This Week in Auto Racing June 4 - 7
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - It's a busy weekend in motorsports with NASCAR at three different racetracks. The IndyCar Series heads to Texas, while Formula One revs up for the Turkish Grand Prix.
Sprint Cup Series
Pocono 500 - Pocono Raceway - Long Pond, PA
The Sprint Cup Series makes its first of two stops at Pocono within the next two months.
Pocono is one of the most unique tracks on the circuit with its 2.5-mile triangular shape.
Sunday's Pocono 500 kicks off the second-half of the 26-race regular season. The top-12 drivers after the fall race at Richmond qualify for the 10-race "Chase for the Sprint Cup" championship.
With his second-place finish at Dover, Tony Stewart grabbed the lead in the point standings for the first time since he won his second Cup Series championship in 2005.
Stewart also became the first driver-owner to hold the top spot in the rankings since Alan Kulwicki clinched the 1992 Cup title with a second-place finish in the season-finale at Atlanta.
He currently holds a 46-point lead over Jeff Gordon, who finished 26th at Dover.
"We're excited about it," Stewart said. "It's been a dream season for us up to this point, and you hope that you don't wake up tomorrow and all of a sudden realize that we're just getting ready to go to Daytona or something, and it's all been a dream to this point."
Stewart, in his first year as co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, has had a phenomenal season so far, with nine top-10 finishes, including three second- place runs. He has never been this high in the standings after the first 13 races in a season. Stewart has yet to score a victory in a points-paying race this year, but did win the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race last month at Charlotte.
After winning Dover, three-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson moved up to third in points (-64). Johnson is participating in a two-day test session this week at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, SC, prepping for this season's first road course event later this month at Sonoma, CA. The session will also be valuable for Johnson in mastering Pocono's tricky corners, which resemble turns on a road course.
"Momentum is important and helpful, but you couldn't pick two tracks that are further apart with setups and the way that you drive them and approach them," Johnson said. "We'll have our chests out and feel good about what we accomplished (Sunday), feel good about our pit stops, feel good about the adjustments and all those things and take that into Pocono, but it's just a different animal."
Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s former crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., is overseeing Johnson's test efforts.
Earnhardt improved significantly at Dover with new crew chief Lance McGrew. He moved up one position to 18th in the rankings with a 12th-place finish. Earnhardt is now 215 points behind 12th-place Mark Martin.
Kasey Kahne, who is 66 points away from Martin, won last year's Pocono 500. Kahne overcame an early pit stop mistake. He was penalized for missing lugnuts on his left-front tire and fell way back in the field. Kahne grabbed the lead with 15 laps to go and then cruised to a near four-second margin of victory. He has not won since Pocono one year ago.
Forty-five teams are on the preliminary entry list for this weekend's Pocono 500.
Nationwide Series
Federated Auto Parts 300 - Nashville Superspeedway - Lebanon, TN
Three drivers - Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Michael Waltrip - will attempt the Pocono-Nashville double this weekend.
Edwards' fifth-place finish compared to a 17th-place run for Busch allowed Edwards to trim Busch's lead in the Nationwide standings to 40 points.
Busch had another win get away from him this season after he suffered a flat tire on a restart with two laps to go at Dover. Brad Keselowski passed Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Busch and Joey Logano to steal the victory.
"(Kyle) said he could feel the right front go down right as he was coming to the green," Busch's crew chief, Jason Ratcliff, said. "He wasn't sure if it was down or not and then right as he drove off the wall, he could feel it and it was too late by that time."
Busch led 108 of 200 laps at Dover.
Last month, Busch led 143 laps at Darlington, but suffered a cut tire in the closing laps after he ran over debris from a wreck involving Joe Nemechek and Scott Lagasse Jr. He also put on a dominating performance at Charlotte, but pitted from the lead under green, just before rain fell on the track. Mike Bliss went on to win the shortened race.
In March at Bristol, Busch lost the lead during a round of pit stops with 45 laps to go after NASCAR penalized him for a tire violation. He also dominated that race.
Busch has the most victories in the series so far this year with three. He has yet to win in seven starts at Nashville, but finished second to Logano there in April.
Edwards earned the nickname "Concrete Carl" after winning six times on concrete-surfaced tracks (Dover and Nashville). He won three in a row at Nashville from 2006-07.
Keselowski, currently fifth in points (-173), is the defending race winner at Nashville. He charged from fifth in the final 29 laps to score his first career Nationwide victory.
