This Week in Auto Racing July 11 - July 13

This Week in Auto Racing July 11 - July 13

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Look out Elwood and Jake Blues, Joliet will never be the same when NASCAR goes night-time racing at the Chicagoland Speedway for the first time, while "Music City U.S.A. will be abuzz with the sounds of IndyCars roaring at the Nashville Superspeedway this weekend.

Sprint Cup

LifeLock.com 400 - Chicagoland Speedway - Joliet, IL

After scoring his sixth victory this year in a wild finish under the lights at Daytona, points leader Kyle Busch is looking to continue his winning ways as the Sprint Cup Series kicks off its second half of the season on Saturday when they run at the Chicagoland Speedway at night for the first time. Busch's six wins have come on five different types of tracks.

Whether it's been at a one-mile, intermediate, road course or restrictor-plate track, Busch has somehow found a way to victory lane. And a lot of credit is due to his No.18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team, led by crew chief Steve Addington.

Busch showed that perseverance pays off with his dramatic victory this past weekend at Daytona. He overcame tire and steering wheel issues and fought his way back from deep in the field to win.

Two weeks earlier, Busch and his pit crew made the right moves at the right times to capture the victory at Sonoma, CA. At two separate times, Busch made pit stops just before a caution flag, and it set him up with the lead on the final run to the checkered flag.

His crew was once again instrumental in his 4.224-second margin of victory the first weekend in June at Dover.

In May, Busch overcame a pit-road mishap to win at Darlington. He was slapped with a drive-through penalty for a lug nut problem during the mid-stages of the race but fought his way back to the front of the field.

Busch overcame a one-lap deficit and had drafting help from Juan Pablo Montoya and former Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon to win in April at Talladega.

His first win this year came in March at Atlanta where he gave Toyota its first-ever Sprint Cup victory.

Busch's previous finishes at Chicagoland have been third, 13th, and 14th.

The last time a driver scored six or more victories at the mid-point of the season occurred in 1997 when Gordon had already accumulated seven wins after 16 of 32 races were completed. Gordon went on to record 10 victories that year in capturing his second of four Cup titles.

Gordon also started the 2007 season on a winning note, picking up four victories by the second week in June. He held a 277-point lead at this time last year, but his good fortune would not hold up during the final 10-race "Chase." Gordon's teammate, Jimmie Johnson, went on to win four of the last five races of the season and claimed his second straight Cup title. Busch was also in the 2007 chase, driving the No.5 Chevrolet for Hendrick at the time.

Now in his first year with Gibbs, a rejuvenated Busch is hoping his luck won't run out when this year's Chase begins in September.

"Well, I hope not," said Busch. "I've had some good times in the past couple years, but nothing that's ever been as lucky as this. And even felt like we had a lot of bad luck when I was in that 5 car, but you know, this year, or the past couple years, the 18 car has not been so great with luck, and the 11 (Denny Hamlin's car) and the 20 (Tony Stewart) seem to have it."

Busch carries a 182-point lead into Chicagoland, while his teammate Stewart is on the brink of losing his 12th-place spot with eight races to go before the Chase begins. Stewart is just two points ahead of 13th-place Kevin Harvick. The 12th spot is the cutoff point for Chase eligibility.

Stewart is the defending winner at Chicagoland. Stewart passed up new tires on the final pit stop and the strategy worked as he captured his first victory of the 2007 season. He also won there in 2004. Stewart has scored five top-five finishes in seven starts at Chicagoland.

Nationwide

Dollar General 300 - Chicagoland Speedway - Joliet, IL

The Nationwide Series will hit the track at Chicagoland on Friday night. And the red-hot No.20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team will try to score their fourth win in the last five Nationwide races.

Denny Hamlin held off his JGR teammate Kyle Busch in the final laps to win last Friday night's race at Daytona. Tony Stewart drove the No.20 car to victory at New Hampshire the week prior, and Joey Logano, in just his third start, won the June 14th race at Kentucky.

Logano, all of 18 years and 21 days at time of his victory, became the youngest driver to win a Nationwide race. The following week at Milwaukee, he finished second to defending series champion Carl Edwards.

Gibbs' No.20 team has won nine of the first 19 races this season. Their No.18 team, with Busch and Hamlin sharing driving duties, have three victories so far.

Despite Clint Bowyer holding 202-point lead in the driver standings, Gibbs' No.20 team leads in the owner standings with a 203-point advantage over Bowyer's No.2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet team. Bowyer has recorded only one victory so far, coming in March at Bristol, TN.

