This Week in Auto Racing August 15 - 17
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - The NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series head to the Irish Hills of Michigan for a weekend of racing at the two- mile Michigan International Speedway.
Sprint Cup Series
3M Performance 400 - Michigan International Speedway - Brooklyn, MI
With four races remaining until the cutoff for the "Chase for the Sprint Cup," tension is building for several drivers as they try to secure a spot in the top-12 in order to qualify. Just 148 points currently separate sixth-place Jeff Gordon from 13th-place Clint Bowyer.
Gordon remained sixth in the championship standings despite a disappointing 29th-place finish in last Sunday race at Watkins Glen. Tony Stewart moved up to seventh in points after finishing second to teammate Kyle Busch.
Matt Kenseth moved up to 12th in the standings after his 12th-place run at The Glen. Bowyer, meanwhile, finished 23rd and slipped to 13th, 22 markers behind Kenseth.
Lucky for Kenseth, Michigan is the next stop on the Sprint Cup schedule as Jack Roush's drivers have won 10 times there, second all-time to the Wood Brothers' 11 victories. Two of Roush's victories at Michigan have come from Kenseth, who won there in June 2002 and August 2006. He has also finished third and fourth in the last two races there.
"It doesn't matter where you are in the points until after Richmond," Kenseth said. "We're heading into a stretch of tracks that I really enjoy racing at, so hopefully we'll be able to make up some ground there."
Kenseth has also won at Bristol, California and Richmond, the final three tracks on the schedule before the 10-race "Chase" begins September 14th at New Hampshire.
Meanwhile, Bowyer hopes his performance will improve at Michigan, where he has finished 16th or worse in his last five starts there.
Greg Biffle finished 21st at Watkins Glen and dropped two spots to 10th in the standings. Biffle is 61 points ahead of Kenseth, his Roush Fenway Racing teammate. He recorded five straight Top-10 finishes at Michigan from August 2004 to August 2006, but has finished 19th, 20th, and 38th in the last three races there. He is a two-time Michigan winner.
Biffle has yet to win this season, and Michigan might be where he gets his "Race to the Chase" on track.
"I'm racing for wins right now and committed to not making mistakes," Biffle said. "So, I'm going to do both. I'm going to execute on the race track and not make mistakes, but we've got to win some races to get some points when the Chase starts."
11th-place Kevin Harvick is only 19 points ahead of Kenseth. After a 37th- place run at Indianapolis, Harvick has finished fourth at Pocono and sixth at Watkins Glen to keep his championship hopes alive. He has finished 15th or better in the last five races at Michigan.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will try for a season-sweep at Michigan. Earnhardt, Jr. won the LifeLock 400 there in June, snapping a 76-race winless streak in the series. If he wins Sunday's 3M Performance 400, he will become the first driver to sweep Michigan since Bobby Labonte did it in 1995.
"I am looking forward to going back," Earnhardt, Jr. said. "We ran pretty good and had a pretty good car. I want to make the car better. I like that race track. It is a lot of fun to race on. These cars are pretty challenging this year, but that is still a fun track for me." Earnhardt, Jr. is currently fourth in points.
Kurt Busch won last year's 3M Performance 400 at Michigan. After two days of rain delays, Busch went on to lead a race-high 92 laps and then held off Martin Truex, Jr. at the finish by a half-second. It was his second victory of the season and the 17th of his career.
Nationwide Series regular Brad Coleman will attempt to make his Sprint Cup debut this weekend. Coleman is replacing J.J. Yeley in the No.96 Toyota for Hall of Fame Racing. After an impressive third-place finish at Watkins Glen, Marcos Ambrose will be back in the No.21 Ford for the Wood Brothers. And Mike Skinner, a Craftsman Truck Series regular, will fill-in for rookie Michael McDowell in the No.00 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota. The Truck Series has the weekend off.
Nationwide Series
The Carfax 250 - Michigan International Speedway - Brooklyn, MI
Michigan-native Brad Keselowski returns home with an opportunity to gain more ground on points leader Clint Bowyer in the Nationwide Series standings. Keselowski's sixth-place finish coupled with a 23rd-place finish for Bowyer last Saturday at Watkins Glen moved him within 128 points of the lead.
Keselowski, in just his first full-year of Nationwide competition, is the closest he's ever been to first place in points in his racing career. The 128- point margin is also the closest any driver has been to Bowyer since May.
"Being only 128 behind (Bowyer) is not the end of the world," Keselowski said. "We need to race to win, and if we can win some races, we can close that gap really quickly."
Keselowski finished 13th in his first Nationwide race at Michigan last year, while Bowyer has finished 10th, 12th and 30th in his three races there.