"It is exciting to get back to Nashville," Keselowski said. "I think we can go there and repeat what we did. We've got the effort to do that, and the car to do that. We've made some gains here in the last few weeks which are encouraging to me to go to Nashville."
Forty-six teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Federated Auto Parts 300.
Camping World Truck Series
Winstar World Casino 400 - Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, TX
The Camping World Truck Series will join IndyCar this weekend at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway. Texas is just one of two tracks that hosts multiple truck races during the season. Martinsville is the other venue with two events on the schedule during the year.
After a disappointing 26th-place finish at Dover, Ron Hornaday Jr. saw his points lead trimmed to 27. Hornaday cut a tire and made contact with the wall in the early stages. The three-time Truck Series champion is hoping to rebound at Texas, after winning both races there last year.
"We had been decent (at Texas) in the past, but for some reason, (crew chief) Rick Ren and the guys hit on something the past couple of years," Hornaday said. "I'm not sure if it's aero or what, but the trucks we bring there drive really good."
Mike Skinner, currently second in points, has five poles at Texas, including four in a row there from November 2005 to June 2006. Skinner has yet to win in 10 starts at Texas, but has finished no worse than 11th there.
Todd Bodine leads all active drivers with four victories at Texas. Bodine matched Brendan Gaughan's track-record total with wins there each season from 2004-07.
"What having four wins at Texas means for this team is that we know we can win at Texas and know we can get around there," Bodine said. "Racing at the mile- and-a-half is about going fast and being patient."
Gaughan won four in a row at Texas from 2002-03, setting a series record for most consecutive victories at one track. He is now a rookie contender in the Nationwide Series.
Thirty-three teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Winstar World Casino 400, three short of a full field.
INDYCAR SERIES
Bombardier Learjet 550 - Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, TX
After a sluggish start this season, Scott Dixon is back atop the point standings. Dixon, the reigning IndyCar champion, won last Sunday at Milwaukee and grabbed a four-point lead over his Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dario Franchitti and Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe. In April, he finished 16th at St. Petersburg, Florida and 15th at Long Beach, California. But Dixon has rebounded nicely with victories in two of the last three races.
"Luckily enough, there's been a few guys that have had some bad days," Dixon said. "Briscoe has been consistently strong. I think at the moment, between him and Dario and a couple others, those are the guys to watch.
"It's going to be a tough season no matter what. There are so many great competitors. They can pop out at any point."
Danica Patrick, with four straight top-five finishes, is 22 points behind, while Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves is 25 back.
Castroneves had a frustrating weekend at Milwaukee, where he crashed during qualifying and had to start from the rear of the field. He dealt with an ill- handling car, which forced him to make a lengthy pit stop. Castroneves fell three laps behind and ended up with an 11th-place finish.
"The good news is that we finished," Castroneves said. "Our goal was to finish in the top-10, and we just missed that. All things considered, it was a positive performance."
Castroneves missed the season-opener at St. Petersburg due to his federal income tax evasion trial.
Dixon started on the pole and won last year's race at Texas. He passed Marco Andretti with six laps to go. Andretti made contact with Ryan Hunter-Reay, sending both drivers into the wall on the following lap. The race ended under caution, with Dixon picking up the victory and Castroneves finishing second.
Castroneves is the only active driver with multiple victories at Texas. He won there in 2004 and '06. Sam Hornish Jr. holds the record for most IndyCar wins at Texas with three (2001, '02 and '07). Hornish is now in his second year of NASCAR Sprint Cup competition.
FORMULA ONE
Turkish Grand Prix - Istanbul Park - Istanbul, Turkey
Brawn GP continued to flex their muscles with another stellar performance in the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix two weeks ago.
Jenson Button put on a dominating performance on the streets of Monte Carlo to claim his fifth victory in the first six races in 2009.
Button started on the pole and quickly broke away from the field on the opening lap. He gave up the lead briefly when he pitted twice. Button finished 7.666 seconds ahead of teammate Rubens Barrichello to give Brawn their third one-two finish this season.
"After a week back at the factory in Brackley (England) to reflect on our successes in Monaco, the team is now looking forward to our next challenge at the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul this weekend," team principal Ross Brawn said. "The Monaco Grand Prix was a wonderful weekend with Jenson and Rubens, the team and our engine partner Mercedes-Benz, performing at the top of their game to bring home our third one-two finish of the season."
The new F1 team has been in a class by itself since the start of the season in March.
