This Week in Auto Racing August 1 - August 3

This Week in Auto Racing August 1 - August 3

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - The Sprint Cup Series is in Pocono, PA with hopefully no more tire problems this weekend, while the Nationwide Series heads north of the border to Canada for the second time. And Formula One travels to Budapest, Hungary for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Sprint Cup Series

Pennsylvania 500 - Pocono Raceway - Long Pond, PA

It's been a very busy week for NASCAR in determining what went wrong with Sunday's tire-marred race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The sanctioning body publicly apologized Tuesday for a prestigious event that featured no more than 12 consecutive laps of green-flag racing.

"I can't say enough how sorry we are," Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's Vice President of Competition, said during a teleconference. "It's our responsibility being NASCAR that we don't go through this situation again. We've already got after it, and we're moving forward with a plan to get ahead of the situation so we don't go through this again."

A track-record 52 of 160 laps were run under caution as NASCAR planned nine competition cautions to allow teams to come down pit road and change their tires.

NASCAR realized it had a major tire issue on its hands during Saturday's final practice at Indy. They can only hope it doesn't happen there, or anywhere else, again.

"I just want to let everybody know and get ahead of that and try to put this behind us and we'll work hard, all of us that are involved at Indianapolis - from the tire manufacturer to NASCAR, to Indianapolis Motor Speedway," Pemberton said. "That being said, let's get on with the rest of the show."

And the show will go on as the Sprint Cup Series heads to the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania this weekend for the Pennsylvania 500. Pocono is a flat, 2.5- mile track, but unlike Indianapolis, is triangular in shape.

A two-day Sprint Cup test session at Pocono in May allowed teams to gather data on the Car of Tomorrow for upcoming events at the track as well as Indianapolis.

The Pocono 500 in June went off without a hitch, despite unusually high temperatures for that time of the year there. Kasey Kahne won the race after he overcame a mishap in the pits early in the event. Kahne's crew was confused as to whether they were making a two-tire or four-tire stop and did neither. Officials were forced to bring Kahne back for a second stop when some of the lug nuts were left off the left-front tire. He restarted 39th.

Kahne knifed his way through the field. By lap 75, he was up to 20th, and at lap 89, he cracked the top-10. Kahne led 69 of 200 laps en route to his second victory of the season.

Kyle Busch heads to Pocono with a 253-point lead over Dale Earnhardt, Jr. with six races remaining before the "Chase for the Sprint Cup" begins September 14th at New Hampshire. Jeff Burton remained third in the standings, while Jimmie Johnson moved up one spot to fourth.

Johnson, the two-time defending series champion, appears to have bounced back in his title quest after a victory at Indianapolis and a second-place finish at Chicagoland. But Busch clearly remains the dominant driver in the 2008 Cup campaign with seven wins so far.

Johnson is a two-time race winner at Pocono as he won both races there during the 2004 season. He finished sixth there in June.

Busch had a disappointing 43rd-place finish in this year's Pocono 500. He had to start from the rear of the field after wrecking his primary car in practice. Then he was involved in an incident with Jamie McMurray in the early-stages. Busch became the first driver to compete in all three of NASCAR's touring series at three different tracks on the same weekend. He also ran at Nashville and Texas. This weekend, Busch will be at Pocono only.

Kurt Busch is the defending winner of the Pennsylvania 500. Busch put on a dominating performance in last year's event, leading 175 of 200 laps. He finished 4.132 seconds ahead of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to snap a 52-race winless streak in the series. It was his first trip to victory lane since March 2006 at Bristol, TN.

Kyle Petty was originally scheduled to return to the driver's seat of the No.45 Dodge at Pocono, but Petty Enterprises announced Tuesday a driver change for the Pennsylvania 500. Chad McCumbee, a full-time Craftsman Truck Series competitor, will drive the car at Pocono. Petty returns to the track next week at Watkins Glen, NY with Terry Labonte taking over driving duties in the August 17th event at Michigan.

Nationwide Series

NAPA Auto Parts 200 - Circuit Gilles Villeneuve - Montreal, Quebec, Canada

The Nationwide Series returns to Montreal for the second running of the NAPA Auto Parts 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Montreal is the second of three road-course events on the series schedule this year. Mexico City was held in April. Watkins Glen is scheduled for next week.

Next year's Nationwide schedule is expected to feature just two road-course events. The Charlotte Observer reported Sunday Mexico City will be replaced with a U.S. racetrack, possibly the Iowa Speedway in Newton, IA. The series has run at Mexico City each year since 2005.

Clint Bowyer's march toward the 2008 Nationwide crown continues as he currently holds a 173-point lead over second-place Brad Keselowski and a 180- point advantage over third-place Carl Edwards. Edwards finished 30th in the 2007 inaugural race at Montreal. Bowyer and Keselowski will compete there for the first time this year.

