This Week in Auto Racing May 27 - 30

This Week in Auto Racing May 27 - 30

Indianapolis, IN (Sports Network) - Motorsports fans around the world will be in their glory this Memorial Day weekend, with the IZOD INDYCAR Series holding its biggest race of the year, the Indianapolis 500, and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series running its longest event of the year, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. The Nationwide Series also competes in Charlotte, while Formula One heads to Istanbul for the Turkish Grand Prix.

Indianapolis 500 - Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Indianapolis, IN

After weeks of preparation, thirty-three drivers are ready to embark in the IZOD IndyCar Series premier event of the year -- the Indianapolis 500.

With more than 250,000 in attendance, making it the largest single-day sporting event in the world, one driver will relish the thrill of victory after completing 200 laps around the historic 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as the famed Borg-Warner Trophy, a bottle of milk and at least a $2,500,000 payday await the Indy 500 champion in Winner's Circle.

This year, Helio Castroneves has an opportunity to make history at Indianapolis. If Castroneves wins on Sunday, not only would it be his record- tying fourth Indy 500 victory, but he would become the first driver to win back-to-back 500s twice as well.

Castroneves would join A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears and Al Unser as the race's only four-time winners. He also would accomplish the feat faster than any of those racing legends.

"It would be a dream come true to be a part of an incredible group," Castroneves said. "I want to do everything I can to make it happen, and I'm very fortunate to be in this position...Hopefully we can win four times."

Castroneves won back-to-back Indy 500s from 2001-02, becoming the just fifth driver to win it in consecutive years. He also is the only one who has won the Indy 500 in each of his first two starts.

Last year, Castroneves was sensational at Indy during the month of May when he led the way in practices, captured the pole and then won the race for the third time in his career.

Right now, Castroneves is on the same pace at Indy as he was one year ago. He won his fourth career Indy 500 pole last Saturday. The Brazilian set a blistering four-lap average speed of 227.970 m.p.h. Castroneves posted his pole-winning laps when he was the first driver to make his attempt during the "Fast Nine" shootout session. As part of the Indy Racing League's revised qualifying procedure for this year's Indy 500, the fastest nine drivers in the first five hours of qualifying advanced to a 90-minute session to determine the pole winner.

Castroneves also has been the quickest in most of the practices sessions so far.

"I have to say that qualifying is a totally different scenario than the race," Castroneves said. "Sometimes not the fastest car is the one that wins the race. We actually had that experience in 2003. So we don't want to fall in that situation again. We want to learn from those situations and make it better."

Castroneves is heavily favored to win this year's Indy 500. His Team Penske teammates Will Power and Ryan Briscoe, as well as Target Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon are other strong contenders.

Power, the current points leader, and Franchitti, the defending series champion, will share the front starting row with Castroneves. Alex Tagliani will lineup between Briscoe and Dixon on row two. Tagliani has emerged as a dark horse for this year's Indy 500, as his FAZZT Race Team has been impressive during preparations for the race.

"It's pretty tough to beat Helio at Indianapolis; he's a quick guy," Briscoe said.

Since the first Indy 500 in 1911, thirty-three drivers have gone on to win the race and then clinch the series championship. Could Power be the next one added to that list this year?

Power has competed in two Indy 500's so far. He finished fifth at Indy last year, his first season with Penske. The Aussie had a 13th-place run there two years ago when he drove for KV Racing Technology.

Franchitti (2007) and Dixon (2008) are the most recent drivers to win the Indy 500 and the series title in the same season.

For the first time in Indy 500 history, four female drivers -- Ana Beatriz, Simona de Silvestro, Sarah Fisher and Danica Patrick -- qualified for the race.

Patrick endured her worst Indy 500 qualifying performance, placing 23rd on the starting grid after a four-lap average of 224.271 m.p.h. She had qualified no worse than 10th in her first five Indy 500 starts.

"I believe that on race day anything is possible, and it takes some control and some patience," Patrick said. "As Al [Unser] Jr. told me, use the first half to get to the last half. They're simple words, but they make sense. I think I can. I know I can do that. The car might not be perfect, but you can still salvage a decent day. If we can just make it a little bit better, I think that we'll be okay in the race."

Patrick has been pretty superb at Indy in the past, finishing third last year and fourth in 2005, her rookie season.

Beatriz and de Silvestro, both rookies this year, qualified ahead of Patrick, with Beatriz taking the 21st spot and de Silvestro one position behind in 22nd.

Teams will have one last opportunity to practice and fine tune their cars for the 94th running of the Indy 500 in Friday's "Carb Day."

Coca-Cola 600 - Lowe's Motor Speedway - Concord, NC

Following last Saturday's wild NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, the Sprint Cup Series remains at Charlotte Motor Speedway, as the points-paying regular season resumes with the Coca-Cola 600.

Kurt Busch enters the Coca-Cola 600 with a lot of momentum after winning the all-star event. Busch overcame two encounters with the wall and then survived the final 10-lap battle to win the event for the first time in his ninth attempt and collect $1,078,309.

On Sunday, Busch will attempt to win the Coca-Cola 600 and join Darrell Waltrip (1985), Davey Allison (1991), Dale Earnhardt (1993), Jeff Gordon (1997), Jimmie Johnson (2003) and Kasey Kahne (2008) as winners of both the all-star race and the 600-mile event at Charlotte in the same season.

But that might be a difficult task for Busch, since he has never finished higher than 11th in nine Coca-Cola 600 appearances. He's hoping for a better outcome this time.

"We feel very comfortable going into the 600," Busch said. "We have to pace ourselves for the daytime and get into the nightfall, see how things play out for us."

The Coca-Cola 600 is much longer than the all-star race, with drivers spending up to more than four hours behind the wheel to complete 400 laps. Fuel mileage, pit strategy and driver endurance are all key factors in this event.

