This Week in Auto Racing April 17 - 19

This Week in Auto Racing April 17 - 19

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - NASCAR heads to the "Valley of the Sun" this weekend as the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series run on the flat one- mile Phoenix International Raceway. Meanwhile, IndyCar teams take to the streets of Long Beach, CA., and Formula One heads to Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix.

Sprint Cup Series

Subway Fresh Fit 500 - Phoenix International Raceway - Avondale, AZ

After taking a break this past Easter weekend, the Sprint Cup Series returns to action with the first Saturday night race of the season at Phoenix.

Jeff Gordon heads to Phoenix with a 62-point lead over three-time defending series champion and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson. Gordon snapped a 47-race winless streak - the longest in his Cup career - with the victory last week at Texas.

"It was nice to get that win at Texas," Gordon said. "The victory there had eluded us for so long. But it's also good to get that first win of the season out of the way. Every season, you're looking to get that first win. When you get that one off your back, you can breathe and relax. Every win confirms you have what it takes, and it gives you confidence."

With the win at Texas, Gordon has at least one victory at 21 of the 22 active tracks on the Sprint Cup schedule. He has yet to record a victory at Homestead. Gordon did win a Nationwide event there in 2000.

Richard Petty, David Pearson and Cale Yarborough are the only drivers who have won at every track in a given season's schedule. Petty recorded a victory at all tracks on the schedule from 1981-85. Pearson did it from 1976-78 and again from 1982-85. Yarborough did so from 1981-85.

Two years ago, Gordon scratched off Phoenix from his list of tracks, as he picked up his first victory in 17 starts at the one-mile Arizona track. The four-time Cup champion recorded his 76th career win, which placed him into a tie with the late-Dale Earnhardt for sixth on the series' all-time race winners list. He surpassed Earnhardt with the victory at Talladega one week later.

Gordon has 82 victories now, one win away from tying Yarborough for fifth on the win list.

"I've accomplished more than I ever thought I would in this sport," he said. "To be in the same neighborhood as some of the all-time greats of NASCAR just blows me away."

Since Gordon's April 2007 victory, Johnson has been the man at Phoenix, winning the last three races there.

Thirteen times in series history has a driver won four or more consecutive races at a track, with Johnson that last to do it, taking four in a row at Lowe's Motor Speedway from 2004-05.

Johnson will try to make it four straight at Phoenix this weekend.

In November, he led 217 of 313 laps to win the second-to-last race of the season at Phoenix and expand his points lead on second-place Carl Edwards. He went on to clinch his third straight series title at Homestead.

Johnson won his first race of the 2008 season with the victory at Phoenix one year ago. He overcame an early-race pit road mistake and stretched his fuel for the final 81 laps to join Davey Allison, Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick as repeat winners at Phoenix.

His first victory there came in November 2007.

Kyle Busch, currently seventh in points (-240), is another driver who has performed well at Phoenix lately.

In eight Cup starts there, Busch has recorded six top-10 finishes, including four in a row dating back to the spring '07 race. His second career victory in the series came in his first start at Phoenix in November 2005.

"Phoenix is a pretty neat place," Busch said. "For some reason, I've always run well there. I don't know if it's that I'm comfortable being back close to home on the West Coast or what. I always have a little more fan support out there as well."

While Busch has been successful at Phoenix over the years, he continues to struggle at other flat tracks on the Sprint Cup and Nationwide schedules.

"We were okay in both races at Phoenix last year, but we weren't running where we wanted to be," he said. "I know everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing has been working extremely hard on our flat-track program in the off-season. That's something we worked hard on in the off-season, but just didn't have the results at Martinsville that we wanted."

Busch finished 24th at Martinsville - a flat track - last month.

Forty-eight teams are on the preliminary entry list for this weekend's Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix.

The No.8 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing entry with driver Aric Almirola is not listed since the team suspended operations due to lack of sponsorship last week.

Nationwide Series

Bashas' Supermarkets 200 - Phoenix International Raceway - Avondale, AZ

The Nationwide Series will once again be coupled with the Sprint Cup Series after its first "stand alone" last weekend at Nashville.

