This Week in Auto Racing September 19 - 21

This Week in Auto Racing September 19 - 21

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - After kicking off the "Chase for the Sprint Cup" championship in Loudon, NH, round two of the playoffs moves through the Delmarva Peninsula to "The Monster Mile" in Dover, DE this weekend. The Nationwide Series will join the Sprint Cup Series in Dover, while the Craftsman Truck Series heads to "Sin City" for a date at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Sprint Cup Series

Camping World RV 400 - Dover International Speedway - Dover, DE

Last Sunday's Sylvania 300 at the New Hampshire International Speedway, the first race in the "Chase," created a surprising shakeup in the championship standings. After dominating the "regular season" with eight victories, top- seed Kyle Busch finished 34th and dropped to eighth place, 74 points behind new leaders Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson. Meanwhile, Greg Biffle snapped a 33-race winless streak with a victory at New Hampshire and moved from ninth to third in the standings.

Now it's on to the one-mile, concrete-surface Dover International Speedway for this weekend's Camping World RV 400.

If Busch is looking to rebound, Dover is the place where he can do it. He has scored five top-five finishes in seven starts at Dover, including a victory there in June.

Biffle has also performed well at Dover lately, finishing 13th or better in the last seven races there. He won there in June 2005.

Biffle, in his second "Chase," was possibly overlooked as a title contender, but after winning at New Hampshire, it's changed everybody's thinking, particularly his.

"I think it inspires me a little bit to want to make a statement, I guess." Biffle said. "I've been thinking about it for quite some time. I just thought about what I need to do for the next 10 weeks. I've thought over and over about it. Just got to get my car right on Friday and Saturday, and drive the best race I can on Sunday. The best man's going to win at the end of the 10 weeks. I just can't wait to go to Dover."

Biffle made the "Chase" for the first time in 2005, finishing just 35 points behind champion Tony Stewart.

Eight of the 12 drivers competing in the "Chase" have won at Dover. Jeff Gordon leads all active, full-time drivers with four victories at "The Monster Mile." Johnson has won there three times, compared to two for Stewart. Biffle, Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Edwards and Matt Kenseth each have one victory at Dover.

Edwards is the defending race winner. He grabbed the lead from Kenseth with 38 laps to go and then held off Biffle at the finish for the victory. Kenseth, who led the most laps with 192, suffered engine failure in the very late stages and ended up finishing 35th. Edwards' car failed post-race inspection after officials found the right rear of his car to be too low. The victory held, but Edwards was docked 25 driver points as part of his team's penalty.

Johnson, the two-time defending series champion, moved into a points tie with Edwards after his second-place finish at New Hampshire. Johnson also shared the points lead with his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Gordon after New Hampshire one year ago.

"I certainly feel good about things," Johnson said. "Last year, I had some fun through it. And this year I hope to expand on that and have more fun. I'm doing what I love, racing against the best drivers in the world. I'm confident in what I can do in the car. I'm confident in my team. I need to have some fun with this. I operate better and my team operates better when we're enjoying ourselves and having some fun. I'm looking forward to it."

Clint Bowyer, last year's surprise title contender, entered his second straight playoffs in the fifth seed. Bowyer picked up his first career Cup victory at New Hampshire one year ago and battled for the championship all the way through the season-ending race at Homestead, finishing the year third in points. He finished 12th at New Hampshire last Sunday, but since eight other "Chase" drivers finished ahead of him, he dropped to ninth in the standings, 83 points out of the lead.

"It was a decent day for the Jack Daniel's Chevrolet but, I'll be honest, I'm disappointed to have finished 12th," Bowyer said. "I think we had a better car than that. Our pit strategy didn't work out as well as we hoped. We'll be better at Dover."

One driver desperately needing a strong run at Dover is Kenseth, who finished 40th at New Hampshire after being involved in an accident in the mid-stages of the race. The 2003 Cup champion remains 12th in the standings, but is now 177 points down. He has scored four top-10 finishes in the last five races at Dover with a victory there in June 2006.

Nationwide Series

Camping World RV Sales 200 - Dover International Speedway - Dover, DE

After taking a week off, the Nationwide Series returns to action on Saturday with the Camping World RV Sales 200 at the Dover International Speedway. Clint Bowyer holds a 207-point lead over second-place Carl Edwards and a 279-point advantage over third-place Brad Keselowski with seven races to go in the season.

Despite only one victory so far this season, which came in March at Bristol, Bowyer has been consistent lately, scoring four-straight top-10 finishes. He dominated Richmond by leading 195 laps but ended up finishing third.

