chief of the No. 27 car in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, has been fined for violations during this past weekend’s event at Texas Motor Speedway.

Grubb was fined $2,500 for violation of Section 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing), 12-4-J (any determination by NASCAR officials that the race equipment does not conform to NASCAR rules); and 20A-12 (use of hollow bolts in truck trailing arms and panhard bar) of the 2012 NASCAR Rule Book. The infractions were discovered during opening day inspection on April 12.