Eighteen-year-old Joey Logano is coming off the victory at Nashville. Logano grabbed the lead from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch with 10 laps to go and then pulled away by 0.487 seconds for his second career Nationwide victory.

Logano became the fifth different driver to win in the first six Nationwide races in 2009. Busch is the only repeat winner so far this year (California and Texas). Tony Stewart (Daytona), Greg Biffle (Las Vegas) and Kevin Harvick (Bristol) have also scored victories in '09.

Harvick, Biffle, Busch and Edwards - all Sprint Cup regulars - are heavy favorites to win the Bashas' Supermarkets 200 based on their previous Nationwide performances at Phoenix.

Edwards is a two-time Phoenix winner, including a victory there in November. He also finished second at Phoenix one year ago. Edwards currently holds a 23- point lead over Busch in the series standings.

Busch is the defending race winner. He won the track's fall event in 2007 as well.

Biffle is also a multiple Phoenix winner (2001 and '05), while Harvick has recorded eight straight top-10 finishes, including a victory (2006).

Busch and Harvick have each won a race in all three of NASCAR's national touring series at Phoenix.

Logano finished 10th in his first start there in November. He is running a limited Nationwide schedule in addition to his full-time rookie campaign in Sprint Cup this year.

Meanwhile, Austin Dillon, the grandson of NASCAR team owner Richard Childress, will attempt to make his third career Nationwide start. Dillon, 19, finished fourth in the October race at Memphis. His first start came in September at Richmond, where he finished 26th.

Daryl Harr, a NASCAR Camping World Series West and Canadian Tires Series veteran from St. Albert, Alberta, Canada, hopes to make his Nationwide debut this weekend.

Forty-seven teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Bashas' Supermarkets 200.

INDYCAR SERIES

Toyota GP of Long Beach - Streets of Long Beach - Long Beach, CA

The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on the streets of Long Beach, CA joins the IndyCar Series schedule for the first time in 2009.

Long Beach is known for its final turn, a famous hairpin leading onto the front straightaway where drivers climb from first gear coming out of the final turn all the way to nearly 200 m.p.h. before breaking for the newly-widened first turn.

Dan Wheldon from Panther Racing has experienced the last turn at Long Beach during his days in Indy Lights and the Toyota Atlantic Series.

"I think as far as street tracks go, it's very good" Wheldon said. "You can overtake, and you've got the long straightaway. If you have a good run at that final hairpin, you can draft and hopefully outbrake somebody into turn one."

Long Beach originally held a Formula 5000 Series race in 1975, moved up to Formula One from 1976-83, then became a CART/Champ Car event from 1984-2008.

The Southern California road course has been through eight different configurations, ranging from 1.574 miles to 2.129, but all have included the hairpin turn. The current 1.97-mile, 11-turn circuit winds its way through gleaming hotels, a famed convention and entertainment center, a popular aquarium and the sparkling new Pike at Rainbow Harbor complex.

Last year, Will Power took the checkered flag for the Toyota GP of Long Beach, which marked the final race in Champ Car history. Power put on a dominating performance, leading all but two of the 83 laps. He finished five seconds ahead of runner-up Franck Montagny. The Indy Racing League and Champ Car unified at the start of the '08 season.

Power, Alex Tagliani, EJ Viso, Graham Rahal, Justin Wilson and Mario Moraes are those drivers on this weekend's entry list that competed in last year's event at Long Beach.

IndyCar ran at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, with Danica Patrick capturing her first career victory, on the same day of the Champ Car finale in Long Beach.

Last week, Ryan Briscoe won the season-opener at St. Petersburg. Briscoe passed Justin Wilson for the lead with 13 laps to go, and then held off Ryan Hunter-Reay in two late-race restarts for his third career IndyCar victory. The Team Penske driver ended the 2008 season by winning the non-points, exhibition race in his home country at Surfers Paradise, Australia.

Will Power finished sixth at St. Pete in his debut as driver of the No.3 Penske car. Power is filling in for Helio Castroneves, who remains on the sidelines until his legal issues are resolved.