"It was a good points race for the BB&T Chevrolet, but we had a dominant car and I wanted to win," Bowyer said. "Finishing third is a good night but winning would have made it better."

Bowyer gave up the lead to Edwards on Lap 228 when Bowyer's car wiggled, allowing Edwards to pass underneath him.

Edwards has gained some ground on Bowyer in the points race since his setback last month at Bristol, where he crashed in the early stages of the race and spent 83 laps behind the wall for repairs. Edwards ended up finishing 37th and fell 241 points behind Bowyer. Since then, he has finished second at California and won at Richmond.

Edwards won the Nationwide race at Dover in June 2007 and has finished second and sixth in the last two races there.

Earning the nickname "Concrete Carl" after all four of his victories last year came on a concrete-surface, Edwards has yet to win on that type of track in 2008. Bristol, Dover and Nashville are the concrete tracks on the Nationwide circuit.

Bowyer, meanwhile, has recorded four-consecutive top-10 finishes at Dover, including a victory there in September 2006.

Keselowski moved to within 122 points of Bowyer after winning at Bristol but has fallen considerably in points after finishing 33rd at California and 21st at Richmond.

Keselowski finished 24th in his first race at Dover in June 2007 but has finished seventh in his last two races there.

Sprint Cup regular Denny Hamlin has won the last two Nationwide races at Dover, and if he scores the victory in Saturday's race, he will become the first driver to win three in a row there.

Jason Keller will have a new ride starting at Dover. Keller, the all-time starts leader in the series with 450, will make his debut in the No.27 Ford for Baker Curb Racing. He'll finish out the season with the team and then drive for them full-time in 2009.

"I am very thankful that (team owners) Gary Baker and Mike Curb have given me this opportunity," Keller said. "It is also a wonderful opportunity to represent such a first-class company like Kimberly-Clark and their family of brands. Baker Curb Racing has some great guys working on their cars, and I am excited about working with them in 2008 as we build the program for a strong 2009 season."

Keller is 11th in the standings, 32 points behind 10th-place Jason Leffler. His driver points will transfer to his new ride.

Craftsman Truck Series

Qwik Liner Las Vegas 350 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Las Vegas, NV

The championship points battle in the Craftsman Truck Series between Johnny Benson and Ron Hornaday, Jr. continues at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway with Saturday's running of the Qwik Liner Las Vegas 350.

After winning two straight races, Hornaday has moved to within 74 points of Benson. The defending series champion won at New Hampshire days after he admitted to using prescribed testosterone cream in 2004 and 2005 for a serious medical condition. NASCAR officials met with Hornaday last Friday at New Hampshire and cleared him of any wrong-doing.

Hornaday holds the series record for career victories with 38 but has yet to win at Las Vegas.

"I've had some good runs at Las Vegas over the years, and I like the track," Hornaday said. "Its similar to racing at Texas, Atlanta and Charlotte. They all have the same layout. We put together a decent run last year, but had a tire issue late in the race that cost us a good finish. Our mile-and-a-half program has been great this year. I don't see why we cannot have another good run on this type of track."

Hornaday has scored five top-10 finishes in seven races at Las Vegas with his best finish of second coming in 1998, the year he won his second series championship. He finished 22nd in last year's race there.

Benson has finished fourth or better in three of the last four races at Las Vegas. His other finish in the four-race period there was 33rd, which came in 2005. Benson won in July at Kentucky, a track very similar to Las Vegas.

"I'm hopeful we can have the same outcome Saturday night," Benson said. "(Crew Chief) Trip Bruce and the guys on the Exide Batteries Toyota have been working overtime trying to bring trucks to the track that can win."

As of Tuesday evening, just 31 entries were listed for Las Vegas, five short of a complete field. NASCAR veteran John Andretti is among those entered, driving the No.15 Chevrolet for Billy Ballew Motorsports. He has not competed in a truck race since August 2005 at Nashville.

"I'm looking forward to racing at Vegas," Andretti said. "I've raced with Billy Ballew Motorsports back in 2005 and the organization has proven a lot. I can't wait to get back and race in the series. I had a lot of fun when I raced with this team a few years ago, and I think we're going to have a good time in Vegas."

Four of the remaining seven races on the 2008 schedule are on intermediate (1.5-mile) tracks -- Las Vegas, Atlanta, Texas and Homestead.

Las Vegas joined the series in 1996 and has held 11 events. There was no race in 2000. The 1998 season-ending Sams Town 250 decided the closest championship in series history with Jack Sprague winning the race but Hornaday finishing second and clinching the title by only three points. The track was reconfigured in 2006 with banking in all four turns increased from 12 to 20 degrees.