Last year's race was an exception though, thanks in part to Mother Nature.

David Reutimann became a first-time Sprint Cup winner after the event was cut 173 laps short of its 400-lap distance due to inclement weather.

Kyle Busch had dominated the race and led the way when the sixth and final caution came on lap 221 for rain. Busch pitted during the caution, but Reutimann stayed out and took over the lead. Reutimann led just the final five laps before the red flag was displayed and NASCAR later declared the race official.

"I wish we would have won the race without the rain, because no one wants their first win to come in a rain shortened event, but it's also not like I'm the first guy to ever win a rain-shortened race," Reutimann said. "I know Joey Logano probably feels the same way about his win [in June 2009] at New Hampshire, but a win is a win and we'll take them where we can get them."

Reutimann's first win came in his 75th start. He also gave Michael Waltrip his first victory as a team owner.

"Winning the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte was a huge deal for everyone at Michael Waltrip Racing," Reutimann said. "That was our first win as an organization in the Sprint Cup Series and to have it come at Charlotte in the 50th running of the Coca-Cola 600 is about as good as it gets."

Reutimann became the sixth driver to get his first Cup win in the 600, joining David Pearson (1961), Gordon (1994), Bobby Labonte (1995), Matt Kenseth (2000) and Casey Mears (2007).

Mears will continue to drive the No.83 Toyota in place of Brian Vickers, who is sidelined for the remainder of the season due to his treatment for blood clots. Mears' win in the 600 three years ago came when he drove for Hendrick Motorsports.

Four-time defending series champion Johnson could set another record in NASCAR this weekend. If Johnson wins the 600, he will become the all-time winningest driver at Charlotte with seven victories. His sixth win there came last October.

Johnson won the 600 consecutively from 2003-05, but has been absent from victory lane for this event since then. He has finished 10th, 13th and 39th in the last three spring races at Charlotte.

"Someone pointed out the other day that we haven't had the finishes at the 600 that we've had in the past, and I'm not sure why, but we're certainly going to do everything we can to change that," Johnson said. "I think we'll be competitive this weekend."

Forty-seven teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Coca-Cola 600. Qualifying is scheduled for Thursday.

TECH-NET Auto Service 300 - Lowe's Motor Speedway - Concord, NC

The Nationwide Series will join the Sprint Cup Series this Memorial Day weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Saturday's race has an afternoon start time, which is the first for this track since 2004.

This will be the last combo weekend for NASCAR's top-two series until the last weekend in June when they run at New Hampshire. Following Charlotte, Nationwide teams will compete at Nashville, Kentucky and Road America in Wisconsin.

Brad Keselowski currently holds an 11-point lead over Kyle Busch, who won two weeks ago at Dover. Busch recently announced he will not defend his Nationwide title, so Charlotte will be his last race in the series for a month.

Keselowski is running a full Nationwide schedule this year.

Busch is a five-time race winner at Charlotte, including victories in three of the last four races there. Mike Bliss interrupted Busch's winning streak at Charlotte one year ago when he won the rain-shortened race. Bliss held the lead when NASCAR stopped the race 30 laps short of its 200-lap distance due to rain. He scored his second career Nationwide win. His first victory also came at this track in '04, when he drove for Joe Gibbs Racing at the time.

Brendan Gaughan finished a Nationwide career-best second in last year's spring race at Charlotte, while Busch ended up third.

Mark Martin holds the record for most Nationwide victories at Charlotte with six. Busch picked up his fifth win there last October.

Presently third in points (-64), Kevin Harvick has yet to decide on whether he will run the entire Nationwide schedule this season. If Harvick does, he could have a shot at becoming the first driver to win three championships in the series. He won the title in 2001 and '06.

Turkish Grand Prix - Istanbul Park - Istanbul, Turkey

Mark Webber has been red hot in Formula One racing, and his momentum likely will continue this weekend in the Turkish Grand Prix.

During the month of May, Webber has won the Spanish Grand Prix and the Monaco Grand Prix, after starting on the pole and leading every lap in each one of those events. He has accumulated 50 points in the last two races, which has placed him into a tie with Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel in the F1 world championship standings.

"We have a very good foundation, and we're in a good position," Webber said. "We've got some different venues coming up, keep in mind that engines are going to come into play in the back part of the championship. There are lots of things to roll into this situation yet. It's a good position to be in, and I obviously would rather be here than forty points behind. We have a good tally at the moment, but I don't think it's between two guys, too early."

Last month, Webber was 32 points behind then leader Jenson Button.

Red Bull has won the pole in each of the first six rounds this year, with Vettel and Webber claiming three apiece. The British team is looking to keep the pole-winning streak alive in Turkey.

Four of the first five Turkish GPs were won from the pole. Last year, Vettel started on the pole for this race, but second-place starter Button capitalized on an opening-lap mistake by Vettel and went on to capture the victory.

He won six of the first seven grand prix last year, en route to the F1 title.

Button, in his first year with McLaren, is looking to rebound from his disappointing performance at Monaco. His car overheated in the opening laps, which led to a 23rd-place finish. He now trails Vettel and Webber by eight points.

"We've got some new upgrades for this race, which I think underlines the strength of our development push," Button said. "We should be particularly well suited to Turkey, and I think we've got a good chance of doing well there."

The 5.338-mile Istanbul Park has an unusual anti-clockwise layout and features the legendary "Turn Eight," which effectively is four left hand turns all strung together. It is one of the most challenging corners on the F1 circuit.

"I think the track is one of the better modern circuits we visit," Button said. "It's got a good balance of corners, some good gradient, and most importantly, in terms of overtaking, it's probably the best-designed circuit that we visit all year."