This Week in Auto Racing July 4 - July 6
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - It's the Fourth of July and NASCAR returns to the "World Center of Racing" to highlight the holiday weekend of racing.
NASCAR
Coke Zero 400 - Daytona International Speedway - Daytona Beach, FL
When the Sprint Cup Series returns to the Daytona International Speedway for their "mid-summer classic" this weekend, it's a good bet we could see the resurgence of Tony Stewart. Currently ninth in the championship standings, the No.20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver has not won a Sprint Cup event since 31 races ago at Watkins Glen in August 2007. But don't be surprised if that streak comes to an end very soon.
"Smoke" has been known for his hot streaks during the summer months. During his second championship season in 2005, all five of his victories for the year came in a seven-race stretch from June to August. Last season, he picked up back-to-back wins at Chicagoland and Indianapolis in July before his most recent victory at Watkins Glen.
Stewart won the Coke Zero 400 (formerly the Pepsi 400) in 2005 and 2006. He was running up front with his JGR teammate Denny Hamlin in the early stages of last year's race, but his chances of a three-peat quickly came to an end when he ran into the back of Hamlin. Hamlin spun back into Stewart, taking both drivers out. Stewart and Hamlin finished 38th and 43rd, respectively.
With summer now here, we saw some evidence of Stewart's turnaround last weekend in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire. Stewart led a race-high 132 laps, and if it weren't for the rain shortening the event 17 laps from the scheduled finish, he might have very well been in victory lane. Kurt Busch's crew chief, Pat Tryson, kept the No.2 Penske Racing Dodge on the track when all the leaders pitted for fuel, and it turned out to be the winning move at Loudon. Busch picked up his first win of the season. Meanwhile, Stewart pitted for right-side tires and fuel on the final round of stops before rain fell on the track. The storm foiled his pit strategy and resulted in a 13th-place finish.
New Hampshire was the latest in a string of bad luck for Stewart so far in 2008. Stewart held the lead on the final lap of this year's Daytona 500, but a sling-shot pass by Penske Racing teammates Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch on the backstretch cost Stewart his first Daytona 500 victory. Newman went on to take the checkered flag and NASCAR's biggest prize.
Stewart was well on his way to a win in May at Charlotte. He held a 5.5-second lead over Kasey Kahne, but a cut tire with four laps to go, prevented a trip to victory lane, and instead replaced it with an 18th-place finish.
"Its just been the oddest year I've ever seen for this race team," said Stewart on his team's website. "Its disappointing for all of us on the Home Depot team. I guarantee you theres a crew chief that they're hiding sharp objects from right now. He (Greg Zipadelli) gave me the best car I've had since Charlotte. Its just frustrating. Theres not anybody thats going to tell you any different than that. Theres nothing you can do. If we knew what to do and if there was something we could do about it, we'd change it. We'll just keep plugging away each week and we'll get it turned around."
If Stewart is looking to turn it around, Daytona is indeed a great place for him to start.
Jamie McMurray won last year's race at Daytona for just his second career Cup victory. His first win came in October 2002 at Charlotte. McMurray edged Kyle Busch to the finish line by only 0.005 second in what was one of the closest finishes since NASCAR started using electronic timing and scoring in the early 1990s.
McMurray has been winless since Daytona one year ago. He is currently 24th in points.
Nationwide
Winn-Dixie 250 - Daytona International Speedway - Daytona Beach, FL
The Nationwide Series once again joins up with the Sprint Cup Series at Daytona. It's the third and final restrictor-plate race for the Nationwide teams this year.
Tony Stewart picked up his fifth victory of the season last Saturday at New Hampshire, but will sit out Friday night's race at Daytona as teammate Denny Hamlin will take the wheel of the No.20 Toyota. Stewart won the season- opener at Daytona in February.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will be back in the No.5 Chevrolet. Earnhardt, Jr. has five series wins at Daytona with his most recent in July 2006.
As the second half of the season begins, Clint Bowyer holds a 182-point lead over second-place David Reutimann and a 188-point advantage over third-place and defending series champion Carl Edwards. Despite a 10th-place finish last weekend at New Hampshire, Brad Keselowski dropped from second to fourth in the standings and trails Edwards by nine markers. Keselowski has now scored six straight top-10 finishes.
A newcomer to this week's top-10 in points is one we haven't seen in quite some time. For the first time in two years, long-time Nationwide veteran Jason Keller cracked the top-10 in the standings after his 11th-place run at New Hampshire. The No.11 Chevrolet driver is currently 10th in points. After a 35th-place finish at Daytona earlier this year, it seemed an unlikely feat that Keller would reach the top-10 standings, but after a string of consistent performances throughout the first half of the season, the 38-year-old driver is the highest he's been in points since March 2006.
