This Week in Auto Racing May 8 - 10

This Week in Auto Racing May 8 - 10

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series teams spend this Mother's Day weekend at Darlington Raceway, while Formula One heads to Barcelona, Spain, and IndyCar gears up for the Indianapolis 500 with qualifications at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Sprint Cup Series

Southern 500 - Darlington Raceway - Darlington, SC

Darlington Raceway, NASCAR's first superspeedway, celebrates 60 years of racing this weekend, and what better way to mark the anniversary than the return of the Southern 500.

Nicknamed "Lady In Black" and "The Track Too Tough To Tame" by NASCAR fans and competitors, Darlington has been a tradition in the sport since 1950, with Johnny Mantz winning the first Southern 500 from the 43rd starting position in a 75-car field.

The Southern 500 was held at Darlington on Labor Day weekend annually until 2004 when the holiday event shifted to Auto Club Speedway (formerly California Speedway). NASCAR moved the Southern 500 that year to November as part of the inaugural "Chase for the Sprint Cup" schedule.

In 2005, Darlington eliminated the Southern 500 name altogether and NASCAR transferred the track's date to the night before Mother's Day. But track officials announced last August the iconic race name would return this year.

Darlington is 1.366 miles in length and has a unique egg-shaped layout, making it one of stock car racing's most challenging tracks. The track underwent a repaving in time for last year's race, which saw record qualifying speeds.

Every driver at one time or another has earned a "Darlington Stripe," a mark left on the car when it rubs against the track's wall.

Jeff Gordon, the current points leader, has "tamed" Darlington quite well in the past with seven wins, the most among active drivers there. His most recent victory at Darlington came in 2007.

"The cars have changed, the speeds have changed and the asphalt has changed, but I don't believe the driver's thinking has changed one bit," Gordon said. You race the track here, not the other competitors."

Gordon regained the lead in the series standings after an eighth-place finish last Saturday at Richmond. He holds a 10-point advantage over Kurt Busch.

Kyle Busch, who won at Richmond on his 24th birthday, is the defending race champion at Darlington. Busch overcame a pit road penalty for a missing lug nut to finish 3.115 seconds ahead of Carl Edwards for his third Sprint Cup victory of the season.

"Darlington is a tricky place," Busch said. "It's fast and it's fun, and yet it's so difficult and so challenging because you can't ever take the racetrack for granted. You can't ever go out there and try to get a little bit more lap time out of it, because it will suck you right into the fence."

Busch has already collected three Sprint Cup victories this season, and is the likely favorite to win at Darlington again this weekend.

"We'll see how it goes this time around," he said. "Last year, we were tight in the beginning of the race and we kept freeing it up. The more we freed it up, the more I kept hitting the wall."

Meanwhile, it's just a matter of time before Tony Stewart picks up his first win as both driver and owner. Stewart, who enters his 11th race as co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, has scored four top-five finishes, including two second- place runs, in the last five races. He is currently third in points (-39).

Stewart's teammate, Ryan Newman, has moved up to 10th in points. After a sluggish start to the season, Newman has gained momentum with top-five finishes at Talladega and Richmond.

Forty-seven teams are on the preliminary entry list for this weekend's Southern 500.

Nationwide Series

Diamond Hill Plywood 200 - Darlington Raceway - Darlington, SC

With the victory in last Friday's race at Richmond, Kyle Busch stretched his lead in the Nationwide Series championship standings to 82 points over Carl Edwards, who finished second.

Both drivers had disappointing performances at Darlington last year. Busch wrecked on lap 102 and finished 31st, while Edwards crashed after the first three laps and wound up 43rd, just the second time in his Nationwide career he has finished last.

While Busch has yet to score a Nationwide victory at Darlington, his Joe Gibbs Racing team has won the last three races there with its No.20 entry. Denny Hamlin recorded back-to-back wins at Darlington from 2006-07, while Tony Stewart drove the car into victory lane in last year's race.

It will be Joey Logano's turn this weekend to continue the team's winning streak. Logano will make his first NASCAR national series start at Darlington. He is not scheduled to run a full Nationwide season this year, since he's concentrating on his Sprint Cup rookie campaign. Logano is currently fourth in points, despite not being entered at Las Vegas two months ago.

Jeff Burton has four victories at Darlington, tying him with Harry Gant for second on the track's win list. Mark Martin has won there eight times, the most of any driver. Martin will not compete in Friday's race.

Burton, who is fourth all-time in Nationwide wins with 27, has not posted a victory since the 2007 season-finale at Homestead. He will drive the No.29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet at Darlington.

Jason Leffler's 10th-place finish at Richmond moved him up to third in the standings, as he leads all Nationwide regulars in points. Leffler has recorded three straight top-10 finishes at Darlington.

