This Week in Auto Racing August 19 - 23

This Week in Auto Racing August 19 - 23

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - NASCAR roars into "Thunder Valley" as all three of its national touring series race under the lights at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee this week. The IndyCar Series heads to California's wine country for road racing at Infineon Raceway, while Formula One runs on the Streets of Valencia in Spain.

Sprint Cup Series

Sharpie 500 - Bristol Motor Speedway - Bristol, TN

When the Sprint Cup Series comes to Bristol in August, it's always an action- packed affair on a hot summer night. With three races to go before the "Chase for the Sprint Cup" championship begins, the heat is on for several drivers hoping to qualify for the playoffs. Just 166 points separate seventh-place Juan Pablo Montoya from 15th-place Kyle Busch. The top-12 drivers in points after the September 12 race at Richmond will make the Chase.

Tony Stewart, the current points leader, became the first driver to clinch a Chase spot last Sunday's race at Michigan. Two more drivers -- Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson -- can secure a position Saturday at Bristol.

Gordon moved up to second in the rankings after his runner-up finish at Michigan. The four-time Cup champion has just 10 bonus points so far, with his sole victory of the season coming in April at Texas.

"I just would like to have a few more bonus points going into the Chase, a little bit more momentum," Gordon said. "This certainly is going to help towards the momentum if we can go to Bristol [this] week and keep putting a strong finish out there and effort. That's going to mean as much to me as anything."

Gordon and Kurt Busch lead all active drivers with five victories each at Bristol. Gordon won four consecutive spring events there from 1995-98. His last victory at Bristol came in August 2002, when he bumped Rusty Wallace out of the way with less than three laps remaining.

Carl Edwards has won the last two night races at Bristol. Last year, Kyle Busch dominated Bristol by leading 415 of 500 laps, but Edwards nudged Busch aside with 31 laps remaining.

After Edwards took the checkered flag, a frustrated Busch retaliated on the cool-down lap by intentionally bumping Edwards. Edwards, though, responded by driving into the right side of Busch's car, spinning him around.

Edwards sits comfortably in fourth place but has yet to win this year after leading the series with nine victories last season.

"We're going to go to Bristol with the first goal being to finish the race," Edwards said. "Our second goal will be to have the same success that we've had the last couple years in the night race there."

Busch won this year's spring race at Bristol with another dominating performance. He led 378 laps and held off his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin in a green-white-checkered finish for his second victory there. His first win at Bristol came in March 2007 when NASCAR debuted its Car of Tomorrow in Cup competition.

Busch's season continued to spiral downward after a 23rd-place run at Michigan. He has now fallen 70 points behind the 12th spot, currently occupied by Mark Martin.

Brian Vickers moved to within 12 points of Martin after winning Michigan, while Clint Bowyer trimmed his deficit to 58 points after finishing eighth.

On Tuesday, Vickers signed a multi-year extension to his contract with Red Bull Racing. The 25-year-old driver gave Red Bull its first victory in its third year of Cup competition.

Martin is just 20 points behind 11th-place Matt Kenseth, who won back-to-back night races at Bristol from 2005-06. Kenseth is optimistic about making the Chase for the sixth straight year, with Atlanta and Richmond upcoming on the schedule.

"I like all of the tracks that are coming up," Kenseth said. "I don't think there's one that really a bad track for us. We're capable of doing well at all of them."

Kenseth and Johnson are the only drivers to make the Chase field in all five years of the format's existence.

Martin, who has four wins so far this year, is set to make his 1,000th NASCAR national touring series start. Bristol will mark his 746th start in the Cup Series, to go along with 213 races in Nationwide competition and 23 in the Camping World Truck Series.

Forty-eight teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Sharpie 500.

Saturday's race will be the 55th consecutive sell out for a Cup race at Bristol, with 160,000 people in attendance. The streak dates back to August 1982, when Darrell Waltrip edged Bobby Allison by less than one second in front of an estimated 30,000 fans. Since then, the seating capacity at the famed half-mile "bull ring" has increased more than five-fold.

Nationwide Series

Food City 250 - Bristol Motor Speedway - Bristol, TN

Kyle Busch is running away with this year's Nationwide Series title.

Busch finished third last Saturday at Michigan, which ended his series record streak of finishing first or second at 10 races. However, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver padded his lead to a season-high 339 points over Carl Edwards, who finished 40th after crashing in the opening laps.

Brad Keselowski won at his home track and moved to within 50 points of Edwards for second in the rankings. Keselowski capitalized on a furious last-lap battle between Busch and Brian Vickers. His third win this year marked the most in one season for a series-only regular since 2005, when Martin Truex, Jr. picked up six victories en route to his second consecutive championship.