Kevin Harvick won last year's inaugural event at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Harvick took the checkered flag in wild fashion after Robby Gordon spun out the race leader. The race would come down to the rookie Marcos Ambrose and one of NASCAR's best off- road and road course racers, Gordon. On the restart with four laps to go, Ambrose got a great jump on Gordon. But Fellows and Pruett didn't make it through turn two as they spun around, blocking the track and forcing a caution flag. Meanwhile, Ambrose had spun Gordon after the caution flags were displayed

NASCAR determined that Gordon should restart 14th, but Gordon refused to move from behind Ambrose. The race resumed with Gordon right behind the leader. Gordon took out his frustration on Ambrose, spinning him in the second corner. Harvick then inherited the lead, and after holding off Patrick Carpentier, was declared the winner.

Gordon claimed he won the race, but Harvick was the actual winner as Gordon had been black-flagged and his final laps were not counted by the scoring computer. NASCAR parked Gordon for the Cup event at Pocono the next day for his actions in Montreal. Carpentier, the pole sitter, led three times for 14 laps and placed second.

Harvick, a Sprint Cup regular, will not defend his NAPA Auto Parts 200 title this year in Montreal.

Carpentier, meanwhile, is so focused on winning a NASCAR race in his native Canada and defending his 2007 pole at the track that he will forego Sundays Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono to concentrate solely on the event in Montreal.

"Its amazing how much things can change in just a short time," Carpentier said. "A year ago we had just scraped together enough money to race at Gilles Villeneuve Circuit. Now I'm blessed to be racing every week. We've come such a long way. I'm thrilled that things played out the way they did. Gillett Evernham Motorsports is a wonderful organization to be involved with."

Carpentier, in his rookie season, is currently 36th in Sprint Cup points, driving the Number-10 Dodge for GEM.

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve has hosted Formula One, Champ Car and the NASCAR Canadian Tires Series. The circuit, on lle Notre-Dame, a man-made island in the St. Lawrence River that is part of the city of Montreal, was named after the late Canadian driver Gilles Villeneuve, father of Jacques Villeneuve. The venue hosted the Champ Car World Series and Grand Prix of Montreal from 2002-2007. The circuit is a fast circuit, but it also resembles a street circuit. The roads were designed for automobile racing, but are public roads for the rest of the year.

Formula One

Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungaroring - Budapest, Hungary

Lewis Hamilton will attempt to win his third-straight Formula One event this weekend at the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Hamilton, racing for the McLaren Mercedes team, has won the German Grand Prix and the British Grand Prix in the past month. His victory in Hockenheim, Germany gave him a four- point lead over Felipe Massa with eight races to go in the season.

With wins in the last two grand prix and a return to Hungaroring, where he won there from the pole, Hamilton is cautiously optimistic about this weekend's race.

"I'm wary about making any strong predictions," Hamilton said. "We were strong in the last two races, but we encountered difficulties in the two before that, so its impossible to call it this weekend. All I can say is that our car feels fantastic at the moment and I'm really enjoying driving it. It feels like you can keep fine-tuning it to extract more performance from it, which is a fantastic feeling for any racing driver."

Hamilton won last year's Hungarian Grand Prix in dominating fashion. He led all 70 laps and finished 0.715 seconds ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen for his third win of the season.

A third-straight win this weekend will certainly add to his championship momentum.

"It's easy to say that you'll treat each race with a certain amount of respect," Hamilton said. "But the reality is that I haven't changed my style. It seems to work for me and I enjoy pushing hard to achieve a good result. That's when I feel I am operating at my maximum and it's potentially dangerous to start thinking about changing your approach at this point in the season. I'll be honest. My approach has served me fairly well so far and I'd need to give it some serious thought before attempting to change it. Let's just say it will be business as usual in Hungary this weekend."

The Hungaroring is built 12 miles northeast of Budapest, and is set in a natural Amphitheater, as the track starts on one side, goes down into a valley before going down the far side, then turning and coming back in the opposite direction. Overtaking is virtually impossible there, as the track is narrow, with many slow corners. Hungaroring has hosted this race since it began in 1986. The track features 13 turns and offers excellent natural viewing embankments. It's location, close to the border with Germany, enables fans from all over Europe to spectate.

Nelson Piquet won the '86 inaugural race after beating arch rival Ayrton Senna in a close battle. Piquet won again the following year, after Nigel Mansell was forced to forfeit the victory due to a loose wheel nut with only six laps remaining.

Damon Hill won his first Grand Prix victory there in 1993, and in 1994, Michael Schumacher raced his Benetton to the win for the teams' maiden Hungaroring victory. Damon Hill won again in '95, and came in second in '96, behind teammate Jacques Villeneuve. Schumacher finished his career with four Hungarian wins. The pole sitter has captured 11 of the 22 previous races, including five of the last seven years.