This Week in Auto Racing September 5 - 6

This Week in Auto Racing September 5 - 6

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - After taking their final week off this season, the Sprint Cup Series resumes at Atlanta Motor Speedway, as two races remain to decide who will be in the "Chase for Sprint Cup" championship. The Nationwide Series will also be at Atlanta, while the Camping World Truck Series runs for the first time at Iowa Speedway.

Sprint Cup Series

Pep Boys Auto 500 - Atlanta Motor Speedway - Hampton, GA

Time is running out for several drivers to qualify for the Chase, which begins September 20 at New Hampshire. Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon have already clinched a spot in this year's 12-driver field.

After winning Bristol, Kyle Busch moved to within 34 points of 12th-place Matt Kenseth. Busch recorded his fourth victory of the season, but his first since May at Richmond. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver had struggled prior to Bristol, scoring just three top-10 finishes since the Richmond spring event.

With Atlanta next up on the schedule, Busch is hoping to continue his momentum at the 1.5-mile track.

"I think my biggest concern is going to be Atlanta, just trying to get through Atlanta with a solid top-10 finish," Busch said. "If we can do that, I think we'll be okay."

Busch has made the Chase the past three seasons. He finished 18th at Atlanta in March.

Since winning the first two races in 2009 -- Daytona and California -- Kenseth has seen his season go into a downward spiral. The Roush Fenway Racing driver has been in the top-12 throughout the season, but making the Chase for the sixth year in a row might elude him.

"You run the best you can every week, and some years and some weeks you have cars that run pretty good and sometimes you don't, and this year the cars just haven't run good," Kenseth said.

Kenseth and Johnson are the only drivers to make the Chase in all five years of the format's existence.

Kasey Kahne took the biggest hit in points after finishing 28th at Bristol. Kahne fell three positions to 11th place. He is now 52 points ahead of Busch.

After finishing a close second to Busch at Bristol, Mark Martin climbed up to 10th in points. Martin and Busch lead the series with four victories each this season.

Earlier this year at Atlanta, Martin started on the pole, but ended up with a 31st-place finish after engine trouble put him behind the wall for several laps.

"I'm sure that we'll run really good at Atlanta, and I'm sure we'll run really good at Richmond," Martin said. "If it comes down to just flat out racing, and not a bunch of cautions and crashes and flat tires, people stay out, rain comes, all that stuff that has happened to us this year, if we can just go out and race for it, it's going to be great."

Richmond on September 12 is the cut-off race for the Chase.

Heading into Atlanta, just 89 points separate seventh-place Ryan Newman from 14th-place Brian Vickers. Clint Bowyer's chances of making the Chase for a third consecutive year took a major blow after finishing 21st at Bristol. Bowyer is now 112 markers behind the 12th spot. Vickers, who leads the series with six poles and gave Red Bull Racing its first win last month at Michigan, sits 39 points in back of Busch.

Presently fifth in points, Carl Edwards likely will qualify for this year's Chase. Edwards, who won last year's fall race at Atlanta, could secure a spot in the playoffs on Sunday night.

"It's one of my best race tracks and one of the tracks I enjoy racing on," Edwards said. "It's the place of my first Cup win, and it will always be a special place for me."

Edwards has yet to win a race this season. He led the series with nine victories last year.

The Labor Day weekend tradition of NASCAR in the Southeast returns in '09, as Atlanta and California exchanged their second race dates for this season. The series will run at California on October 11.

Darlington hosted the Southern 500 the first weekend in September each year from 1959 to 2003. California has held the date for the last five years.

For years, Atlanta hosted the season-ending event for the series, including the 1992 finale that saw Alan Kulwicki clinch the championship by only 10 points over race winner Bill Elliott. Richard Petty competed in his 1,185th and final race, while Jeff Gordon made his series debut at Atlanta that year.

Forty-six teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Pep Boys Auto 500.

Nationwide Series

Degree V12 300 - Atlanta Motor Speedway - Hampton, GA

Carl Edwards' bid for a second Nationwide Series championship is far from over. Edwards won at Montreal and finished second to his Roush Fenway Racing teammate David Ragan at Bristol. He has since trimmed 147 points off of Kyle Busch's lead. Busch has finished 10th and 28th in the last two races.

