This Week in Auto Racing April 4 - April 6
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - It's a busy week with NASCAR in Texas, IndyCars on the streets of St. Petersburg and Formula One in Bahrain.
Sprint Cup
Samsung 500 - Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, TX
After two weeks of bumping and banging on the short tracks at Bristol and Martinsville, the high-speed Texas Motor Speedway is this weekend's destination.
Where last week Jeff Gordon finished second despite smashing the front nose of his car in an early race incident, this week the idea is to keep the nose and fenders completely clean. Aerodynamics are of utmost importance at a track where qualifying speeds are around 193 m.p.h.
Jeff Burton, already a winner this year, is the defending champion. The No.31 Richard Childress Racing driver and current series points leader won at Bristol. Burton has finished no lower than 13th (Daytona) in any race this season and his third-place finish last week coupled with Kyle Busch's problems gave the Virginia native the top spot in the standings.
"It is early to be talking about it," Burton said. "We know that everybody's going to step it up. If we continue to run the way we're running now come July, that will be running 20th. So we've got to find a way to be better."
Burton could easily have been better than third at Martinsville, but he got caught up behind rookie Michael McDowell.
I never felt like Kyle (Busch) impeded me," said Burton in the post-race interview. " The No.00 (McDowell) did. No one expects anybody just to move out of the way all day long. But there is a time when you do move out of the way."
Burton, known as one of the cleanest and respectful drivers in the sport, knows the difference. I'm sure McDowell will get the message.
But it shows that the fire is still there in Burton's belly and that he might be ready for a season-long championship run.
What also showed at Martinsville was that Hendrick Motorsports has not disappeared. All four HMS drivers grabbed a top-10 finish on Sunday and had the race run five laps longer Gordon might have caught Denny Hamlin.
"Our car was unbelievable the first half of the race," said Gordon. "And we played some pit strategy that I really felt like was the right call. We took four tires as soon as we could make it on fuel, but the car never took off.
"I was trying to figure out why my car had no grip out there the last several laps. Then I got out of the car and I understood why. Man, we were racing in the rain. I knew it was spitting on the windshield, but I had no idea just how bad it was."
And yet Gordon cut a six-second Hamlin lead to 0.398 second at the checkered flag.
Gordon doesn't have a great record at the Texas Motor Speedway, but don't bet against him. This is one of only two current tracks where the No.24 Dupont Chevrolet driver has not been to Victory Lane (the other is New Hampshire), but he does have seven top-10s in 14 career starts.
And despite all the talk about the demise of HMS, Gordon is sitting in ninth place overall and could be much higher.
Gordon had the dominant car in the Auto Club 500 before the race was postponed and run on Monday under completely different conditions. He was in second place at Las Vegas when he and Matt Kenseth collided, sending the No.24 hard into the inside retaining wall. In Atlanta he won the pole, but could only come home with a top-five. And yesterday, he was charging at Hamlin as the checkered flag came out.
This week Gordon checks the Texas Motor Speedway off his "to do" list.
Nationwide
O'Reilly 300 - Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, TX
As with the Sprint Cup Series, the Nationwide Series saw a change on top of the standings after its last race. Kevin Harvick sat out the Pepsi 300 in Nashville and fell to seventh overall while Clint Bowyer finished second to take over the points lead.
Bowyer and 2007 Nationwide Series champion Carl Edwards (-11 points) appear to be in a season-long battle for supremacy. Last year, Edwards built a huge lead (over 700 points) and coasted to the title. It doesn't look as if that strategy will work this time around. Bowyer has become a force both in this series and the Sprint Cup Series.
While Bowyer and Edwards are on top of the standings its very nice to see some youngsters on the list.
Twenty-four year-old Brad Keselowski and 23-year old Kelly Bires are sixth and eighth, respectively, while 20-year old Steve Wallace is 15th.
Keselowski has three straight top-six finishes. He could also have easily earned the first win of his career, but a rare mistake by veteran Mark Martin cost the youngster his shot.
It was in Las Vegas and late in the race Keselowski's No.88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet was holding off Edwards. Martin closed in on the pair and accidently clipped Edwards sending him into Keselowski. Keselowski finished 23rd, but deserved a much better fate.
Bires has been consistent through the first six races and finished a career- best fifth in Nashville, even leading a lap.
"It's been a really good start to the season," said Bires on his website. "Being a full-time Nationwide only team, it's tough to compete with these Cup affiliated teams week in, week out.
