This Week in Auto Racing September 11 - 13

This Week in Auto Racing September 11 - 13

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - It's crunch time for many Sprint Cup Series teams, as the "Chase cut-off race" at Richmond International Raceway headlines this week in motorsports.

Sprint Cup Series

Chevy Rock & Roll 400 - Richmond International Raceway - Richmond, VA

With only one race remaining before the start of the "Chase for the Sprint Cup," eight spots remain in the 12-driver championship field.

Who will make the Chase and who won't? We'll find out during a thrilling night of racing under the lights at Richmond on Saturday.

Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin have already punched their tickets for the 10-race playoffs, which begins September 20 at New Hampshire. Eleven other drivers remain eligible to clinch a position.

Johnson has won three of the last five races at the 0.75-mile Virginia track, including the last two fall races there.

Heading into Richmond, just 122 points separate fifth-place Carl Edwards from 14th-place Kyle Busch. David Reutimann, currently 15th in the standings, is mathematically eligible, but is a long shot to make the Chase. Reutimann would have to gain 133 points to qualify for the field. A maximum of 161 points can be made up in a given race.

While Matt Kenseth sits in the coveted 12th spot, 13th-place Brian Vickers is only 20 points behind Kenseth, and 14th-place Busch trails by 37 markers. Kenseth and Johnson are the only drivers who have made the Chase in all five years of the format's existence.

"We've got to beat all the guys we're around to get in," Kenseth said. "There are about five or six guys that are really close in the points and whoever outperforms the rest of them will make it in, so we've just got to go out and run as hard as we can and hope our results will be good enough."

One year ago, Busch clinched the top seed in the Chase with his series-leading eight victories in the regular season. Now the Joe Gibbs Racing driver is surprisingly on the bubble after a some-what disappointing season so far.

"The pressure is on for sure," Busch said. "We just have to do what we need to do. It's not these two races, Atlanta or this race coming up at Richmond, that's what's going to put us in the Chase. It's more of the season that we've had that's kept us out of it."

Busch won at Richmond earlier this year.

Vickers is hoping to make the Chase for the first time. He won last month at Michigan and then overcame a broken axle to finish seventh earlier this week at Atlanta. Will his momentum continue at Richmond?

"[Richmond] has been an up-and-down track for us," Vickers said. "I have two poles there. We haven't won a race there. It hasn't been one of our best tracks either."

After winning at Atlanta, Kasey Kahne gave himself a huge boost in his title bid. Kahne passed Kevin Harvick for the lead just after a restart with 11 laps to go. He climbed up to sixth in points after recording his second victory of the season.

If Kahne finishes 21st or better, regardless of any other driver's performance, he will qualify for the Chase.

"Something could happen early in the race at Richmond, you could lose a lot," Kahne said. "We just need to go in that race the same way we came into [Atlanta], the same way we went into Bristol, the same way in the race before Bristol."

Kahne's first career Cup victory came in May 2005 at Richmond. He finished 29th there in May.

Juan Pablo Montoya also beefed up his title hopes with a third-place finish at Atlanta. Montoya has shown considerable improvement in his third Cup season.

"If you really look at the bigger picture, we're pretty good, and we're in good shape right now," Montoya said.

Edwards had a chance to lock in his spot in the Chase at Atlanta, but engine trouble early in the race led to a 37th-place finish. Edwards will make it in with a 24th-place run or better at Richmond.

Kurt Busch also could have secured a spot at Atlanta, but Busch wound up finishing 38th after being involved in an incident with Reed Sorenson. He's in the show with a 20th-place finish or better.

Only 98 points separate ninth-place Ryan Newman from Kyle Busch, which will indeed make for an interesting race at Richmond. Mark Martin is presently 10th in points, while Greg Biffle occupies the 11th spot.

When the 12-driver field for the Chase is determined, all qualifiers will have their point totals reset to 5,000. Each driver will then have 10 bonus points added for every race he won during the regular season.

Kyle Busch and Martin currently lead the series with four victories each, while Stewart and Johnson have three wins to their credits.

Forty-four teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Chevy Rock & Roll 400.

Nationwide Series

Virginia 529 College Savings 250 - Richmond Int'l Raceway - Richmond, VA

Kyle Busch slightly padded his lead in Nationwide points after finishing second at Atlanta. Busch now holds a 221-point advantage over Carl Edwards, who finished seventh.

Busch is looking to continue his momentum at Richmond, where he won the spring race there earlier this season. He is a three-time Richmond race winner.

Edwards has won at Richmond twice, including a victory there one year ago. Clint Bowyer dominated the 2008 fall race, but Bowyer got loose and allowed Edwards to pass him with 22 laps to go.

Kevin Harvick will attempt to win his second Nationwide race in a row after an impressive performance last Saturday at Atlanta.

Harvick and Busch made their final stops for gas and tires with less than 15 laps remaining, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Edwards opted to go the distance without pitting for fuel. Harvick passed Earnhardt Jr. with two laps remaining and then held it for his second win of the season.

