This Week in Auto Racing October 30 - November 1

This Week in Auto Racing October 30 - November 1

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - It should be an exciting and wild weekend of racing as the Sprint Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway for the seventh race in the "Chase for the Sprint Cup" championship. The Camping World Truck Series also will be at Talladega, while Formula One will wrap up its season with the inaugural running of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Sprint Cup Series

Amp Energy 500 - Talladega Superspeedway - Talladega, AL

It's Talladega, the "wild-card," the "crap-shoot" in the 10-race Chase, and points leader Jimmie Johnson is hoping to leave the final restrictor-plate event of the season unscathed. Johnson finished second last Sunday at Martinsville and padded his lead to 118 points.

Talladega is the Chase race which the title contenders fear the most, since the unpredictable can happen there, including the "big one," a major pileup involving numerous drivers.

Johnson has finished second and ninth in the last two fall races at Talladega, but finished 30th there in April when he was involved in a 10-car incident in the closing laps. If Johnson has a good finish at Talladega this weekend, it should be clear sailing for him the remainder of this season, as he attempts to win his unprecedented fourth straight Cup championship.

"Talladega, there's no telling, but I feel good with the other tracks after that as long as we don't have any mechanicals," said Johnson, who is the sentimental favorite to win this year's title.

Mark Martin finished eighth at Martinsville and remained second in points. After skipping Talladega as part of his 2007-08 limited Cup schedule, Martin finished 43rd in his return at the track earlier this year. He was involved in the first big pileup. The 50-year-old driver doesn't exactly consider Talladega as one of his favorite tracks.

"No, it's not," Martin said. "But that is why it's time for it to pay. It's my turn. Why not go there? To me it's my opportunity to really get back into the running for it. So I plan on going there and driving like I know I am not going to wreck."

When the series last competed at Talladega, the final lap concluded with Brad Keselowski, a Nationwide Series regular, crossing the finish line first and Carl Edwards violently crashing into the catch fence along the frontstretch. Ryan Newman held the lead on the final restart with four laps to go. Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran behind Newman's bumper heading into the final lap, but Edwards, with help from Keselowski, shot past the two front runners.

As they approached the line, Keselowski attempted to pass, but Edwards blocked as the two drivers made contact. Edwards spun, hit Newman and then sailed into the fence.

"I did learn something about the end of the race -- block once," said Edwards, who has yet to win a Cup race this season after leading the series with nine victories last year. "I probably won't block twice, but I feel good about it. I think that wreck showed me you can have a pretty good wreck and walk away from it."

After his crash, Edwards climbed out of his battered car and ran across the finish line to fictitiously complete his 188th and final lap. He ended up finishing 24th.

Eight spectators sustained minor injuries when they were struck by debris from Edwards' car. None of the injuries were life-threatening. Track officials recently raised the fence along the frontstretch by eight feet as a safety precaution.

"Hopefully, they made the screens tighter -- the holes in the fence smaller -- and hopefully we don't have anything like that happen again," Edwards added.

Jeff Gordon, currently third in points (-150), leads all active drivers with six wins at Talladega.

Tony Stewart is the defending race champion. Regan Smith crossed the finish line first, but NASCAR ruled Smith passed Stewart below the yellow line and awarded Stewart with the victory. NASCAR rules state that any driver advancing their position below the yellow line at Talladega or Daytona is out-of-bounds and therefore considered illegal.

Stewart survived two major wrecks in a race that featured a whopping 64 lead changes among 28 drivers.

"Everybody kind of crosses their fingers when we go to Talladega because one mistake or not even a mistake, just two different guys going two different directions can make it a big deal," Stewart said.

Stewart heads to Talladega fourth in points (-192).

Forty-four teams are on the preliminary entry list for this weekend's Amp Energy 500.

Camping World Truck Series

Mountain Dew 250 - Talladega Superspeedway - Talladega, AL

Saturday's Camping World Truck Series race at Talladega should be more of a treat than a trick on Halloween.

Todd Bodine is hoping no trick will interfere with his attempt at a fifth straight superspeedway victory. Bodine has won the last two races at both Daytona and Talladega. He finished fourth the first time the series competed at Talladega in 2006.

"You have to be smart when you race at Talladega," Bodine said. "If you get too anxious or rambunctious, you end up getting in trouble."

In the '06 race, Bodine was penalized for dipping below the yellow line while battling Mark Martin for the victory in the final laps. Martin went on to win the race.

Ron Hornaday Jr. comes to Talladega with a comfortable 224-point lead. Hornaday padded his lead over Matt Crafton with a fourth-place finish at Martinsville. Timothy Peters picked up his first series win in last Saturday's race.

Hornaday has finished 10th or better in the first three races at Talladega. He finished second there last year. With four races remaining, Hornaday is looking to become the first driver in series history to win four championships.

Talladega will be a treat for one of NASCAR's most famous families. For the first time in NASCAR, a father and daughter will compete in a national touring series race. Mike Wallace and his 21-year-old daughter, Chrissy, will race against each other.

"As we have for many years, the Wallace tradition is very long-tied to NASCAR as far as my brothers -- Rusty and Kenny and myself," Mike Wallace said. "Chrissy and Steven are making a living now, and I'm just really excited about the opportunity to show up there and be part of NASCAR history."

Mike Wallace has competed in the series since its inception in 1995, while Chrissy Wallace made her truck debut in March at Martinsville.

"Racing against my dad, it's something that we've always wanted to do," Chrissy Wallace said. "It's something that means a lot to me, and I think it's a good thing for me and him both. Hopefully I'll wind up beating him."

Thirty-eight teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Mountain Dew 250.

FORMULA ONE

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Yas Marina Circuit - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

The 2009 Formula One calendar concludes this weekend with the first running of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

While the Abu Dhabi GP should be entertaining, the F1 driver championship and constructors' title have already been wrapped up. Jenson Button won his first world championship with a fifth-place finish two weeks ago in the Brazilian Grand Prix. Brawn GP also clinched the constructors' title in Brazil.

Button began this season by winning six of the first seven races, but has not finished better than fifth since his victory in the June 7 Turkish Grand Prix. He will come to Abu Dhabi with an impassable 15-point lead over Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and a 17-point advantage over his Brawn teammate Rubens Barrichello. A driver can score a maximum of 10 points only in each grand prix.

"This season has been a roller coaster ride from the elation of the wins at the start to the hard graft in the second half of the season which has seen us grind out the results needed to take the [driver and constructors'] titles," Button said.

Drivers have yet to experience Abu Dhabi's newly-built Yas Marina Circuit, but they've certainly read about it or perhaps sampled it on a simulator in preparation for the 55-lap event.

Fernando Alonso won the most recent F1 inaugural event -- the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

"I always enjoy the challenge of a new circuit, and the track in Abu Dhabi looks very impressive," Alonso said. "It will be a new experience for everyone, so it's important that we maximize all the sessions and learn as much as we can quickly to try and find an advantage."

Alonso will make his final start for Renault before heading to Ferrari for next season. Alonso is replacing Kimi Raikkonen, who is likely moving to McLaren to team up with Lewis Hamilton.

"The race in Abu Dhabi will be my last grand prix with Ferrari, and as usual, I will give it everything to gain the best possible result," Raikkonen said.

For the second straight grand prix, reserve driver Kamui Kobayashi will substitute for the injured Timo Glock at Toyota. Glock suffered a cracked vertebra during a crash in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix earlier this month. He is expected to make a full recovery in time for next year's season- opener in Bahrain.