"Our strongest point would probably be our mile and a half program," he continued. "That's where we've had success so far this year so we are looking forward to races like Texas."
Although Bowyer and Edwards will vie for this week's win, expect Harvick to be back in the mix too. He returns to a track where he as won a series-high four times. Harvick won the spring race in 2001 and has captured the last three fall races at Texas. Driving his own equipment for the first time in his career, Harvick is on a hot streak having collected four consecutive top-10s.
INDYCARS
Honda GP of St. Petersburg - Streets of St. Petersburg - St. Petersburg, FL
Scott Dixon led most of last year's IndyCar drivers to the top of the charts in the season opener at Homestead. There were a couple of reason's that no 2007 CART driver finished in the top-10.
Many of the CART drivers were visiting an oval for the first time in their career. And the teams had just received their race cars only a couple of weeks ago at the most giving them almost no time to test and adjust the cars before the race.
One of those variables will be gone this week when the series travels to the streets of St. Petersburg. Now the driver advantage will be gone as the CART drivers will be more at home turning left AND right. They will still be way behind on car performance, but the margin should be much less.
It will probably take at least half the season before the CART guys are ready to compete.
Still it was great to see the unified 25-car field take the green flag last Saturday night. The race was Tony Kanaan's to win until rookie Ernesto Viso spun right in front of him and he clipped the Venezuelan's left rear corner.
From there it was all Scott Dixon and he won for the second time at Homestead breaking Dan Wheldon's three-race win streak.
It's on to St. Petersburg where Helio Castroneves has won the last two. The Brazilian finished fourth in the opener, but didn't seem to have the pace that Kanaan, Marco Andretti and Dixon had.
"We just didn't have the speed that the top few guys had, thankfully, we were able to stay out of trouble and bring home a solid fourth-place finish," said Castroneves after the race. It should be interesting to see if that was just for one race, or a season long problem for Team Penske.
FORMULA ONE
Bahrain Grand Prix - Bahrain International Circuit - Sakhir, Bahrain
The series is two events into the 2008 Formula One season and the results have been confusing to both fans and experts.
At the season opener in Australia, McLaren dominated. Second-year driver Lewis Hamilton won the pole, drove a mistake-free race and came home with the victory and 10 points. His new teammate Heikki Kovalainen finished a solid fifth.
Meanwhile, Ferrari's Felipe Massa suffered a first-lap crash that ended his day almost before it began. And Massa's teammate, 2008 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen lasted until lap 53 when his engine turned sour and he pulled the No.1 Ferrari to the side of the road. It was only because of a penalty to Rubens Barrichello that Raikkonen moved in the eighth and final points-paying position. Total points for McLaren - 14, for Ferrari - one.
One week later at the Sepang Circuit in Kuala Lumpur, it was a totally different story.
Massa captured the pole with Raikkonen alongside him on the front row. This time it was Raikkonen who took control and he cruised to a relatively easy 19.570-second victory. If not for a Massa driving error on lap 30, it would likely have been a one-two finish for Ferrari. Kovalainen led the McLaren contingent with a third-place finish, but they could never generate the speed that Ferrari displayed.
So which race was the real indicator of things to come?
Maybe the answer will come in Bahrain this Sunday. In the four years of the event, Ferrari has won twice, in 2004 with Michael Schumacher leading a one- two sweep and last year with Massa winning while Raikkonen took the final podium spot.
McLaren has never won this event as the other two years Fernando Alonso took home the top honors.
More likely, the season won't come into full focus until the teams bring out their "new and improved" 2008 version race cars. They usually begin to appear when the series starts up in Europe which this year is race No.4 at Barcelona, Spain on April 27th.
Auto racing glance
Samsung 500 - Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, TX
Schedule: Friday, qualifying (Speed Channel, 4:30 p.m.); Sunday, race (FOX, 1:30 p.m.).
Track: Texas Motor Speedway (quad-oval, 1.5 miles, 24 degrees banking in turns).
Race distance: 501 miles, 334 laps.
Last race: Denny Hamlin foiled Jeff Burton's late strategy of staying out while the rest of the leaders pitted, passing him on the 427th of 500 laps and holding on to win at Martinsville. Hendrick cars dominated most of the race, with Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. all leading for long stretches, and Casey Mears running mostly in the top 10.
Last year: Burton passed Matt Kenseth on the final lap for his only lead to become the first repeat winner at Texas. Burton won with an average speed of 143.359 mph and was the last of nine leaders. Gordon, who started on the pole after qualifying was canceled because of storms, led four times and Dale Earnhart Jr. had three leads for 96 laps.