Mark Martin leads all drivers with five Nationwide wins at Richmond, while Harvick and Harry Gant are second in the record books with four victories each there.

"I have always liked Richmond from the first time I saw the place," Harvick said. "It just suits my driving style. I like the flat tracks. We've always had a fair amount of success on the flatter race tracks."

Harvick won three in a row at Richmond from 2005-06. Martin will not compete in Friday's race there.

Kenny Wallace will celebrate a career milestone at Richmond. Wallace will become the 17th driver to make at least 800 NASCAR starts. The veteran driver has competed in 444 Nationwide, 344 Sprint Cup and 11 Camping World Truck Series races so far.

"What really caught me off guard is that I'm 17th all-time in the history of NASCAR of starts," Wallace said. "That humbles me. It almost makes me shy, and everyone knows I'm not shy."

Last month, Martin made his 1,000th NASCAR start at Bristol, where he finished second to Kyle Busch in the Sprint Cup race.

Forty-seven teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Virginia 529 College Savings 250.

Camping World Truck Series

Copart 200 - Gateway International Raceway - Madison, IL

After running on first-time tracks the past two weeks, the Camping World Truck Series returns to a familiar oval this weekend -- Gateway International Raceway, which is located just outside St. Louis.

Ron Hornaday Jr. continues to hold a commanding lead in the points race. Hornaday finished fourth last Saturday at Iowa and stretched his lead to 225 markers over Matt Crafton, who finished sixth. No driver in the 15-year history of the series has led by more than 193 points after 17 races.

Hornaday is the defending race winner at Gateway. He led 113 of 160 laps and held off pole-sitter Dennis Setzer for his first win at the 1.25-mile track.

"Gateway is very different from other tracks we race on because of the corners," Hornaday said. "Turns one and two are tight and banked, and three and four are wide and flat."

There have been 10 different winners in 11 races at Gateway. Ted Musgrave, who is now inactive, is the only driver with multiple victories there.

Terry Cook, David Starr, Todd Bodine and Hornaday are those drivers entered in Saturday's 200-mile race that have won at Gateway.

Bodine won at Gateway in 2006, the same year he won the series title.

"You can make your truck do different things, but you've got to have everything right -- strategy and pit stops," Bodine said. "And the fewer trucks you have to pass, the better off you are."

Gateway has yet to produce a first-time race winner in the series, but Aric Almirola could very well be the driver to do it there. Almirola, who competed in Sprint Cup for Dale Earnhardt Inc. earlier this year, had a banner race last Saturday at Iowa with a second-place run in his No.15 Billy Ballew Motorsports Toyota.

Brian Ickler, who is also seeking his first series victory, is slated to drive Ballew's No.51 Toyota, the same truck Kyle Busch has driven into Victory Lane four times this season.

Forty-one teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Copart 200.

FORMULA ONE

Italian Grand Prix - Autodromo Nazionale di Monza - Monza, Italy

This weekend's Italian Grand Prix in Monza will feature a couple of driver changes. As expected, Force India released Giancarlo Fisichella last week, allowing the Roman to replace Luca Badoer at Ferrari. Badoer had substituted for the injured Felipe Massa in the last two grand prix.

"We have chosen Fisichella because we can expect him to make a valuable contribution in this final part of the season," Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali said in a team statement. "Giancarlo has shown, throughout his long career, that he is fast and competitive ,and we are therefore proud to be able to run an Italian driver in our home race."

When Massa returns to competition, which could be as early as the October 18 Brazilian Grand Prix, Fisichella will then serve as Ferrari's reserve driver.

Fisichella gave Force India its first-ever Formula One points with a second- place finish last week in the Belgian Grand Prix. He also gave the team its maiden pole position.

On Monday, the Indian team announced that 28-year-old driver Vitantonio Liuzzi will replace Fisichella, beginning at Monza. Liuzzi has 39 grand prix starts, but has not competed in F1 since he lost his ride with Toro Rosso at the conclusion of the 2007 season.

"Monza is one of the most historic races of the entire championship, and it's in Italy," said Liuzzi, who is Italian. "The vibe that is in Monza is great, and when I won there in F3000 in 2004 it was an unbelievable feeling."

Heading to Monza, Brawn GP's Jenson Button holds a 16-point lead over his teammate Rubens Barrichello in the world championship standings. Button failed to score a point for the first time this year with a disappointing 17th-place finish in Belgium. He also qualified a season-worst 14th. Button did not take a severe blow in his title bid, with Barrichello only gaining two points after his seventh-place run.

Sebastian Vettel, currently third in rankings, made some headway with his title hopes after the Red Bull Racing driver finished third in Belgium. Vettel trails Button by 19 points.

Vettel is the defending winner at Monza. Driving for Toro Rosso last year, Vettel became the youngest driver in F1 to win a grand prix at age 21. The German also gave Toro Rosso its maiden victory.

In April, Vettel gave Red Bull its inaugural victory at Shanghai, China. He also won the British Grand Prix earlier this season.