News

This Week in Auto Racing September 21 - September 23

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - It's round two of NASCAR's "Chase for the Nextel Cup" as racing in Dover dominates a light racing weekend.

NASCAR

Nextel Cup

Dodge Dealers 400 - Dover International Speedway - Dover, DE

After Clint Bowyer grabbed his first career "Cup" win in dominating fashion at the New Hampshire International Speedway, the series heads 350 miles south to Dover, DE for round No.2 of the 10-race "Chase for the Nextel Cup."

The win jumped the second-year driver from 12th place to fourth in the "Chase" standings behind only four-time champion Nextel Cup Jeff Gordon, defending series champion Jimmie Johnson and two-time Nextel Cup champion Tony Stewart. That's pretty heady company for the 28-year-old Emporia, KS native.

Bowyer headed a group of seven "Chase" drivers who earned top-10s in the first race. Nine of the "Chase" drivers were in the top-15.

The three drivers who fell back in the "Chase" opener were: Kevin Harvick (17th), Jeff Burton (18th) and Kurt Busch (25th). But even those results were not as bad as Johnson's 39th-place finish in last year's first race at NHIS and Johnson rebounded to win his first title.

In the three years that the "Chase" as been in existence, the results have shown that there is no one absolute method to winning the championship.

In 2004 Busch won with consistency posting nine top-10s in 10 races. The following year Stewart won with just seven top-10s, but no finish worse than 25th. Last year Johnson started the "Chase" finishing 39th, 13th, 14th and 24th before going "crazy" - finishing first or second in five consecutive races. A ninth-place finish at Homestead sealed Johnson's Nextel Cup championship.

The championship still goes through Hendrick Motorsports and Johnson. His sixth-place finish at NHIS left him in a tie for the lead with teammate Gordon. The No.48 Lowe's Chevrolet driver has been in the top-10 for 25 weeks and Gordon has been either first or second for 25 of the 27 weeks.

Sunday's Dodge Dealers 400 will be another "Car of Tomorrow" race and Hendrick Motorsports cars have won six of the 12 previous races with the new car. Gordon won at Phoenix and Darlington, Johnson at Martinsville and Richmond (twice) and Kyle Busch won at Bristol.

But when the series was last at Dover, it was Martin Truex Jr. with the victory. Since earning his first career Nextel Cup victory in early June, Truex Jr. has reeled off seven top-10 finishes in his last 14 starts. A fifth- place result at NHIS jumped the Mayetta, NJ native, who considers the Dover track his "home track," to sixth in the championship.

"We needed a good race to start off the Chase and we got it," said Truex Jr. on his team's website. "You definitely don't want to dig yourself into a hole the first race. I'm really proud of all the guys. Now we can go to Dover with some momentum."

He has momentum in the form of confidence after crushing the field in the Autism 400, winning by a whopping 7.355 seconds. At the mid-point of the race, Truex Jr. was beginning to run away with it. He was already more than four seconds ahead of Carl Edwards and six seconds over eventual second-place finisher Ryan Newman. Truex Jr.'s torrid pace left just 13 cars on the lead lap as they passed the 250-lap mark. The race came down to three drivers as the laps dwindled down. Truex Jr. led Johnson by 2.569-second with 25 laps to go, but Johnson blew a right-side tire trying to keep up with the No.1 DEI Chevrolet and Newman was too far back to challenge for the win.

The victory, and the confidence that the win brings to a team, will make Truex Jr. a huge threat this weekend.

Busch

RoadLoans.com 200 - Dover International Speedway - Dover, DE

While the "Chase for the Nextel Cup" shows six drivers within 40 points at the top of the charts, in the Busch Series there is no such "race."

The Busch Series uses the "old" scoring system in which points are accumulated over the entire season. Unfortunately, that means that in some years the championship sees a driver run away and hide from the competition. In 2006 Kevin Harvick beat Carl Edwards by a record 824 points. This season is more of the same with Edwards holding a 733-point edge over Harvick and David Reutimann. If Edwards can expand the lead to 806 points over the next two events, he can clinch the title just by showing up the rest of the way.

But still, there are seven more races to be run and won. And racers like to win no matter whether they are out of the championship or not.

The last time the series was at Dover, Edwards led 122 of 200 laps and edged Denny Hamlin for the win.

With 17 laps remaining Matt Kenseth led the field to the restart. Kenseth received heavy pressure from Edwards, who was running on fresher tires. Fourteen laps to go and Edwards took the inside lane to take over the lead while Kenseth fell all the way to fourth. The 10th caution flag came out with 10 laps remaining when Brad Keselowski crashed. With only five laps left in the race Edwards led Hamlin, Scott Wimmer, Kenseth and Casey Mears to the restart. The No.60 Ford pulled away as Hamlin, Wimmer and Mears battled for second. After seeing the white flag Edwards had comfortable lead when some back markers crashed to bring out final caution flag of the day. Edwards crossed the finish line under the caution flag for the win.

Craftsman

Smith's Las Vegas 350 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Las Vegas, NV

The truck series doesn't need to artificially create a close race like the Nextel Cup Series. That's because Ron Hornaday Jr. and Mike Skinner have both been spectacular in 2007 and the result is a great championship race.

Skinner led for most of the season, but Hornaday Jr. never let up and two races ago took over the top spot in the standings. He had a four-point edge heading into last week's race in New Hampshire.

On the 1.058-mile NHIS oval Hornaday Jr. put on a "show" leading 174 of 200 laps en route to the victory. The win gave the No.33 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet driver a 29-point margin over Skinner heading into this week's race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"It's just awesome to get this truck to do what it's done," said Hornaday Jr. "We've finished second three times in this truck, and now we've finally won one. This truck was unbelievable."

"We just flat out got our butts whipped today," Skinner said. "Ronnie put on a clinic."

The race at LVMS is the first of four events at a 1.5-mile oval over the final seven races. Skinner won at LVMS last fall and also won the last time the series was on a 1.5 track at Kentucky. But Hornaday Jr. can argue that he is pretty good on 1.5-mile ovals too, with wins at Lowe's, Atlanta and Homestead.

Both drivers have won four times this year. Skinner leads in poles (9), driver rating (120.4), winnings ($585,600), laps led (956) and top-five (14). Hornaday Jr. leads in points (2,964), and top-10s (17). At LVMS Hornaday Jr. has earned four top-fives in six starts.

It should be another great showdown between the two competitors.

"If we don't do it, Skinner will, so we've got to go out there and try to dominate and lead as many laps as we can," said Hornaday Jr.

There are also two open-wheel drivers making their debut at LVMS. Former Formula One driver Jacques Villeneuve is scheduled to get behind the wheel of the No.27 Toyota and former IRL driver Buddy Lazier will pilot the No.15 Chevrolet.

"IROC really was an eye-opener for me into the world of stock car racing," said Lazier. "It was probably the most fun racing experience for me in my 20 years of professional motorsports. I look forward to a good start and finish and see what develops from there."

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