This Week in Auto Racing August 8 - 10

This Week in Auto Racing August 8 - 10

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - The NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series head to the scenic Finger Lakes area of upstate New York for road- course racing at Watkins Glen International, while the Craftsman Truck Series hits the track in "Music City USA" for a night-time show at the Nashville Superspeedway. The IndyCar Series roars into the "Bluegrass State" for a date at the Kentucky Speedway this weekend.

Sprint Cup Series

Centurion Boats at The Glen - Watkins Glen International - Watkins Glen, NY

With five races remaining until the "Chase for the Sprint Cup" begins September 14th at New Hampshire, the spotlight shines ever-brighter on the 12th-place cut-off. Only 97 points separate ninth-place Tony Stewart from 14th-place David Ragan as the Sprint Cup Series heads to Watkins Glen International for their second and final road-course event of the season.

Matt Kenseth fell out of the top-12 after an 11th-place finish Sunday at Pocono. Kenseth is now 11 markers behind 12th-place Clint Bowyer in the championship standings. He was eighth in points after Chicagoland, but has fallen five positions since then. Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson are the only drivers to compete in the "Chase" every year since the championship program began in 2004.

But Kenseth remains optimistic he'll make the "Chase" for the fifth-straight time.

"Every point matters all year from Daytona to Richmond to get in so, yeah, it matters but it doesn't matter today if you're 13th or fifth," Kenseth said. "You've got to be in after Richmond so we'll just keep digging as hard as we can and, hopefully, we'll make it."

Kenseth is hoping to rebound at The Glen. But his track record at the 2.45-mile road course is fair at best. He's scored three top-10 finishes in eight starts there with a best finish of eighth in 2003. He finished 12th in last year's race.

Even though he was involved in a crash in the opening laps at Pocono, Kevin Harvick rallied for a fourth-place finish, and as a result, moved up two spots in the standings. Harvick sits in the 11th spot, eight markers ahead of his Richard Childress Racing teammate Bowyer.

"We haven't had everything go right this year so we are pretty happy to be in this position," Harvick said. "We still have to go out and race as hard as we can every week. I have learned not to let the point situation stress me out. I just go out and race and do the best I can and things will fall the way they are supposed to. I think if we keep up the performance we have had for the last five or six weeks, and don't have anything major go wrong, we will be okay."

Harvick has an impressive record at The Glen, recording one victory (2006) and four top-10 finishes in seven races. Harvick, unfortunately, finished 36th in last year's race after being involved in an incident with Juan Pablo Montoya. Martin Truex, Jr. got into the back of Montoya, sending him into the turn too fast as he hit Harvick. The two got out of their cars and started pushing and yelling at each other.

Tony Stewart is the defending winner of the Centurion Boats at The Glen. Stewart watched as Jeff Gordon slid off the track with two laps to go. The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver held off his teammate Denny Hamlin at the finish line by 2.460 seconds for his third victory of the season and his 32nd career victory in the series. Gordon, the points leader at the time, ended up finishing ninth.

Stewart and Jeff Gordon lead all drivers with four victories each at The Glen.

"I'm excited to go back to The Glen," Stewart said. "I love the road courses. They're a lot of fun. We've historically had pretty good luck there."

Stewart has yet to win a Cup race in 2008, but his second-place run Sunday at Pocono matched his best finish for the season. He also finished second in the spring race at Atlanta.

Kyle Busch enters Watkins Glen with a 176-point lead over Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and a 185-point advantage over Carl Edwards, who won at Pocono. After back-to- back wins at Daytona and Chicagoland, Busch's momentum has subsided as he finished 15th at Indianapolis and 36th at Pocono.

After capturing the victory in the rain-shortened Nationwide Series race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canadian Ron Fellows will drive the No. 01 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. at The Glen. Fellows has yet to record a win in 18 Sprint Cup starts, but has posted three top-five finishes. He does have four Nationwide victories and two Craftsman Truck wins. All of those have come on a road course.

Nationwide Series

Zippo 200 - Watkins Glen International - Watkins Glen, NY

Following its historic running in the rain at Montreal, the Nationwide Series moves on to Watkins Glen for its third and final road-course event of the season. The Zippo 200 will feature another who's who of road-course racers such as Canadians Patrick Carpentier, Wheeler Boys and D.J. Kennington; former IndyCar drivers and Indianapolis 500 champions Dario Franchitti and Sam Hornish, Jr., and former Champ Car standout Max Papis.

Ron Fellows won at Montreal in the No.5 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, but won't be in the seat this week at The Glen as owner Dale Earnhardt, Jr. takes over driving duties. Earnhardt, Jr. won a Nationwide race at Watkins Glen in 1999, the same year he won his second-straight title in the series.

Clint Bowyer currently holds a 168-point lead over Carl Edwards in the championship standings. Edwards chipped 12 more points away from Bowyer's lead after a sixth-place finish at Montreal. Bowyer came in ninth. Brad Keselowski finished 12th and fell one spot to third. He is now 184 markers behind.

Bowyer has finished 15th and 16th in two starts at The Glen, while Edwards has posted finishes of 11th, 27th, and 32nd in his three races there. Keselowski will make his first start there this weekend.

Kevin Harvick won last year's Zippo 200. Harvick scored his 31st career Nationwide victory and moved into a tie with Jack Ingram for second in the series' all-time wins list. Mark Martin holds the record for most victories with 48. Harvick will drive his No.33 Chevrolet this weekend.

