This Week in Auto Racing June 11 - 13

This Week in Auto Racing June 11 - 13

Brooklyn, MI (Sports Network) - All three of NASCAR's national touring series are in action this weekend, with the Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series at Michigan International Speedway and the Nationwide Series at Kentucky Speedway. Formula One returns to North America for the first time in two years with the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

Sprint Cup Series

Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 - Michigan Int'l Speedway - Brooklyn, MI

After a wild finish in last Sunday's race at Pocono, don't be surprised if the madness carries over to Michigan this weekend.

Denny Hamlin held off Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch, who is Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, after two late-race restarts to claim his fourth Pocono win.

Pocono concluded in dramatic fashion, with Kevin Harvick bumping Joey Logano out of the way for a top-five position with less than two laps to go. Then a nine-car pileup occurred on the last lap of the green-white checkered finish when Kasey Kahne was shoved down the track and into the grass by his Richard Petty Motorsports teammate A.J. Allmendinger. Kahne slammed hard into the wall and spun around on the track before taking out Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Greg Biffle and several others.

While Hamlin celebrated his series-high fourth win of the season, Logano parked his car next to Harvick's ride on pit road, as the two engaged in a shouting match.

Indeed, it was a wild day at Pocono.

Now it's on to Michigan, where Hamlin hopes his winning momentum will continue. Prior to his first win of the season in March at Martinsville, Hamlin sat 19th in points. Since then, he has climbed up to third in the standings (-136).

"I feel like we're one of four or five guys that really are legitimate, week in, week out, up-front guys," Hamlin said. "That's a good feeling right now. But it's very tough to stay on top of any sport for an entire year. Our sport is a roller coaster. It goes up and down. It has waves. Your performance always comes in waves."

Hamlin has yet to win at Michigan, but he did record his best finish there one year ago with a third-place run.

Harvick enters Michigan with just a 19-point lead over Busch.

Mark Martin is the defending race winner at Michigan. Last year, Martin won in a thrilling battle of fuel mileage. His Hendrick Motorsports teammate Johnson held the lead before running out of gas just short of crossing the line to start the final lap. Biffle then inherited the top position, but he too ran out of fuel on the backstretch. That allowed Martin to take over the lead and then claim his fourth of five victories during the 2009 season.

"We won at the first Michigan race last year because our car was so fast that I could slow down and still stay ahead of people," Martin said. "Therefore, I was able to save enough gas to make it all the way."

Martin leads all full-time, active drivers with five victories at Michigan.

Currently 11th in points, Martin has been winless so far this season.

Last August, Brian Vickers prevailed in another fuel-mileage battle at Michigan. Vickers, the pole sitter, grabbed the lead with two laps to go when Johnson ran out of fuel. He then held off Gordon, who also gambled on fuel, by 1.4 seconds for his second career Cup victory. His first win came in October 2006 at Talladega.

Vickers is expected to be out of his Red Bull Racing Toyota for the remainder of the season, due to his treatment for blood clots. Casey Mears has been driving the car since last month at Dover.

Up until last year, Roush Fenway Racing had been dominant at Michigan, winning a Cup race there for seven consecutive years. Team owner Jack Roush, who resides 60 miles away from the two-mile track in Northville, MI, recorded his 11th victory there in August 2008 when Carl Edwards held off Kyle Busch in a two-lap overtime finish. Roush moved into a tie with the Wood Brothers for most car owner wins at the track.

"All of our wins at [Michigan] have been special," Roush said. "It's in front of a home crowd, it's in front of my Roush industries affiliates and it's in front of Ford Motor Company and Chrysler and General Motors. Detroit is still the Motor City in spite of rumors otherwise, but it's good to race in front of the home crowd where all of our friends and the people that we'd like to have support are there paying attention."

Ford will use its new engine package -- FR9 -- in all of the Roush and Petty cars, as well as the sole entry for the Wood Brothers, this weekend at Michigan.

The automobile manufacturer debuted its FR9 in last year's fall race at Talladega, where Jamie McMurray won in a Roush Ford. McMurray has since moved over to Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. Ford has not won a Sprint Cup points race since McMurray's victory at Talladega.

Forty-six teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400.

Camping World Truck Series

VFW 200 - Michigan International Speedway - Brooklyn, MI

Todd Bodine padded his points lead to 65 over Aric Almirola after winning last Friday's race at Texas. Bodine led 97 of 167 laps, but had to hold off Johnny Sauter and Ron Hornaday Jr. in a two-lap overtime finish to capture his record-extending sixth victory there. He also ended a 24-race winless streak in the Camping World Truck Series.

"To come out of [Texas] with a win for the stretch, it's awesome, but it's just one win, it's one track and we have to go to Michigan [this] week and beat them up there," Bodine said.

Michigan is the final race before the series' last big break of the season. The next event after Michigan is on July 11 at Iowa. The series will then begin a 10-week stretch.

There will be a guaranteed new race winner at Michigan. No previous winners are on the entry list. Former series champions Ron Hornaday Jr., Mike Skinner and Bodine, along with Kyle Busch, who returns to trucks after taking a week off, have never driven into victory lane at Michigan. All four of those drivers have combined for 109 victories in the series.

A Ford has won five of the previous 10 truck races at Michigan, but the automobile manufacturer has been winless so far this season. The last victory for Ford actually came one year ago at Michigan.

Jack Roush leads all team owners with five victories at Michigan, including wins in the last three races with drivers Travis Kvapil, Erik Darnell and Colin Braun. Roush has no truck entries so far this year.