Keselowski is the defending race winner at Bristol. Clint Bowyer led a race- high 121 laps, but Bowyer got loose just after a restart with 24 laps to go, allowing Keselowski to grab the top spot.

Busch has finished in the top-10 in six of the last seven Nationwide races at Bristol, winning there in 2006. In March, Busch led 156 of the first 254 laps, but during his final pit stop, a tire bounced off the inside wall and rolled away from his pit stall. He was slapped with a pass-through penalty, which cost him the victory. He wound up sixth.

Kevin Harvick won the spring event at Bristol. Harvick overcame alternator problems and grabbed the lead when Busch was penalized for his tire violation. He led the final 45 laps for his first Nationwide win in the car he owns.

Harvick leads all drivers with five wins at Bristol and will compete in Friday's race.

"I grew up on a half-mile, high-banked racetrack," Harvick said. "I know Bristol is a lot more banked, but it's kind of the same mind set for me driving around the track. It's short-track beating and banging, and it's a lot of fun."

Steve Grissom is the last driver to win both Nationwide races at Bristol in the same season, accomplishing the feat in 1995.

Fifty-two teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Food City 250. Twelve Sprint Cup regulars are among those entered.

Camping World Truck Series

O'Reilly 200 - Bristol Motor Speedway - Bristol, TN

The Camping World Truck Series runs on Wednesday night at Bristol, and what a treat this should be, as 51-year-old Ron Hornaday will attempt to keep his winning streak alive at six races.

Earlier this month at Nashville, Hornaday became the first driver to win five races in a row in one of NASCAR's national touring series since 1971. Richard Petty and Bobby Allison both did it in the Cup Series that year. Petty holds the NASCAR record with 10 straight Cup wins in 1967.

"I've had streaks and success before in my career but never anything like this," Hornaday said.

Heading into Bristol, Hornaday holds a commanding 216-point lead over Matt Crafton.

Hornaday is the only repeat winner at Bristol, with his victories coming back- to-back from 1997-98. He finished 24th there last year after being involved in a late-race accident.

Kyle Busch is the defending race winner. Busch led 145 laps, survived 12 cautions and held off Todd Bodine in an overtime finish for the victory. He also spoiled Johnny Benson's bid for a fourth consecutive truck victory. Benson came up short with a third-place finish.

This week, Busch will be reunited with the same crew chief that guided him to victory in last year's race at Bristol. Richie Wauters returns to the crew chief position for the No.51 Billy Ballew Motorsports Toyota. Doug George, who guided Busch to wins at California and Atlanta earlier this year, moves to the No.15 Toyota, with Aric Almirola behind the wheel at Bristol.

Ryan Newman and Brad Keselowski will also compete in the truck race at Bristol.

Newman will make his third career start, driving a third entry for Kevin Harvick Inc. He won in his first start in 2008 at Atlanta and finished fourth at Charlotte earlier this year. Newman has a very busy week at Bristol this week, competing in the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series races as well as Wednesday's Whelen Modified Tour Series event, which runs prior to the truck race.

"It is going to be a challenge to compete in all four races, but I am really looking forward to it," Newman said. "It's a lot of miles, a lot of laps. I have done the Nationwide and Cup races on the back-to-back nights in August before, and that can be difficult. Throw in the Truck and the Modified race on Wednesday, and it's like I am running a second Cup race there."

Keselowski finished sixth in his most recent series appearance, which came last November at Phoenix.

Thirty-nine teams are on the preliminary entry list for the O'Reilly 200.

INDYCAR SERIES

Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma County - Infineon Raceway - Sonoma, CA

With four races remaining on the 2009 IndyCar Series schedule, just 20 points separate the top-three drivers -- Scott Dixon, Ryan Briscoe and Dario Franchitti.

After winning two weeks ago at Mid-Ohio, Dixon reclaimed the lead in the championship standings. He holds a three-point advantage over Briscoe, who finished second. Dixon recorded his fourth win of the season and surpassed Sam Hornish, Jr. for most career victories in the series with 20.

"I don't really care for leading the championship now," Dixon said. "The only time you want to lead it is at the end. If you can get a runaway now and start building some points on those guys, that's going to be important."

Franchitti, who is Dixon's teammate at Chip Ganassi Racing, is currently third in points.

"I figured it was going to go down to the wire from the first race," said Franchitti, who returned to IndyCar racing this year.

