This Week in Auto Racing June 13 - June 15

This Week in Auto Racing June 13 - June 15

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - The Sprint Cup heads to Brooklyn, Michigan with just 12 races left before the "Chase."

Sprint Cup

LifeLock 400 - Michigan International Speedway - Brooklyn, MI

The Kyle Busch "experiment" of racing in three different venues on one weekend was, in general, a failure which cost the Joe Gibbs Racing driver most of his points lead in the Sprint Cup Series.

Busch raced in the truck series on Friday night, the Nationwide Series on Saturday and the Sprint Cup Series at Pocono on Sunday. He finished 2nd on Friday, 20th on Saturday and a disappointing 43rd (last) on Sunday in the most important race of the weekend.

The Pocono 500 cost him 121 of his 142-point lead leaving him with just a 21 point edge over Jeff Burton. But in truth, winning the Sprint Cup "regular" season means nothing. Only qualifying for the 10-race "Chase for the Sprint Cup" is of importance and Busch still has an almost insurmountable 477-point lead over 13th place David Ragan.

What the weekend DID show is that no matter how young and fit, a weekend like Busch tried will have an effect on performance. It should also spur management to cut down on Busch's Craftsman and Nationwide Series racing to concentrate on "Cup."

"I pretty much found out early on in my Cup career that putting 100-percent of my effort into the Cup Series and into this team is what gave me the best results," Gordon said to Raygan Swan of NASCAR.com. "He's a very talented and young driver and he's obviously got the energy...There's a reason why nobody else has done it or is doing it."

Kyle will need that added effort this week at MIS where he has not had very good results. In six starts he has just two top-10s and a best finish of sixth. His average result on the two-mile oval is a weak 20.667. No matter what Busch does at MIS, he will make the "Chase" as will Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and 2007 LifeLock winner Carl Edwards. Also likely in are Denny Hamlin and two-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson.

But the fun begins in the battle for the final six positions. With still a dozen events left before the cutoff, there are 15 drivers who can claim a legitimate shot at the "Chase."

Currently "in" are Greg Biffle, four-time series champion Jeff Gordon, Pocono 500 winner Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer and two-time series champion Tony Stewart. But let's look at those "outside" looking in.

There is youngster David Ragan, Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman, 2003 Sprint Cup champion Matt Kenseth, Martin Truex Jr., Brian Vickers, Travis Kvapil, Bobby Labonte, Juan Pablo Montoya and 2004 Sprint Cup champion Kurt Busch all within 180 points of 12th place.

Ragan is just seven points out and Newman in only 10 points back.

Kenseth has made the "Chase" in each year since it's inception and has posted five consecutive top-10s to close within 34 points of 12th place.

Truex Jr. made the "Chase" in 2007 and Kurt Busch, the longest shot of the 15 drivers, has qualified in three of four years and won it in 2004. If just two of the drivers currently 13th or lower make it in the "Chase" then a couple of "big-time" names might come up short.

It should be a lot of fun over the next three months.

Nationwide

Meijer 300 - Kentucky Speedway - Sparta, KY

While Clint Bowyer has moved out to a commanding 166-point lead in the Nationwide Series standings, there are still four drivers with legitimate chances to make it a "race."

Three of the four are "Cup" drivers (David Reutimann, Kyle Busch and defending series champion Carl Edwards), but the fourth name on the list is a youngster worth watching.

His name is Brad Keselowski, a 24-year-old from Rochester Hills, MI. A year ago he was unemployed as his previous team folded.

Keselowski signed with JR Motorsports's Nationwide Series team in 2007 and struggled for most of 2007 finishing 25th overall with five top-10 finishes in 27 starts. He was fast, but a bit wild.

Things have turned around for Keselowski in 2008. After another slow start (16th at Daytona and 32nd in California), Keselowski was leading the race in Las Vegas when a rare Mark Martin error knocked both he and Edwards out of the race.

Driving Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No.88 Chevrolet, Keselowski was leading with five laps to go and Edwards and Martin right on his tail.

But Martin hit the rear bumper of Edwards on lap 195 and it sent him spinning into Keselowski. The two leaders spun leaving Martin in the lead and a green- white-checker finish ahead.

"I've got to apologize before we do any celebrating to Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski," said the well-respected Martin.

After the run in Las Vegas, things seemed to turnaround for Keselowski. He finished sixth, fourth and fourth in the next three events. Last Saturday in Nashville, he was even better, collecting the first Nationwide Series win of his young career. Keselowski now sits 192 points behind Bowyer.

While all the talk over the last two weeks has been about 18-year-old Joey Logano, and with good reason because he is the "real deal," Keselowski also appears to be a driver on the move up the ladder. Expect both to be driving a "Cup" car within a year.

Last year's race was won by Stephen Leicht who is not scheduled to defend his title. He has raced just four times in 2008 and his last event was a 34th- place finish in Talladega. Leicht was released from his contract at Robert Yates Racing at the end of the 2007 season and only has a part-time deal with Richard Childress Racing in 2008.

Craftsman

Cool City Custom 200 - Michigan International Speedway - Brooklyn, MI

After a great race in Texas where Ron Hornaday Jr. held off Kyle Busch for the victory, the 2007 Craftsman Truck Series champion returned to the top of the standings.

The No.33 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet driver's win along with a weak finish from then points leader Rick Crawford (21st) leaves Hornaday Jr. with a 45- point lead heading to Michigan.

But the truck series is not just a two-man race. There are six drivers within 100 points of Hornaday Jr. Matt Crafton is second, with Johnny Benson (-55), Todd Bodine (-65), Jack Sprague (-71), Crawford (-71) and Mike Skinner (-100). Between those six drivers are five Craftsman championships, so expect a great battle over the hot summer months.

Their next battlefield is the two-mile oval of MIS. Travis Kvapil, another former series champion, won the race edging Kyle Busch by just 0.292 seconds.

"I had a lot of fun racing last year here in the trucks," Busch said. "It was pretty disappointing losing the lead with two laps to go. I was all over the place; the middle, the bottom, the top. I just could never find a place that would let me get a good run off the corner."

Busch is again on the entry list, but Kvapil is not. Kvapil is 18th in the Sprint Cup Series standings and has a legitimate shot at the "Chase" despite driving for the financial strapped RYR team in the No.28 Ford.

"Michigan is one of those tracks that if you let it intimidate you, it can. You basically run almost wide open and you don't feel like you can because the corners are so flat," said Bodine, who won a Cup race at the track in 1992.