After a fifth-place run at Daytona, Brad Keselowski moved up two spots to second in points. Chicagoland marks his one-year anniversary with JR Motorsports. Coming through the Craftsman Truck Series ranks with his family- owned team, Keselowski moved up to Nationwide competition with Keith Coleman Racing at the start of the 2007 season. But the team ceased operation after the second Nashville race. In the weeks to follow, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was searching for a new driver for his No.88 Chevrolet and Keselowski caught his attention. Earnhardt, Jr. signed him to a three-race deal, beginning with Chicagoland. Keselowski finished 14th in his debut race. He met Earnhardt, Jr.'s expectations and went on to complete the season in the No.88 car.

Keselowski picked up his first career Nationwide victory one month ago at Nashville. He has recorded 11 top-10 finishes so far this year.

"Its been quite a year, Keselowski said. "Now we're coming back to Chicagoland and its just incredible to look back and see how far we've come. I got together with the No.88 team at a time when we both needed to make something happen. Now we're running up front consistently and battling for a championship. Its exactly what we were all looking to accomplish."

Kevin Harvick won last year's 300-mile race at Chicagoland. Harvick hung around the top-10 for 173 laps before taking his first lead of the race. He then led the final 27 circuits and crossed the finish line 1.012 seconds ahead of Matt Kenseth. The victory was Harvick's third of the season.

Harvick is the only repeat winner in seven Nationwide races there. He won in 2005. The track has also produced four first-time race winners in the series: Jimmie Johnson (2001), Johnny Sauter (2002), Justin Labonte (2004) and Casey Mears (2006).

INDYCARS

Firestone Indy 200 - Nashville Superspeedway - Lebanon, TN

Scott Dixon had a chance to win at Watkins Glen International for the fourth time in a row, but an unfortunate incident with Ryan Briscoe in the late- stages of last Sunday's race cost him an opportunity to make history at the famed road course. Now Dixon hopes to redeem himself with a three-peat at the Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday night.

Last year, Dixon became the first IndyCar driver to score back-to-back victories at Nashville. He outlasted Dario Franchitti for his eighth career series title. Dixon also became the first pole-sitter at this race to capture the checkered flag. Dixon, whose win total now stands at 13, led three times for a race-high 105 laps. Despite starting second on the grid, Franchitti led the first 88 laps, but Dixon and Dan Wheldon exchanged the lead through lap 155. Vitor Meira claimed the advantage on lap 156, but just three laps later Dixon took the lead for good, as he won by 2.2400 seconds. Wheldon led for four laps and finished eighth, while Meira led for three laps and placed 10th.

In 2006, Dixon crossed the finish line just 0.1176 of a second ahead of Dan Wheldon for his sixth career IndyCar title. Dixon reclaimed the lead on lap 134 of the scheduled 200-lap race and held on to clip pole sitter Wheldon. There were nine lead changes among five drivers, with Wheldon leading for a race-high 115 laps and Dixon 69.

Dixon comes to Nashville with a comfortable 48-point lead over second-place Helio Castroneves and a 59-point advantage over third-place Wheldon. Castroneves and Wheldon had disappointing finishes at Watkins Glen.

Things went from bad to worse for Castroneves on Lap 5 at The Glen when he experienced problems with his gear box. Castroneves started from the rear of the 26-car field after his car had mechanical problems during the first segment of qualifying on Saturday. He returned to track two laps down and ended up with a 16th-place run.

On the first lap, Wheldon got pinched in the middle of the pack and spun. He suffered right-rear damage to his No.10 car. Wheldon did return to track 19 laps later, but was black-flagged shortly after for not keeping up to the required speed on the track. Wheldon returned to pit lane and ended up with a disappointing 24th-place finish.

Tony Kanaan, currently fourth in points, has also won at Nashville. Kanaan took the checkered flag there during his 2004 championship season.

Meanwhile, Ryan Hunter-Reay remains on a high after picking up his first career win at Watkins Glen.

"This is big for momentum, and this is only going to be better as we go forward," Hunter-Reay said. "I'm just so happy to give a win to some of these guys...It's amazing how hard they work."

Hunter-Reay's celebration from victory lane at The Glen quickly moved to mid- town Manhattan earlier this week when he was guest of honor during the public ceremony of a multi-year agreement between the IndyCar Series and the premium clothing company IZOD. The No.17 Rahal-Letterman Racing driver posed for photos in front of his larger-than-life 60-foot x 80-foot billboard in Times Square. The billboard also featured the series schedule for July as well as a change in the slogan above Hunter-Reay's name and driver number from "I AM NEXT" to "I AM NOW." The word, "NEXT," was crossed out with red paint with "NOW" appearing above it.Hunter-Reay recorded his first win in his 16th start.