"Winning at Watkins Glen was a major accomplishment in my career, Harvick said. "We'd been able to win on all the different types of race tracks as we've gone through the years, but the road course thing, we always had this little cloud over us. We have been in contention to win and always had things happen here and there. To finally do that was pretty satisfying. It's almost a sense of relief because you get so frustrated at places you know you're capable of winning and haven't."

This is the 15th Nationwide race at this track, nicknamed "New York's Thunder Road." Terry Labonte was a four-time winner of this race, while Fellows took the checkered flag there three times. When Ernie Irvan won the 1992 Nationwide race, he did it from the 22nd starting spot, which is the furthest back a driver has started and won at The Glen.

Craftsman Truck Series

Toyota Tundra 200 - Nashville Superspeedway - Lebanon, TN

Johnny Benson will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at the Nashville Superspeedway Saturday. If Benson drives into Victory Lane for the Toyota Tundra 200 at Nashville, he will become the sixth driver in Craftsman Truck Series history to win three races in a row.

Benson is coming off of wins at Kentucky and O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis.

He's won back-to-back races two other times in his career. Last year, the series veteran won at Bristol, TN, followed by a victory at St. Louis. Benson ended up finishing eighth in the next race at New Hampshire.

In 2006, he recorded consecutive wins at Michigan and Milwaukee before settling for a ninth-place finish at Kansas.

Hopefully, the third time will be the charm for Benson.

"I love going to Nashville," Benson said. "It is a great place to race and has one of the most coveted trophies in NASCAR. We won the race two years ago and got one of those Gibson guitars, which was pretty cool. I need another to add to my trophy case."

Benson admits getting around the 1.333-mile concrete oval isn't an easy task.

"The track is pretty neat, although it's a tough place to pass," Benson said. "It's a finesse-type of race track, where you have to really concentrate to hold it down at the bottom of the track. It also requires a lot of discipline to make sure you don't go into the corner too hard."

Benson's Bill Davis Racing teammate, Mike Skinner, won three-consecutive races during the 1997 and 2007 seasons. Ron Hornaday, Jr. captured three straight victories in 1997. Greg Biffle did it in 2000, and Todd Bodine pulled the trick in 2005. No driver in the series has ever won four in a row.

Benson comes to Nashville with a 15-point lead over defending series champion Ron Hornaday, Jr. and a 31-point advantage over Matt Crafton. Rick Crawford (-155) and Mike Skinner (-157) are fourth and fifth in the standings.

Nationwide Series regular David Stremme will drive the No. 15 Toyota for Billy Ballew Motorsports at Nashville, while 2000 Nationwide champion Jeff Green will pilot the No. 40 Chevrolet for Key Motorsports.

Travis Kvapil won last year's race at Nashville. Skinner led the first 102 laps, but Kvapil's truck came to life as he caught Skinner and then made the pass for the lead. Kvapil led all but one of the final 48 laps remaining, and crossed the finish line 2.403 seconds ahead of Hornaday, Jr. for his third Craftsman Truck Series victory of the season and the eighth of his career. Kvapil is now a regular in the Sprint Cup Series, driving the No.28 Ford for Yates Racing.

IndyCar Series

Meijer Indy 300 - Kentucky Speedway - Sparta, KY

With four races remaining in the 2008 IndyCar Series season, six drivers remain mathematically eligible for the championship, but Scott Dixon is clearly in the driver's seat for the title with a comfortable 65-point lead over Helio Castroneves. Dixon has five victories so far this season, including wins in two of the last three races. He has been atop the standings since winning the Indianapolis 500 in May.

"I think at this point in the championship battle it's a must-have for Team Target," Dixon said. "Helio has been very strong in the last two races. He's been trying to chase us down, but we were able to make a small gain on him. At this point, I think a 65-point lead is pretty strong. We just have to keep on it for the next four races."

Dixon won his first series title in 2003.

Castroneves has remained second to Dixon in points since Indianapolis. He has yet to win a race this year, but has finished second six times.

Dan Wheldon currently trails Dixon, his Target Chip Ganassi Racing Teammate, by 115 points. Wheldon recorded two victories earlier this season, but has finished 17th and 24th in two of the last four races.

Fourth-place Tony Kanaan (-118) has one victory so far this season and joins Dixon and Castroneves as the only drivers with 11 top-10 finishes for the year.

Kanaan won the 2007 Meijer Indy 300 at the Kentucky Speedway. Kanaan put on a dominating performance, but needed to pass A.J. Foyt IV for the lead in the late stages to ensure his victory. The No. 11 Andretti Green Racing driver finished 1.745 seconds ahead of Dixon for his fourth IndyCar victory of the season and the 11th of his career.

Ryan Briscoe (-181) and Danica Patrick (-209) are a distant fifth and sixth in points.

The series has been racing at Kentucky each year since 2000.

The 2003 Belterra Casino Indy 300 at Kentucky set new records for most consecutive green flag laps and most consecutive green flag laps to begin a race (146). There was only one caution flag for a total of 10 laps. With his win in 2003, Sam Hornish Jr became the first pole sitter to capture the checkered flag at Kentucky. Buddy Lazier is the only back-to-back winner there. When Lazier won in 2001, he did it from the 11th starting spot, which is the deepest in the field a driver has started and won an IndyCar event at Kentucky.