The series heads to Atlanta with 10 races remaining this season.

Last year, Edwards trailed leader Clint Bowyer by 241 points with 10 to go, but Edwards made a late-season rally and finished just 21 markers behind champion Bowyer.

Can Edwards make another charge for the title?

"We could be leading the points in two weeks, so a lot can happen," Edwards said. "We just have to keep winning races and running well."

Busch now holds a 192 point lead.

Edwards has one victory and three top-10 finishes in four Nationwide races at Atlanta. His first career win in the series came at Atlanta on March 19, 2005. One day later, he notched his first career Cup win there.

"I just really like the race track," he said. "It drives like a half-mile dirt track. The way you drive around, it feels a lot like the tracks I grew up racing on, even though it's completely different. It still gives me that same sense of momentum, so I really like that. Between the surface, tires and car moving around, you have to really drive the car and I enjoy that. That's probably why I run well there."

Busch has finished second and third in two of his last four races at Atlanta. When the series last ran there in March 2008, Busch led a race-high 153 laps, but cut a right-front tire and crashed into wall in the late-stages. He finished a disappointing 24th.

"We've proven that we can lead at this place," Busch said. "The last two times I've been here in the Nationwide car, we've led the most laps and still came up short. I don't know what it is, but this is a fun, fast track, and it's a place where [Joe Gibbs Racing] has been really good at historically."

Mark Martin has the most Nationwide victories at Atlanta with three, followed by Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton with two each. Kenseth won last year's race there, but will not defend his title this weekend.

Forty-eight teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Degree V12 300. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne are among the 15 Sprint Cup regulars expected to compete.

Camping World Truck Series

Lucas Oil 200 - Iowa Speedway - Newton, IA

For the second week in a row, the Camping World Truck Series runs at a racetrack that is a newcomer to the schedule. The series ran at Chicagoland for the first time last Friday.

Ron Hornaday Jr. currently holds a 220-point lead over Matt Crafton. It's a good thing for Hornaday that Kyle Busch is not competing in Saturday night's race at Bristol. Busch has taken the No.51 Billy Ballew Motorsports Toyota to victory lane in the last two truck events. He ended Hornaday's series record five-race winning streak at Bristol.

Brian Ickler will drive the No.51 truck at Iowa.

Iowa is the fifth of six short tracks on the series schedule this year. The Nationwide Series ran at the 0.875-mile track one month ago.

"It looks like Richmond, but every track has its own style," Hornaday said. "From what I understand talking with Kevin [Harvick] and Cale [Gale], who drove the Nationwide car there earlier this year, the track is developing some bumps that you really have to get over in order to have your vehicle handling well."

Hornaday holds the series record for most wins on short tracks. Twenty of his 45 career victories have come on tracks less than one mile in length.

Crafton has also performed well on short tracks this year, finishing fifth at Memphis and second at Bristol. With nine races to go in the season, Crafton is far from giving up on his championship hopes.

"We're definitely still in this thing," Crafton said. "There's a lot of racing left. We've all seen examples of how points can swing one way or another pretty quickly, so there's no reason to think it won't happen for us."

Austin Dillon will make his truck debut at Iowa, as Richard Childress Racing returns to the series for the first time since 1999. Dillon, the grandson of team owner Richard Childress, will drive the No.3 RCR Chevrolet. Mike Skinner drove the No.3 for Childress during the inaugural truck season in 1995. Skinner won the title that year.

"RCR was fortunate enough to win the first race and the first championship in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 1995, with Mike Skinner driving the No.3 Chevrolet, so it's great to see the No.3 truck back on the track," Childress said.

Dillon competed in the Nationwide race at Iowa, finishing 28th. He also has two starts in the NASCAR Camping World Series East and one start in the ARCA Re/Max Series there.

"I couldn't have picked a better race track to make my debut," Dillon said. "I've raced at Iowa Speedway three times this season and feel confident heading back. We think we can be competitive during the race once I get a feel for how the truck handles during the practice sessions. Overall, our goal is to learn as much as we can during the race, earn a solid finish and, more importantly, have fun."

Thirty-six teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Lucas Oil 200, making a full field for the event.