Fast facts: Earnhardt Jr. jumped to fourth in the standings, his highest ranking since November 2006. He is the only driver with five top-five finishes this season. ... Texas and Homestead are the only two tracks where Jeff Gordon has failed to win. ... Hamlin is now eighth in the standings after sitting 32nd following the season's second event. ... Johnson was knocked out of last year's race on lap 240 when he ran into Tony Stewart's sliding car coming onto the frontstretch. He finished 38th while Stewart, who won at Texas the previous fall, was 25th after going into a spin when he was bumped while running side-by-side with Juan Pablo Montoya. ... Burton also won the inaugural Texas race in 1997. ... Richard Childress Racing will expand to four cars next season with General Mills as sponsor, a partnership that leaves Petty Enterprises searching for financial backing for its famed No. 43 for just the second time since 1972.
Next race: Subway Fresh Fit 500, April 12, Avondale, Ariz.
O'Reilly 300 - Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, TX
Schedule: Thursday, qualifying, 3:30 p.m.; Saturday, race (ESPN2, 2:30 p.m.).
Track: Texas Motor Speedway (quad-oval, 1.5 miles, 24 degrees banking in turns).
Race distance: 300 miles, 200 laps.
Last race: Scott Wimmer passed Richard Childress Racing teammate Clint Bowyer with 21 laps to go and held on to win the Pepsi 300 at Nashville Superspeedway on March 22. The Childress cars took the top two spots, six days after the team swept the top three positions in the Sprint Cup series race at Bristol.
Last year: Matt Kenseth ended Carl Edwards' two-race winning streak by pulling his car out of a spin without hitting the wall early in the race, then overtaking Denny Hamlin with nine laps left to win the O'Reilly 300. Hamlin's frantic efforts to pass over the final five laps failed in the closest margin for a Nationwide race in Texas at 0.128 seconds.
Fast facts: Bowyer claimed the points lead after the Nashville event, the first time in his career he has held that position in any NASCAR national series. ... Kevin Harvick has won four times at Texas, including each of the last three fall events. ... Bobby Labonte has failed to win in 20 NASCAR national series events at Texas. He has competed there 14 times with Sprint Cup and six with Nationwide. ... There has yet to be a winner from the pole through the first 14 Nationwide events at Texas. ... Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with seven wins at Texas, but hasn't won there since 2003.
Next race: Bashas' Supermarkets 200, April 11, Avondale, Ariz.
Honda GP of St. Petersburg - Streets of St. Petersburg - St. Petersburg, FL
Site: Florida
Schedule: Saturday, qualifying, 10:55 a.m.; Sunday, race (ESPN, 2:30 p.m.).
Track: Streets of St. Petersburg (1.8 miles, 14 turns).
Race distance: 180 miles, 100 laps.
Last race: A Target Chip Ganassi Racing entry, this one driven by former series champion Scott Dixon, won the season-opener for the third straight year. He took the lead late in the 200-lap race at Homestead after Tony Kanaan collided with Ernesto Viso, a rookie driving for one of the former Champ Car teams that just joined the IRL.
Last year: Helio Castroneves cruised to an easy victory, running a nearly perfect race to win at St. Petersburg for the second straight year. Castroneves, who started from the pole, led for all but five of the 100 laps on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit. He pulled away from runner-up Scott Dixon on restarts after several caution flags and won by 0.6007 seconds - about eight car-lengths. Kanaan finished third for the same 1-2-3 finish as 2006.
Fast facts: Despite the fact that most of the newcomers from Champ Car had little or no oval racing experience, there were only three caution flags totaling 24 laps in last week's race. ... Marco Andretti led a race-high 85 laps and finished second. He had failed to finish in his first two tries at Homestead. ... Dixon, who lost the series championship to Dario Franchitti when he ran out of fuel on the last lap of the 2007 season, has 11 career IndyCar victories. ... Danica Patrick was sixth at Homestead.
Next race: Indy Japan 300, April 19, Motegi
Bahrain Grand Prix - Bahrain International Circuit - Sakhir, Bahrain
Site: Sakhir
Schedule: Saturday, qualifying (Speed Channel, 7 a.m.); Sunday, race (Speed Channel, 7:30 a.m.).
Track: Bahrain International Circuit (road course, 3.37 miles, 12 turns).
Race distance: 192.09 miles, 57 laps.