One year ago, Dixon held a comfortable 78-point advantage over Helio Castroneves, who had yet to win a race in 2008 before the series came to Sonoma. However, Castroneves kept his title hopes alive when he surprisingly won in a backup car at Sonoma.

Castroneves and teammate Ryan Briscoe finished 1-2 in alternate cars after their primary vehicles sustained water, smoke and heat damage after a Team Penske transporter caught fire while en route to the Northern California road course.

Dixon finished 12th at Sonoma and saw his lead trimmed from 78 points to 43 over Castroneves. Dixon went on to capture his second series title two races later at Chicagoland, as he defeated Castroneves by 17 points.

Castroneves currently sits fourth in points, trailing Dixon by 101 points.

While Dixon and Franchitti have been in a back-and-forth battle for the points lead throughout the season, Briscoe has been in the thick of the title chase with two wins and six second-place finishes so far this season.

"I like the next four tracks we're going to; it's going to be exciting," Briscoe said.

Chicagoland (August 29), Motegi, Japan (September 19) and Homestead (October 10) are upcoming on the schedule.

IndyCar teams spent two days last week at Sonoma in preparation for the 75-lap event. Rookie Mike Conway posted the fastest time in both days of testing. Sonoma is the seventh and final road/street course event of the season.

Twenty-four drivers are entered for the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma. Among them is Franck Montagny, who will drive a fifth entry for Andretti Green Racing. Montagny competed in the final Champ Car race, held at Long Beach, CA, before making several starts in the American Le Mans Series with AGR last year. The Frenchman also ran a limited schedule in Formula One in 2006, driving for the Super Aguri team.

FORMULA ONE

European Grand Prix - Streets of Valencia - Valencia, Spain

After taking a four-week summer break, Formula One teams return to action, as the impressive street circuit in the port city of Valencia Spain hosts the European Grand Prix for the second time.

A lot has happened in the F1 world since the circuit ran the Hungarian Grand Prix last month in Budapest.

On Monday, Renault was cleared to race at Valencia after the International Automobile Federation (FIA) Court of Appeal overturned the team's one-race suspension.

F1 race stewards banned Renault from competing in the European GP after the French team allowed driver Fernando Alonso to leave the pits with a wheel not properly secured during the Hungarian GP. F1's governing body found Renault to be negligent in failing to secure the wheel, as well as letting Alonso to leave the pits when they were aware of the problem and then failing to communicate to their driver the problem.

The FIA reduced Renault's punishment by issuing a reprimand and imposing a $50,000 fine.

Alonso, a native of Oviedo, Spain, will now be able to compete in front of his home crowd.

"It's a home race for me, and I know that there will be amazing support from the fans, and I really want to reward them with a good result," Alonso said.

After Renault had their suspension upheld, the team announced test driver Romain Grosjean will replace Nelson Piquet, starting at Valencia. Piquet was released from the team earlier this month.

"[Valencia] is not the easiest place to make your debut, but I've always liked street races and enjoy the atmosphere of being in the middle of a city," Grosjean said.

Felipe Massa continues to recover from head injuries he suffered during a high-speed crash in qualifying for the Hungarian GP. Ferrari team principle Stefano Domenicali visited the Brazilian driver at his home in Sao Paulo earlier this week.

"Felipe is in excellent form and his recovery is going very well," Domenicali said on Ferrari's official website.

No date has been set for Massa's return to competition, but he is hopeful to be back in the car in October for his home grand prix in Brazil. Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer will substitute for Massa in the European GP.

"I am very motivated to make the most of this opportunity, even if I know I am facing a tough challenge, especially during the first couple of days in Valencia," Badoer said. "It will effectively be a test session for me, but I will be trying my best to secure a good result."

Michael Schumacher was originally scheduled to fill-in for Massa until his full recovery, but Schumacher, a seven-time F1 champion, decided against making a comeback with Ferrari after neck injuries he sustained in a motorcycle accident earlier this year prevented him from returning to the sport he once dominated.

Schumacher drove for Ferrari from 1996 until his retirement in 2006.

Massa won last year's European GP. He led from the pole to the checkered flag, only relinquishing the top spot when he pitted. Massa finished nearly six seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton for his fourth win of the season.

Hamilton is coming off a victory in the Hungarian GP. After enduring a rough first-half of the season, the defending world champion gave his McLaren team a huge boost with its struggling MP4-24 car.

"It's great to be getting back to business after the four-week break," Hamilton said. "I'm still buzzing from the win in Hungary, and I'm hopeful of being able to carry that pace into the Valencia weekend - particularly with our new upgrades to the car."