"There is a reason they call Darlington Raceway 'The Track Too Tough To Tame'," Leffler said. "It's one of the toughest tracks we go to but some of the best racing you will see all year."

Leffler is currently 198 points behind leader Busch.

Scott Wimmer swaps rides for this race, going from No.40 Key Motorsports Chevrolet to the No.5 entry for JR Motorsports. Wimmer, a six-time winner in the series, has struggled this season in the No.40 car, failing to qualify in three of the first nine events. His best finish so far this year is 11th, which came at Las Vegas.

Forty-six teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Diamond Hill Plywood 200.

FORMULA ONE

Spanish Grand Prix - Circuit de Catalunya - Barcelona, Spain

With the first four races in 2009 - Australia, Malaysia, China and Bahrain - now in the history books, the "European season" on this year's Formula One calendar begins with the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

All teams are very familiar with Circuit de Catalunya, since pre-season testing is held at the 2.892-mile road course, which has hosted F1 races since 1991.

The recent Barcelona tests marked the debut of Brawn GP, as drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello recorded the quickest laps during the four-day session.

Since then, Brawn has been superb with Button already winning three races and holding the lead in the world championship standings with 31 points so far.

"Although the team only completed four days of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya in March this year, I know the track inside out, and it feels very familiar to be heading back there for the start of the European season this weekend," Button said.

Barrichello is currently second in points with 19.

Ross Brawn, a fixture in F1 since the mid-1970's, acquired the former Honda Racing team at the beginning of the year and immediately surprised the competition during testing at Barcelona and Jerez, Spain.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen is the defending winner of the Spanish GP. Raikkonen crossed the finish line 3.228 seconds ahead of teammate Felipe Massa for his second victory of the season and the 17th of his F1 career. Lewis Hamilton from McLaren finished third. Nine drivers failed to finish the 66-lap event.

Massa won at Barcelona in 2007, holding off Hamilton and then McLaren driver Fernando Alonso, a Spaniard. Eight drivers did not complete the distance in that race.

Alonso won the 2006 Spanish GP in front of his home crowd.

Hamilton, the defending World Champion, sits seventh in the standings with nine points.

McLaren's MP4-24 has not performed up to the team's early-season expectations, but recent modifications to the car helped Hamilton finish fourth two weeks ago at Bahrain.

"The schedule for the first four races was very tough for everyone, so going back to Europe almost feels like a fresh start," Hamilton said. "After such a positive performance in Bahrain, we're fully aware that the characteristics of the Barcelona track won't suit our car so well."

Hamilton was disqualified from the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in March after race stewards concluded his McLaren team gave "misleading evidence" during a post-race hearing.

Last week, the FIA's World Motor Sport Council handed McLaren a three-race ban for bringing the sport into disrepute after misleading stewards, but F1's governing body decided to suspend the ban in light of the "open and honest way" team principal Martin Whitmarsh addressed the council. The ban will be assessed if further evidence emerges or McLaren breaches another International Sporting Code.

INDYCARS

Indianapolis 500 Pole Day - Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Indianapolis, IN

The 93rd running of the Indianapolis 500 is not scheduled until May 24, but on-track activities at Indianapolis Motor Speedway begin this week with practices scheduled from Wednesday to Friday and then Pole Day set for Saturday, followed by second-round qualifying on Sunday.

Forty cars and 32 drivers are currently on the entry list for this year's Indy 500.

Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti have won the two previous Indy 500s. Dixon won last year's race from the pole position, while Franchitti scored the victory in the 2007 event, driving for Andretti Green Racing at the time.

Dixon and Franchitti also captured the IndyCar Series championship the same years they won the Indy 500.

Qualifications for IndyCar's biggest race of the season is determined in four days of time trials. Each driver's qualifying time and speed will be based on the total time and average speed of four laps around the 2.5-mile oval. Each car has up to three qualifying attempts per day in the current format, which went into effect in 2005. Theoretically, a car could make 12 attempts to earn a spot in the field, three on each of the four qualification days.

Starting positions one through 11 are secured on Pole Day, while positions 12 through 22 are determined during the second day of qualifying. On day three (scheduled for Saturday, May 16) the 23 through 33rd spots are filled, and on "Bump Day" (May 17), the slowest driver regardless of day is bumped once the field is full.

The current entry list of drivers is one short of filling the 33-car field, but seats with such teams as KV Racing Technology, Dale Coyne Racing and Conquest Racing remain vacant.

Oriol Servia, Buddy Rice, Bruno Junqueira and Tomas Scheckter competed in last year's Indy 500, but are currently without a ride.