Third-place and defending series champion Carl Edwards is 174 points behind Bowyer after finishing 25th at Watkins Glen. Edwards is hoping to improve at Michigan, where he has finished 23rd and 28th in the last two races there. He will also be celebrating his 29th birthday on Friday.
After picking up his first win at Watkins Glen, Marcos Ambrose moved up to tenth in points. It's the first time the Aussie has been in the top-10 since he finished eight in the 2007 Nationwide season. Ambrose became the fourth series-only regular to win this year, joining Scott Wimmer (first Nashville race), Keselowski (second Nashville race) and Joey Logano (Kentucky).
Stewart will make his final Nationwide start for Joe Gibbs Racing this weekend. Stewart will drive the No.20 Toyota. He is leaving JGR at the end of the season to serve as both driver and co-owner of the newly-formed Stewart- Haas Racing, starting in 2009. Stewart has scored five victories in eight Nationwide starts this season.
Mark Martin will compete in just his third Nationwide race this season, driving the No.5 Chevrolet for Earnhardt, Jr.'s J.R. Motorsports. Martin is the series' all-time leader in wins with 48 and poles with 30. He drove the No.5 car to victory in March at Las Vegas. He finished 23rd in May at Darlington.
Denny Hamlin won last year's Carfax 250 at Michigan. Hamlin pulled away from the field after the last round of pit stops and never looked back. He finished seven seconds ahead of Kenseth for his second Nationwide victory of the season and the fourth of his career.
Auto Racing Glance
3M Performance 400 - Michigan International Speedway - Brooklyn, MI
Schedule: Friday, qualifying (Speed Channel, 3:30 p.m.); Sunday, race (ESPN, 2 p.m.)
Track: Michigan International Speedway (D-shaped oval, 2 miles, 18 degrees banking in turns).
Race distance: 400 miles, 200 laps.
Last race: Kyle Busch led 52 laps from the pole and won the Centurion Boats at The Glen at Watkins Glen International to become the first driver in NASCAR history to win three road course races in one season. Busch, who also clinched a spot in the 10-race Chase for the Cup title, has won 16 races in NASCAR's top three series this season - eight in Sprint Cup, six in Nationwide and two in trucks - and three came on road courses. He won the Nationwide race in Mexico in April and the Cup race at Sonoma in June.
Last year: Kurt Busch dominated in the second half to capture the 3M Performance 400 that had twice been postponed because of rain. Busch had to hold off Martin Truex Jr. in the closing laps for the victory.
Fast facts: Matt Kenseth finished 12th at Watkins Glen to move into 12th place in the standings, 22 points ahead of Clint Bowyer in the race for the final slot to make the postseason. ... Marcos Ambrose, despite starting in last position, finished third at Watkins Glen, a day after winning the Nationwide race ... Since August 1999, 14 different drivers have won 18 Sprint Cup races at Michigan. Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Kenseth and Ryan Newman are the two-time winners. ... In 2001, Tony Stewart, starting 28th, became the deepest starter to win a Sprint Cup race at Michigan. ... Carl Edwards is the only driver with more than one race at Michigan who has completed all of his possible laps. ... Mike Skinner, a regular on the Craftsman Truck Series, will replace Michael McDowell in car No. 00 for Michael Waltrip Racing over the next three Sprint Cup events,
Next race: Sharpie 500, Aug. 23, Bristol, Tenn.
The Carfax 250 - Michigan International Speedway - Brooklyn, MI
Schedule: Saturday, qualifying (Speed Channel, 10:30 a.m.), race (ESPN2, 3:30 p.m.)
Track: Michigan International Speedway (D-shaped oval, 2 miles, 18 degrees banking in turns).
Race distance: 250 miles, 125 laps.
Last race: Marcos Ambrose took advantage of a fortuitous pit stop midway through the Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen and easily beat Kyle Busch for his first career NASCAR victory.
Last year: Denny Hamlin fought off a midrace challenge from Matt Kenseth, then drove away for a dominating victory in the Carfax 250.
Fast facts: Ambrose's victory last week was the first for an Australian in any of NASCAR's top three divisions. ... Dario Franchitti, back in a NASCAR ride for the first time in nearly a month, finished eighth at Watkins Glen. Franchitti, who lost his Cup ride with Chip Ganassi Racing last month because of a lack of sponsorship, was competing in the first of seven Nationwide starts this season for Ganassi. ... Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson battled for the lead and Ambrose was third with 12 laps to go last week, when the two leaders ran out of gas less than four laps from the end, allowing Ambrose to coast to victory. ... Brad Keselowski's sixth-place finish last week moved him ahead of Carl Edwards into second place in the series standings, 128 points behind leader Clint Bowyer.
Next race: Food City 250, Aug. 22, Bristol, Tenn.