Brawn resurrected the defunct Honda Racing team and took the F1 world by surprise with a one-two finish in their maiden grand prix at Australia. Powered by Mercedes engines and the controversial "double decker" diffusers, which the FIA Court of Appeals declared legal in April, the Brawn BGP 001 has been the dominant car so far this year.
Button is the current world championship leader with 51 points accumulated, while Barrichello is second in points with 35.
One of the biggest surprises this season has been the downfall of Ferrari, the reigning Constructors' champion.
Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen both failed to score a point in the first three races this year, marking Ferrari's worst performance in the early season since 1981.
Ferrari's F60 has been plagued with reliability issues, particularly the new Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS).
But Ferrari has shown some signs of a turnaround, with Raikkonen finishing third and Massa coming in fourth at Monaco.
Massa will attempt to win his fourth straight Turkish Grand Prix. The Brazilian has been dominant at the 3.137-mile, 14-turn Istanbul Park, which is perhaps his best course on the circuit.
"I find it difficult to explain why I should be so strong here, other than the fact we had three fantastic weekends in Turkey, when everything worked perfectly, with the car performing very well right from the first session," Massa said. "It would be nice to carry on in the same direction."
How important is track position at Istanbul?
The pole sitter has gone on to win all four races there.
Raikkonen won the inaugural Turkish GP in 2005, driving for McLaren at the time.
Auto Racing Glance
Pocono 500 - Pocono Raceway - Long Pond, PA
Schedule: Friday, practice (Speed, noon-1:30 p.m.), qualifying (Speed, 3:30-6 p.m.); Saturday, practice (Speed, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.); Sunday, race, 2 p.m. (TNT, 12:30-6:30 p.m.).
Track: Pocono Raceway (triangular oval, 2.5 miles).
Race distance: 500 miles, 200 laps.
Last year: Kasey Kahne raced to his third victory in four weeks, following the All-Star event and Coca-Cola 600. Kahne overcome a pit-road mistake to lead a race-high 69 laps. Brian Vickers finished second. Carl Edwards won the Pennsylvania 500 in August.
Last week: Jimmie Johnson won at Dover International Speedway, rebounding from a late pit-stop problem to catch Tony Stewart with two laps left. Johnson, also the Martinsville winner in late March, led a career-high 298 laps.
Fast facts: Tony Stewart leads the season standings with 1,853 points, followed by Jeff Gordon (1,807), Jimmie Johnson (1,789), Kurt Busch (1,762), Ryan Newman (1,680) and Kyle Busch (1,634). Stewart, in his first season at Stewart-Haas Racing, is the first owner-driver to top the standings since Alan Kulwicki won the 1992 title. Stewart-Haas also fields Newman's Chevrolet. ... Gordon leads active drivers with four Pocono victories. ... The series will return to Pocono on Aug. 2 for the Pennsylvania 500. ... Richard Petty won the inaugural Pocono race in 1974.
Next race: LifeLock 400, June 14, Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Mich.
Federated Auto Parts 300 - Nashville Superspeedway - Lebanon, TN
Schedule: Friday, practice (ESPN2, 6-7:30 p.m.), Saturday, qualifying (ESPN2, 3-4:30 p.m.); race, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN2, 7-10:30 p.m.).
Track: Nashville Superspeedway (oval, 1.333 miles).
Race distance: 300 miles, 225 laps.
Last year: Brad Keselowski raced to his first Nationwide Series victory, passing Clint Bowyer with six laps to go. David Stremme finished second.
Last week: Keselowski won at Dover International Speedway, shooting past Kyle Busch and Joey Logano during a restart with two laps left.
Fast facts: Busch, a three-time winner this year, leads the season standings with 1,836 points, followed by four-time winner Carl Edwards (1,796), Jason Leffler (1,683), Logano (1,670) and Keselowski (1,663). ... Edwards has three victories and seven top-five finishes in eight Nashville starts. ... Logano won the April race at Nashville for his second career Nationwide win. Busch was second. ... Trevor Bayne, an 18-year-old former developmental driver for Dale Earnhardt Inc., will drive Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 99 Toyota. The Knoxville driver is set to run seven races for MWR.
Next race: Meijer 300, June 13, Kentucky Speedway, Sparta, Ky.
Winstar World Casino 400 - Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, TX
Schedule: Thursday, practice, qualifying; Friday, race, 9 p.m. (Speed, 8:30-11:30 p.m.).
Track: Texas Motor Speedway (oval, 1.5 miles).
Race distance: 250.5 miles, 167 laps.
Last year: Ron Hornaday Jr. won the first leg of his Texas Motor Speedway sweep, holding off Kyle Busch in a green-white-checker finish.
