This Week in Auto Racing May 16 - May 18
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - It is just 11 weeks into the 36-race 2008 Sprint Cup season, but NASCAR will hold its "mid-season" classic which highlights this week's racing action.
Sprint Cup
Sprint Cup All-Star Race - Lowe's Motor Speedway - Concord, NC
With a week's respite from the stress-filled "Chase for the Sprint Cup," the NASCAR drivers and teams will spend their time how?
At the track, of course.
This week, however, it will all be for fun, ego...and a barrel full of money.
The Sprint All-Star Race is an invitation only event run on Saturday night where only winning is important. No "thinking about the big picture." On Saturday night, the teams race for the $1 million prize (actually $1,012,975) which goes to the winner.
The field is made up of drivers and owners who have won at least one race during the preceding year, any past series champions (last 10 years), past Sprint All-Star Race winners (last 10 years), the winner and runner-up of the 2008 Sprint Showdown and the winner of a "fan vote."
NASCAR has changed the format for this year's race.
There will be a total of 100 laps run in 25-lap segments.
Between segments one and two, there will be a yellow flag during which teams may pit for fuel, tires and normal chassis adjustments. Teams pitting will not retain their position on the race track and will restart at the rear of the field in the order they leave pit road.
Between sessions two and three, there will be a 10-minute break during which teams will pit and may change tires, add fuel and make normal chassis adjustments. Changing of springs, shock absorbers or rear-ends is not permitted. Teams will restart segment three in the same position they finished segment two. Between segments three and four, the caution flag will be waved and teams will be required to make at least a stop-and-go pit stop.
Kevin Harvick won last year's race holding off Jimmie Johnson for the victory.
Craftsman
North Carolina Education Lottery 200 - Lowe's Motor Speedway - Concord, NC
Kyle Busch gave up his points lead in the Craftsman Truck Series when he missed last month's race at the Kansas Speedway. But the No.51 Miccosukee Resorts Toyota driver is on top of his game and will be the favorite this week at the Lowe's Motor Speedway for the North Carolina Education Lottery 200.
Busch has made 40 career starts in the truck series and has won eight times (25%). His win percentage is higher than Greg Biffle (19.75%), 2008 Series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. (16.59%), Kurt Busch (16.00%) or Mike Skinner (15.09%).
"Hand it to the man (Busch); it fits his style right now," said veteran Rick Crawford. "He's on top of his game."
"Rowdy" Busch has won at least one race (Sprint Cup, Nationwide or Craftsman) for the past six weeks. And he will be a very busy man over the next 10 days. Busch is scheduled to run in five races totaling 1,034 laps and 1,551 miles.
After missing the last race, Busch fell to sixth in the standings, 130 points behind Hornaday Jr. The defending series champion owns a 61-point edge over Crawford and 71 points over Todd Bodine after his win in the O'Reilly Auto Parts 250. He leads the series in points (775), laps led (236), races led (5) and top-10 finishes (4).
Hornaday Jr. had a dominate truck in Kansas, leading 136 of 167 laps, including the final 54. While in charge for most of the day, he still needed to stay out front while conserving fuel over the final third of the race to preserve the win. He was the first driver to win a Craftsman race at Kansas from the pole.
"We didn't have near as good a truck as the No.33," said Skinner, who finished fifth.
Hornaday Jr. is the defending North Carolina Education Lottery 200 winner as well after he beat A.J. Allmendinger to last year's checkered flag.
"Lowe's is a lot like Atlanta and Texas where you can carry really good speed out of the turns," said Hornaday Jr. "We have a lot of momentum going into this race and we're looking for another strong run."
Hornaday Jr. finished second at Atlanta in March, leading a majority of the laps, so expect another strong effort from the No.33.
INDYCARS
Indianapolis 500 Qualifying - Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Indianapolis, IN
After Sunday's rainout of Day 2 qualifying, the IndyCar Series will return to the track on Saturday and Sunday in hopes of filling out the 33-car field. If the weather will cooperate this weekend, the field will be completed on Saturday and then "Bump Day" will begin on Sunday.
Last Saturday, Scott Dixon won the pole for the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500 and he will have his Target Chip Ganassi teammate Dan Wheldon starting alongside him on the front row. Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe will be the third member of the front row.
Row two will be made up of Helio Castroneves, Danica Patrick and Tony Kanaan.
The drivers and teams will actually get back to the track for practice on Wednesday with the 11 drivers already in the field focusing on race setups, while the remainder still working on qualifying.