"It's great to start the season the same way we ended last year," Tim Cindric, president of Penske Racing, said. "Ryan ran a great race, and we had great pit stops. It was good to see Will fight his way back to sixth. We look forward to coming back to Long Beach for the first time since Helio won there in 2001."

Castroneves won the CART (Champ Car) event at Long Beach in '01.

FORMULA ONE

Chinese Grand Prix - Shanghai International Circuit - Shanghai, China

Even though Jenson Button has won the first two races this season - Australia and Malaysia - the Briton is expecting a tough battle from the competition for the remainder of the season, beginning with this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.

Button has won both races from the pole position, and has accumulated 15 points, which is five more than second-place and Brawn GP teammate Rubens Barrichello.

"After the excitement of the first two races, it has been great to have the chance to relax and reflect for a few days since the dramatic race in Malaysia," Button said. "I am understandably delighted with how our season has begun; however, we are only two races in, and everyone at the team is aware that our competitors will not stand still. We fully expect a tough fight from here if we want to continue our early successes."

Button recorded back-to-back victories for the first time in his Formula One career last week with a victory in the rain-shortened Malaysian Grand Prix. The race was stopped early of its scheduled 56 laps. Button overcame a poor start and then drove through torrential rain conditions before the race was red-flagged after 32 laps, as lightning struck around the circuit and visibility deteriorated.

Stewards contemplated the possibility of resuming the race when the weather improved somewhat, but as darkness approached, a restart was ruled out.

Half points were awarded since 75 percent of the race was not completed. A total of 42 laps had to be completed to ensure the full points.

It was the first time since the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix that a race had been shortened due to weather and the first in half the distribution of points since a heavy downpour ended the 1991 Australian Grand Prix less than three- quarters of the way.

Button, meanwhile, has run well at Shanghai in the past. He finished second in the inaugural Chinese GP in 2004.

Barrichello won the first race at Shanghai, driving for Ferrari at the time.

"The track holds some good memories for me, as I won the first race here in 2004," Barrichello said. "With the car that we have this year, it is so exciting to be able to return with the opportunity to compete at the front again."

Ferrari is undergoing their worst start to a season since 1992. The defending F1 Constructors' champions have yet to score a point after the first two races.

The disastrous start for Ferrari has led to a restructuring in the organization, with team manager Luca Baldisserri being reassigned to a factory-based role. Chris Dyer will assume Baldisserri's track-side duties, beginning in Shanghai. Dyer, an Australian, is the chief engineer for the team.

Baldisserri will join technical director Aldo Costa at Ferrari's Maranello, Italy base to examine the F60's on-track performances and find ways to accelerate its development.

"The goal is to anticipate as much as possible the introduction of new technologies to reduce the performance gap as fast as possible," Ferrari said on its website.

Ferrari has made some alterations to the car, including modifications to the front wing, in preparation for the Chinese GP.

Rather than the third race this year, the 2008 Chinese GP was the penultimate round of the F1 championship.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton put on a dominating performance in last year's race, as he started on the pole and led every lap except those when he pitted en route to his fifth victory of the season. Hamilton clinched his first F1 world championship by a single point over Ferrari-rival Felipe Massa in the season- ending Brazilian GP.

"We got it spot-on last year, and while I don't expect us to enjoy that sort of performance advantage this season, I think we're all looking forward to a good showing," Hamilton said.

McLaren's MP4-24 has not performed up to the team's expectations so far this year, but Hamilton is hoping recent modifications to the car will help him gain much needed points.

Hopefully, some of the upgrades we've added to MP4-24 for this race will have a benefit," he said. "It would be very encouraging if we could qualify a little further up the grid and be regularly challenging for points."

The Shanghai International Circuit was designed as the race circuit for the new millennium. The modern track, with its stunning architecture, has been planned as China's gateway to the world of F1 competition. Not only is the course remarkable for its change of acceleration and deceleration in different winding turns, but also for its high-speed straights making high demands on the driver as well as the car. This should offer many opportunities for overtaking and give an intense and exciting motorsports experience to the spectators.