Last race: Kimi Raikkonen comfortably won the Malaysian Grand Prix on March 23, immediately injecting Ferrari back into the title race after the disappointment of the previous week's flop in Australia where neither car finished. Raikkonen won by 20 seconds over BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, with McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen another 19 seconds back in third.
Last year: Felipe Massa of Ferrari won the Bahrain Grand Prix and Lewis Hamilton of McLaren finished second, becoming the first driver to start his F1 career with three straight top-three finishes.
Fast facts: After winning in Australia, Hamilton finished fifth in Malaysia after starting in ninth as a result of a five-place penalty on the grid for causing interference in qualifying. ... Robert Kubica's second place in Malaysia gave BMW Sauber podium finishes in two straight races for the first time. The 11 points it earned in the race were also a record for the team, and Nick Heidfeld turned the fastest lap for the first time in his 136-race career. ... Massa remains pointless on the season after failing to finish at Malaysia despite starting on the pole. ... Giancarlo Fisichella finished ahead of Fernando Alonso in the 2006 event to give Renault only its second 1-2 finish ever.
Next race: Spanish Grand Prix, April 27, Barcelona
Massa too strong in Bahrain
Sakhir, Bahrain (Sports Network) - For the second straight year Felipe Massa captured the Grand Prix of Bahrain. The No.2 Ferrari crossed the finish line 3.339 seconds ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen. He dominated for most of the afternoon taking the lead off the starting grid and relinquishing it only during pit stops.
The victory was Massa's first of the season, the first race he completed all the laps in 2008 and the sixth of his F1 career.
Surprise pole winner Robert Kubica, the first non-Ferrari or McLaren pole winner in 22 races, brought the field to the green flag for 57 laps of racing around the 3.363-mile, 15-turn road course, but it was Massa who beat Kubica to the first corner and quickly grabbed the lead.
"Starting second didn't change anything because I had a good start," said Massa, who was fastest for most of qualifying, but started second on the grid.
At the other end of the spectrum was points leader Lewis Hamilton who fell from third on the grid to 10th after the opening lap. It got worse for Hamilton who slammed into the back of Fernando Alonso's Renault on lap two destroying the front nose. Hamilton would return to the track with a new nose piece, but in 18th place and 50 seconds behind the leaders.
Meanwhile, up front, 2007 World Champion Raikkonen got around Kubica giving Ferrari the top two spots after just three laps. Massa, who failed to finish either of the first two races and was under pressure to perform this weekend, set a fastest lap on lap 7 to extend his lead to 4.3 second over his teammate, who could not escape Kubica. On lap 12 Massa again lowered his best lap time, expanding his lead to 5.1 seconds over Raikkonen.
Both Raikkonen and Kubica pitted before Massa indicating just how well the Brazilian was running even with a heavier fuel load. Massa finally made his first stop on lap 21 holding a 15.5-second lead on Nick Heidfeld who followed the leader down pit lane.
After the first round of pit stops, Massa's lead had grown to 5.4 second on Raikkonen. Slowly, Raikkonen began to eat into the lead as the field hit the mid-point of the race. The World Champion was still just under five seconds back, but he was slightly quicker than the leader. The two BMWs of Kubica and Heidfeld were 13 and 18 seconds back, respectively. And Hamilton was still stuck down in 14th place, 59 seconds back, and looking like his championship lead was lost.
Raikkonen continued to close - to 3.6 second at lap 35. Then he pulled in for his final stop on lap 38. One lap later Massa pitted. The Brazilian returned to the track still well ahead of his teammate - 5.5 seconds.
When Heidfeld made his final stop on lap 45, Massa retook the lead and held 7.3 seconds on Raikkonen. Heidfeld returned to the track just 5.1 seconds behind his teammate in the battle for the last podium spot behind the two Ferraris.
Kubica was flying now with 10 laps to go. He was one second faster than Raikkonen and the pole winner closed to within 3.6 second of second place. He got as close as one second, but that was all he could do.
On this day, however, no one had anything for Massa, who won in Bahrain for the second consecutive year. "The car was just very, very good and the strategy was perfect," said Massa.
Heidfeld, Heikki Kovalainen, Jarno Trulli, Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg completed the points-scoring positions. Hamilton finished 13th and fell five points behind the new championship leader - Raikkonen (19-14). Heidfeld jumped up to second place overall just three points behind the reigning World Champion.
The fourth race of the season is set for Sunday, April 28th in Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix.