This week marks the final open week of the season for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, before a consecutive 12-race/three-month stretch that will determine the 2010 champion and include the “Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup” contested over the season’s last 10 races.
The NASCAR Nationwide Series, meanwhile, has one of its marquee events on tap – Sunday’s NAPA Auto Parts 200 Presented By Dodge at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. The GRAND-Am Rolex Sports Car Series will also be in Montreal, for Saturday’s Montreal 200.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads to Chicagoland Speedway for Friday night’s Chicagoland 225.
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
Kyle Busch Basking In Spotlight, after Historical Weekend His tripleheader sweep is barely in the rear-view mirror, but it’s now time for Kyle Busch to look ahead. Winning all three national series races this past week at Bristol only underscored what we already knew – Busch is a legitimate contender for the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup championship. When racing resumes next weekend at Atlanta, Busch will come in third in the series standings. Obviously a cinch to make the Chase, Busch also has 30 bonus points locked away to start the Chase.
More On Those Bonus Points – They’re Crucial To Championship Chances Prior to the Chase, the 12 drivers who qualify have their point totals re-set to 5,000, whereupon 10 bonus points are tacked on for each pre-Chase race win. Those adjusted point totals establish Chase seedings. Right now, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin have the prospective top two seeds locked up via five wins apiece, which would give them Chase starting totals of 5,050. After that come Kevin Harvick and Busch with three wins apiece and potential starting totals of 5,030. Two races remain until the Chase begins. Twenty more bonus points are there to be had.
On The Bubble: McMurray Closing In On 12th Jamie McMurray, who has won two of the season’s biggest races – the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 – is surprisingly outside the top 12 in points. But he’s 13th – only 100 points behind 12th-place Clint Bowyer.
Atlanta Celebrating 50th Anniversary Season Atlanta Motor Speedway, site of the next NASCAR Sprint Cup event, on the evening of Sunday, Sept. 5, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. AMS’s first year of hosting NASCAR events was 1960. The track had two races that year, won by Fireball Roberts and Bobby Johns.
NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES
Bonjour, Montreal
It’s on to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the final road-course race of the season and the second-to-last stand-alone event of the year for the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Sunday’s NAPA Auto Parts 200 is one of the most anticipated races of the series season for obvious reasons: Exciting racing on the historic 14-turn, 2.710-mile track on the unique, man-made Ile Notre-Dame, the tremendous fan turnout, the European feel of the Montreal and what the series has become famous for – racing in the rain. Rain has been the headliner during the last two races there. The 2008 race was the first points race in NASCAR national series history in the rain. Last year, teams learned the nuances of preparing for and competing in the rain, then getting back to dry-condition racing during the same event.
The racing has been some of the best – and most bizarre – in each of the last three seasons. Kevin Harvick won the inaugural event in 2007, one in which Robby Gordon – who’s back this year for the first time since that event – thought he had won after he and Marcos Ambrose took turns spinning each other on the final lap. In 2008, Canadian Ron Fellows won the first “rain race.” Last year, Carl Edwards spoiled a dominating run by Ambrose, passing him on the final turn of the last lap to win. Ambrose has vowed to “Run this thing until I win it.” He’s led 124 of 199 total laps over the three races at Montreal but has yet to win. This also is the road-course rubber match between Edwards and Ambrose this year. Both posted perfect 150.0 Driver Ratings in the previous two road courses this year – Edwards in his win at Road America and Ambrose with his victory at Watkins Glen.
Open Week For NASCAR Sprint Cup Puts Focus On Montreal
There will be plenty of star power again this year in Montreal. In addition to eight double-duty drivers, led by NASCAR Nationwide Series standings leader Brad Keselowski, the list of road-course aces and home-standing Canadians puts an exclamation point on the entry list.
The last two winners are in the field, Ron Fellows (2008) and Carl Edwards (2009). Fellows is among a contingent of Canadians who are entered. Patrick Carpentier won the inaugural pole in 2007; Jacques Villeneuve, the former F1 champion and Indy 500 winner, returns to the track that bears his father’s name and young standouts Andrew Ranger and JR Fitzpatrick, both of whom have won at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1. Ranger, who finished third in this race last year, is a two-time NASCAR Canadian Tire Series champion.
Other international stars also will take the stage. Marcos Ambrose (Australia) is again a strong favorite as is Max Papis (Italy), who will be driving the No. 33 Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick Inc. Harvick won the inaugural race in 2007. Victor Gonzalez Jr. (Puerto Rico) made his series debut last year at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, the first Puerto Rican to start a NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
A couple of other noteworthy names are Paulie Harraka and Tomy Drissi. Harraka, 20, will make his national series debut at Montreal driving for NEMCO Motorsports. Former series champion Joe Nemechek has a history of putting young drivers in his cars. Harraka posted the first wins for NASCAR’S Drive for Diversity program in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series last year and has one win and five top fives after nine races in that series this year. Also Tomy Drissi, the defending Trans-Am Series champion from Hollywood, Calif., will try for his series debut driving for MacDonald Motorsports . Team owner Randy MacDonald is a native of Oshawa, Ontario.
Aces Don’t Necessarily Mean Winning Road-Course Hand
Although Marcos Ambrose, a veteran of road-course racing before his full-time entry into NASCAR’s national series in 2006, has won at Watkins Glen the last three seasons, “ringers” haven’t been dominant in NASCAR Nationwide road-course events recently.
Since 2005, when the series returned to racing at least twice per season on road courses, only “aces” Ambrose, Juan Pablo Montoya (Mexico City 2007) and Ron Fellows (Montreal, 2008) have victories. Otherwise, career stock-car drivers have been adept at left and right turns.
Two-time series champion Martin Truex Jr. won the inaugural race at Mexico City in 2005, followed by Denny Hamlin (2006). Kevin Harvick won the inaugural race in Montreal (2007) and Carl Edwards won there last year. Ryan Newman (2005) Kurt Busch (2006) and Harvick (2007) won at The Glen before Ambrose’s wins over the last three years.
Brad Keselowski is one of the best road-course racers among series regulars. After finishing last – 43rd – in his first series road-course race at Mexico City in 2007, Keselowski’s average finish in the 12 road races since is 6.9, including consecutive career-best fourth-place efforts at Road America and Watkins Glen earlier this summer. He was fifth last year in Montreal.
NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES
Busch On A Roll; Next Up The Windy City Kyle Busch’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win last week at Bristol kicked off his weekend sweep – becoming the only driver in history to score a victory in all three national series in the same weekend. While the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series takes its last open weekend of the season Busch will attempt to win his fourth national series race in a row at Chicagoland Speedway. Busch won last year’s inaugural EnjoyIllinois.com 225 and led the most laps. Four drivers (Todd Bodine, Timothy Peters, Johnny Sauter and Aric Almirola) currently in the top-10 in the series standings finished in the top-10 last year at Chicago.
Top-5 Finishers Still Up For Debate Despite a 211 point lead at the top- the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship battle continues to tighten up for the top five finishers. Aric Almirola has been chasing Todd Bodine for the top spot since Charlotte in May, but he better watch out for Timothy Peters who is only 39 points out of third. Interestingly enough, the same goes for Peters who only has a 38 point lead over fourth place contender Johnny Sauter. Defending series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. is only 35 points out of fourth, but has only a 32 point cushion over sixth place Matt Crafton. However, the tightest battle is between Crafton and rookie stand-out Austin Dillon who is only six points back from Crafton. Nine races to go in the season. Plenty of points still up for grabs.
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