Michigan has featured quick races and close finishes since the series started competing there in 1999.

Brendan Gaughan's 2003 win at Michigan remains the fastest truck event ever run. Gaughan averaged 154.044 m.p.h. and cruised to an 11.477 margin of victory in a race that wrapped up in one hour, 17 minutes and 54 seconds.

Two years ago, Darnell won there in thrilling fashion. He nipped Johnny Benson by 0.005 seconds, making it the second closest finish in series history.

Thirty-five teams are on the preliminary entry list for the VFW 200.

Nationwide Series

Meijer 300 - Kentucky Speedway - Sparta, KY

This weekend's race at Kentucky is the second in a stretch of three consecutive stand-alone events for the Nationwide Series. After last week's Nashville-Pocono combo, three of the four double-duty drivers were tops at Nashville. Brad Keselowski won there, while Carl Edwards finished second and Paul Menard took third. Michael McDowell crashed midway through the race and ended up finishing 30th.

With the win, Keselowski increased his lead to 196 points over Kyle Busch, who remained second in the standings, despite not competing at Nashville. Busch, the 2009 Nationwide champion, only raced at Pocono in order to focus on his Sprint Cup Series efforts this season.

Brad Coleman drove Busch's No.18 Toyota to a sixth-place finish at Nashville. Coleman also will drive the car at Kentucky.

Busch's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Joey Logano, will join the group of drivers doing the Kentucky-Michigan duo.

Kentucky/Michigan is the first time this season that Logano will attempt double duty at two different tracks. He will practice and qualify for the 400- mile Sprint Cup race at Michigan on Friday afternoon before traveling to Kentucky to practice for the Nationwide event there later in the evening. Logano will then return to Michigan that night to be able to participate in Saturday morning's final Cup practice. He will fly back to Kentucky in time to qualify for the 300-mile Nationwide race. However, JGR development driver Matt DiBenedetto will be on standby.

Logano has started on the pole and won the last two Nationwide races at Kentucky. In 2008, he became the youngest race winner in the series at age 18 years and 21 days.

"I'm pumped to head back to Kentucky Speedway," Logano said. "That place holds a lot of special memories for me. It's the track that I got my first Nationwide Series win, and it's the track that I first tested a Sprint Cup car. It's my most successful track. There are not a lot of drivers out there that can go to a track more than once and say that they are batting 1.000."

Logano is the only repeat winner there.

Kentucky also will be the second of four "Dash 4 Cash" races on the 2010 Nationwide schedule. Nationwide Insurance sponsors the bonus program, with eligible drivers having an opportunity to collect an extra $25,000 if they win. Drivers who qualify include: full-time and part-time/limited schedule series-only regulars, as well as double-duty drivers who competed in every series event.

Kevin Harvick won the first "Dash 4 Cash" event this season in April at Nashville. Harvick, who was a full-time Nationwide driver at the time, collected the money award. He is not competing at Kentucky, which is probably a good thing for Logano.

Forty-four teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Meijer 300.

FORMULA ONE

Canadian Grand Prix - Circuit Gilles Villeneuve - Montreal, Canada

After a one-year hiatus, Formula One returns to North America for the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The 4.361-kilometer (2.709-mile), 14-turn road course is regarded as one of the most unusual tracks on the F1 calendar.

The long straightaways on the Montreal circuit make for high-speed racing, but its low-speed chicanes create wear and tear on the braking system.

F1 last competed in Montreal in 2008, but the Canadian GP was dropped from last year's calendar after F1's governing body, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), and race organizers could not reach an agreement. The event was reinstated for the 2010 schedule.

Robert Kubica, the first Polish driver to compete in F1, recorded his maiden grand prix win in the Canadian GP two years ago. Kubica drove for BMW Sauber at the time. He is now with Renault, as he sits sixth in the world championship standings with 67 points.

"I'm glad that after a year's break we are returning to Montreal," Kubica said. "I enjoy driving there, and I like the characteristics of the track. It's kind of a mix between a high and low-speed track because there are big braking zones and some long straights where top speed is important. We haven't been to a track with these characteristics yet, so we will have to wait and see how all the teams perform there."

Kubica finished second in the March 28 Australian Grand Prix and third in the May 16 Monaco Grand Prix.

Last week, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button gave McLaren a 1-2 finish in Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix, while Red Bull teammates Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel lost an opportunity to win the race after they crashed 18 laps from the finish.

Webber, the pole sitter, held the lead after 40 laps were completed, but Vettel chased him down, as the two ran side-by-side for the top position. When Vettel tried to overtake Webber, the two collided and spun around. That allowed Hamilton to claim the lead and Button to move into second for good.

Heading to Montreal, Webber holds the championship lead with 93 points accumulated, compared to 88 points for Button, the defending F1 champion, and 84 for Hamilton, the 2008 titleholder.

Hamilton's first F1 win came in the Canadian GP during his sensational rookie season in 2007.

"I won my first Grand Prix in Montreal, and 2007 seems like such a long time ago, but I still have some absolutely fantastic memories of that weekend -- the pole position, the crazy number of safety cars, the uncertainty in the final laps, and then, at last, crossing the line, which just was a massive feeling of relief and amazement at the same time," Hamilton said.

Hamilton won the United States Grand Prix one week later at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. F1 has not competed in the U.S. since the'07 Indy race, but the racing circuit will return to America in 2012, with the USGP being held in Austin, TX.