Last week: Brian Scott raced to his first series victory, beating Dennis Setzer after the front-running Busch faded to ninth after hitting the wall with 17 laps left. The 21-year-old Scott drove the No. 16 Xpress Motorsports Toyota.
Fast facts: Hornaday leads the season standings with 1,056 points, followed by Mike Skinner (1,029), Matt Crafton (1,027), Busch (1,000) and Scott (949). ... Todd Bodine won a race a year at Texas from 2004-07. ... Brian Ickler is subbing for Busch in Billy Ballew Motorsports' No. 51 Toyota. Ickler was fifth at Kansas Speedway in his series debut. Aric Almirola will drive the No. 15 for Ballew.
Next race: Michigan 200, June 13, Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Mich.
Bombardier Learjet 550 - Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, TX
Schedule: Thursday, practice; Friday, practice, qualifying (Versus, 7-8 p.m.); Saturday, race, 9:40 p.m. (Versus, 9 p.m.-midnight).
Track: Texas Motor Speedway (oval, 1.5 miles).
Race distance: 342 miles, 228 laps.
Last year: New Zealand's Scott Dixon raced to the third of his six 2008 victories en route to his second series championship. Dixon regained the lead a lap before a crash between his closest competitors. He won under caution.
Last week: Dixon won at the Milwaukee Mile, darting past Ryan Briscoe with 25 laps left and pulling away. Dixon, also the winner at Kansas Speedway in late April, has 18 career IndyCar Series victories.
Fast facts: The race is the 20th IndyCar event at Texas Motor Speedway, the most at any track. ... Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves won at Texas in 2004 and 2006. ... Dixon leads the season standings with 161 points, four ahead of Ryan Briscoe and Dario Franchitti. ... Danica Patrick, 22 points behind Dixon in fourth place, has four straight top-five finishes. She was third at Indianapolis.
Next race: Iowa Corn Indy 250, June 21, Iowa Speedway, Newton, Iowa.
Turkish Grand Prix - Istanbul Park - Istanbul, Turkey
Schedule: Friday, practice (Speed, 7-8:30 a.m.); Saturday, practice, qualifying (Speed, 7-8:30 a.m.); Sunday, race, 8 a.m. (Fox, 3-5 p.m.).
Track: Istanbul Speed Park (road course, 14 turns, 3.317 miles).
Race distance: 192.25 miles, 58 laps.
Last year: Ferrari's Felipe Massa won from the pole for the third straight year, beating off McLaren's Lewis Hamilton by 3.779 seconds.
Last race: Brawn GP's Jenson Button won the Monaco Grand Prix on May 24 for his fifth victory in six races this season. Teammate Rubens Barrichello was second.
Fast facts: All 10 Formula One teams met the deadline Friday to enter cars for the 2010 season, ending a threatened pullout by Ferrari and others in a dispute over a planned budget cap. Ferrari, Renault, Red Bull, Toyota and Toro Rosso had threatened to withdraw next season if FIA goes ahead with plans to introduce a voluntary $60 million cap. ... Button leads the season standings with 51 points. Barrichello is second with 35, followed by Renault teammates Sebastian Vettel (23) and Mark Webber (20). Vettel won the Chinese GP. ... The Istanbul course runs counterclockwise.
Next race: British Grand Prix, June 21, Silverstone circuit, Silverstone, England.
Sauter grabs pole for Texas truck race
Fort Worth, TX (Sports Network) - Johnny Sauter will start on the pole for Friday night's Winstar World Casino 400 Camping World Truck Series race after turning in the fastest lap in qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway.
Sauter, a rookie contender in the series this year, lapped the fast 1.5-mile oval at 179.485 m.p.h. (30.086 seconds) for his first pole in 19 starts. His best career finish is second, which came in August 2004 at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis.
Current points leader Ron Hornaday Jr. will start on the outside pole after posting a lap of 178.938 m.p.h. (30.178 seconds). Hornaday won both truck races at Texas in 2008.
Matt Crafton qualified third, followed by Brian Ickler and Dennis Setzer.
Rick Crawford, Chad McCumbee, Ricky Carmichael, Todd Bodine and Timothy Peters completed the top-10.
Hornaday holds a 27-point lead over Mike Skinner, who qualified 11th.
Thirty-three drivers qualified for the 400-kilometer (248.5-mile) event, three short of a full field.
Friday's race is scheduled to begin around 9:00 p.m. (et).
