This Week in Auto Racing March 22 - March 23

This Week in Auto Racing March 22 - March 23

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - While NASCAR's Sprint Cup has the week off, Formula One's Malaysian Grand Prix takes center stage after a wild season opener in Australia which saw just seven cars running at the end.

Nationwide

Pepsi 300 - Nashville Superspeedway - Lebanon, TN

By Saturday night, we will have a new points leader in the Nationwide Series. I can say that because current points leader, Kevin Harvick, will not compete this weekend in Nashville while the four drivers immediately behind him will be on the 1.333-mile cement oval when the green flag drops for the Pepsi 300.

Clint Bowyer is second in the standings (-49 points) and coming off his first win of the season last week at Bristol is the favorite to take over the top spot. He has a great record on the Nashville Superspeedway, making seven starts and earning a win and a total of seven top-fives. He has led 390 laps in these races, more than anyone in Saturday's race.

But if Bowyer falters, defending series champion Carl Edwards (-50) would likely take advantage. Edwards's record in Lebanon, TN is also extraordinary. He has made five starts there, winning three times, including both the spring and summer races last year.

In last year's Pepsi 300, Edwards crossed the finish line more than four seconds ahead of runner-up David Reutimann.

Then in the June race, Edwards beat Bowyer by more than one and-a-half seconds. It was his third consecutive win in Nashville. Bowyer held a two- second lead with 45 laps to go. But Edwards, on fresher tires, was in hot pursuit. With 34 laps remaining Bowyer could no longer hold off Edwards. As they came into turn three Edwards went underneath Bowyer to take the spot away. The No.60 Ford opened up a one-second lead with 25 laps to go. He quickly increased that margin as the laps wound down. With just 10 laps left the gap between Edwards and Bowyer was at almost three seconds. Edwards' lead proved to be too big and he crossed the finish line without a challenge.

Behind Bowyer and Edwards, David Ragan and Reutimann sit fourth and fifth, respectively. Ragan has been solid - finishing between eighth and 16th in all five starts, His three top-10s are one-third of his entire 2007 total.

The first stand-alone event of the Nationwide Series will present a number of opportunities for younger drivers to get behind the wheel. Eighteen-year olds Chase Austin and Landon Cassill along with 19-year old Colin Braun are preparing for their season debuts. Also making his first start this year is 21-year old Chase Miller.

FORMULA ONE

Malaysian Grand Prix - Sepang Circuit - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The season-opener in Australia was one of the most entertaining in recent memory, not because there was a great battle for the win, but because of the number of cars that fell by the wayside during the race.

To be sure, Lewis Hamilton drove a nearly perfect race, dominated from start to finish and easily collected the 10 points for winning the event. But the fact that only seven of the 22 cars were running at the finish made this race so interesting.

The first thing we learned from the season opener, is that you better not miss the start of the race. With the elimination of "launch control" (a computer program that was used by pushing a button on the steering wheel giving the driver a perfect start without wheel spin) every race start will be fascinating. Varying driver reaction times and ability to control their cars at the start will make for exciting and sometimes catastrophic beginnings. Four cars were involved in a lap one accident at the race's first corner.

Without computer traction control, driving is back in the driver's hands, which can sometimes be very good or very bad. Twice last Sunday morning defending World Champion Kimi Raikkonen spun his Ferrari off the track. He was trying too hard to get back into the race and lost it both times without any help from anyone else. Last year, the on-board computer "brain" would have over-ridden the driver and kept the car on track.

The heat of Melbourne also took its toll on man and machine leaving just five cars on the lead lap when the checkered flag flew.

The races in Malaysia are usually run in even hotter, wetter weather than what is normally seen in Australia. Add to that the recent rules changes requiring engine and gearboxes to last multiple races and it is a recipe for more trouble.

McLaren's first effort was excellent with Hamilton winning and second-year driver Heikki Kovalainen running a solid fifth.

But for McLaren's main championship rival Ferrari, the race was a disaster right from the start. In qualifying, Raikkonen's F2008 failed him and he started 16th. He spun twice in the race and finished in ninth-place after he pulled his ill-sounding engine off the track, out of a points position. Only after former Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello was disqualified for leaving pit road against a red light, did the defending champion earn even one championship point.

And Raikkonen's weekend was better than teammate Felipe Massa's weekend after his Ferrari engine died on lap 29.

BMW looks like it has made vast improvements over the winter. Both Nick Heidfeld, who finished second and Robert Kubica, who was running in the top- five for most of the day before an accident left him in ninth place were strong contenders.

Fernando Alonso, the two-time World Champion, who returned to Renault over the off-season, finished fourth through persistence, but the French manufacturer still has much work to do to compete with McLaren and Ferrari. The Renault was definitely slower than the top cars.

Rookie Sebastien Bourdais deserves some praise after his effort in Melbourne. In his first F1 start Bourdais was in line for a fourth-place finish before his Scuderia Toro Rosso failed him in the waning laps.

Now it's on to the Sepang Circuit where Alonso is the defending race champion, when he beat then McLaren teammate Hamilton by 17 seconds. It should be different this time around. Expect a Hamilton victory.