Keller drove for Phoenix Racing at the time but was released after the first eight races of the season. He spent the next year and a half running part time for start-up CJM Racing and two other teams. CJM has put Keller in the No.11 seat full-time this year, and the team chemistry is apparently working.
"It's a great feeling to know how far our program has come this season," Keller said. "All the hard work and long hours are finally starting to show in our performance."
Keller has been a Nationwide competitor since 1991, and holds the series all- time starts record with 440.
Kyle Busch won last year's rain-delayed race at Daytona, leading 65 of 102 laps. Busch held off Kevin Harvick, Dave Blaney, Stewart and Bowyer in a green-white-checkered finish for his first victory of the season and eighth of his career. He drove the No.5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports at the time. He will drive the No.18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing on Friday.
INDYCARS
Camping World GP at the Glen - Watkins Glen International - Watkins Glen, NY
With nine races down and eight to go, it's off to the scenic "Finger Lakes" region of upstate New York as the IndyCar Series visits Watkins Glen International. It's the fourth time the series has competed at the 3.4-mile road course, and the first three races there have been the "Scott Dixon Show."
Dixon, the reigning Indianapolis 500 champion and series points leader, has won all three races at Watkins Glen since the series started competing there in 2005.
Last year, Dixon completed the three-peat at The Glen, as he cruised to a 6.2591 seconds win over Sam Hornish Jr. Pole sitter Helio Castroneves led for the first 19 laps, but was forced out due to contact on Turn 11. Dixon inherited the lead and then traded the top spot with Vitor Meira, Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti, before regaining the advantage on lap 43. Dixon led the final 18 laps for his seventh career IndyCar win and first of four 2007 titles.
But some drivers are looking to dethrone Dixon from his winning status at "The Glen" and hoping to gain momentum on him in the point standings.
After a second-place finish at Richmond, Castroneves trimmed Dixon's points lead to 43. He has yet to win this year, but has recorded eight top-five finishes, including four runner-up spots.
Third-place Wheldon is now 52 markers behind. He has two victories this season, both on ovals, and seven top-five finishes. Wheldon is the only driver to complete every lap this season.
Tony Kanaan moved into fourth place in points with his win in Richmond. Kanaan, who started on the pole, led for a whopping 166 laps, including the final 95, for his 13th career victory.
Despite a solid points lead and a winning streak at Watkins Glen, Dixon is not satisfied with his lead.
"It's been one of those seasons when things seem to go your way more often than not, from the end of last season and through to this year," said Dixon.
Five of the last eight races are road/street courses, beginning this weekend at Watkins Glen.
FORMULA ONE
British Grand Prix - Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit - Silverstone, England
After a week off to digest the beating given to them by Ferrari at Magny- Cours, McLaren Mercedes and BMW Sauber were back testing at Silverstone for this Sunday's British Grand Prix.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa led a weekend sweep of both qualifying and the race. He and teammate Kimi Raikkonen beat their nearest rival, Toyota's Jarno Trulli, by more than 28 seconds.
The highest ranked McLaren was Heikki Kovalainen, who finished fourth, while the team's true championship contender, Lewis Hamilton, struggled from a 10- place grid penalty and never competed, ultimately finishing out of the points in 10th place.
Robert Kubica, who entered the race as the series points leader, could only manage a fifth-place finish and fell two points behind Massa in the World Championship.
Kubica is trying to become the first non-Ferrari, McLaren or Renault driver to win the title since 1995 when Benetton and Michael Schumacher took the crown. But the Polish-born driver is coming off his worst outing (fifth) since opening day when he finished ninth and earned zero points.
"I feel more like a David against lots of Goliaths," said Kubica.
In last year's race, Raikkonen trailed Fernando Alonso until the last pit stop, but when the Spaniard went in on lap 37 Raikkonen kept on going and with clean air in front of him was able to build a gap of 27.9 seconds. He finally pitted five laps later and a short 6.6-second stop enabled the Finnish driver to return to the track ahead of his rivals. Kubica finished fourth.
The first British Grand Prix was held here in 1948, and it was only meant to be held at the site once, as the track was originally an airfield. Giuseppe Farina won the first World Championship race in 1950 for Alfa Romeo. The track was rebuilt in 1991, followed by another major rebuild in 1994.
It is a high-speed track which favors Ferrari, so it might be another Ferrari victory this weekend unless McLaren and BMW have learned something during their week of testing.