Still-sore Kanaan driving on adrenaline
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -Tony Kanaan's ribs are still sore and wrapped up, and his knees are bruised from that hard crash at the Indianapolis 500.
I'm better, but I'm still really sore,'' Kanaan said. ``I still walk funny. I'm not 100 percent. I can still park in the handicap spot.''
But there are no special privileges on the race track. And he knows it will be at least several more weeks before he fully heals.
Doctors said it would take eight weeks. I'm in the car for the next six, so I don't have time to take that off,'' Kanaan said.
So what will get him through it?
For sure, adrenaline,'' he said. ``If I managed to race last weekend, this weekend won't be a problem.''
The IndyCar Series is back in Texas, where Kanaan won in 2004. He has finished in the top five in six of his eight starts on the 1 1/2-mile high-banked track.
Kanaan went into Indianapolis as the series points leader, but has slipped to seventh after two bad finishes. He was 27th after the crash midway through Indianapolis, then led 25 laps last week at Milwaukee before having mechanical problems and finishing 19th.
There were more problems Friday at Texas, where Kanaan was visibly upset after practice by something on the rear of his Andretti Green Racing car. Then he qualified 16th the 24-car field with an average speed of 212.108 mph, nearly 2 1/2 mph slower than polesitter Dario Franchitti.
SCHECKTER EXTENDED: Tomas Scheckter is getting nine more races this season for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.
The team initially hired Scheckter to drive at Milwaukee last week. But the South African driver will now drive the No. 43 entry for all but three races the rest of this season.
Been scrambling a little bit,'' Scheckter said Friday of trying to put a deal together. ``It's almost like the beginning of my season.''
Co-owner Dennis Reinbold said the team didn't add every race because it doesn't have as much equipment for road courses. So Scheckter won't drive at Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio or Infineon Raceway.
Scheckter, whose only other IndyCar start this season was at Indianapolis for Dale Coyne Racing, finished 13th at Milwaukee and raised the ire of owner Roger Penske for holding up Ryan Briscoe late in the race despite already being lapped.
I saw his car move inside, and he had at least two car lengths toward my inside where he could have gone. Plenty of room,'' Scheckter said Friday. ``I reacted to what the spotter said and left him enough room. It was his job to get by. I didn't come down on him or cut him off.''
Eventually, with Scheckter against the wall and Briscoe in the middle, Scott Dixon went underneath both of them. Dixon won the race and Briscoe finished second.
Scheckter said he looked at video before responding because, ``when Roger says something, you always want to make sure.''
SPARKPLUGS: A.J. Foyt IV is driving again for his grandfather's team this week. With Vitor Meira out after breaking two bones in his back in a crash at the Indianapolis 500, Paul Tracy took over at Milwaukee and finished 17th in the 21-car field. The younger Foyt takes that spot in his home state. A.J. IV got his start driving for his grandfather from 2003-05, and drove a second car for the team at Indianapolis, where he finished 16th. ... Shaquille O'Neal is scheduled to attend his first IndyCar Series race Saturday, and will serve as grand marshal. Before the race, the NBA superstar will do a pit stop with the Luczo Dragon Racing crew, give the command to start engines and ride with three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford in the pace car. ... Sarah Fisher could soon be calling your phone. The IndyCar driver and team owner has joined the lineup on Celebritiescallyou.com, which offers the opportunity to send someone a personalized greeting from their favorite celebrity. ``I want to have Jennifer Aniston call me,'' Fisher said, joking.
Busch captures pole for Nashville Nationwide race
Lebanon, TN (Sports Network) - Kyle Busch snagged the pole position for Saturday's Federated Auto Parts 300 Nationwide Series race at Nashville Superspeedway.
Busch, the current points leader, lapped the 1.333-mile, concrete surfaced track at 161.044 m.p.h. in his No.18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for his second pole of the season and the 17th of his Nationwide career.
Trevor Bayne qualified the No.99 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota on the outside pole at 160.850 m.p.h.
Michael McDowell was third, followed by Brad Coleman and Scott Lagasse Jr., giving Toyota the top-five starting positions at Nashville.
Carl Edwards, a three-time Nashville winner, Brendan Gaughan, Mike Bliss, Stephen Leicht and Brad Keselowski, the defending race champion, completed the top-10.
Busch currently holds a 40-point lead over Edwards. Both drivers are attempting the Pocono-Nashville double this weekend.
Justin Hobgood and Daryl Harr failed to qualify.
Today's race is schedule to start around 7:30 p.m. (et).