This Week in Auto Racing April 25 - April 27

NASCAR

If ever Jeff Gordon is going to kick-start his 2008 season, he's at the right place - Talladega. The four-time series champion swept both events on the 2.66-mile superspeedway in 2007 and has a total of six wins at the track. That number is tops for active drivers and second all-time to Dale Earnhardt.

Gordon currently sits 13th in the standings, eight points from qualifying for the "Chase for the Sprint Cup." The No.24 Dupont Chevrolet driver has just three top-10s in the first eight races compared to 2007 when he collected seven in the first eight events.

In 2007 Gordon finished every lap of the first eight races versus this year where he has come up 235 laps short. His three DNFs are already two more than in all 36 races last year.

But now the Sprint Cup Series comes to Talladega where Gordon is the current "king."

If not for the current Gordon domination, the Talladega Superspeedway would be known as "Earnhardt's House." The Intimidator" owned the 2.66-mile track winning 10 times and son Dale Earnhardt Jr. is third on the all-time wins list with five.

All five of "Junior's" wins were with DEI, but in his first year with Hendrick Motorsports Earnhardt Jr. has been good, not great. He stands third in the points, 86 behind leader Jeff Burton and just six points behind second place Kyle Busch.

The No.88 Chevrolet driver won twice this year, but neither was an official event (Budweiser Shootout, Gatorade Duel at Daytona). Still it showed right from the beginning that the combination was going to work. Since the season began, Earnhardt Jr. has run up front for most of the year, but hasn't been able to crack the winner's circle. His winless streak is currently at 70. Despite no wins, his six top-10s is tied with Burton for the series high.

Burton has been Mr. Consistency, with one win (Bristol), six top-10s and no finish worse than 13th.

Then there is Kyle Busch, who has been unbelievable in whatever he has driven this year. Busch has three consecutive wins in the Nationwide Series and sits third in that championship despite being a part-time driver. He is leading the Craftsman Truck Series, having won two of the four races and is second in the "main event" the Sprint Cup Series.

But Talladega has not been good to Busch. In six starts Busch has a best finish of 11th in October 2006, which was his only finish better than 32nd.

As always in a restrictor-plate event, this race will be about putting your car in the right place at the right moment to take advantage of an opening.

That's how Ryan Newman was the last restrictor-plate event - the 2008 Daytona 500. he was sitting behind Tony Stewart and had his Penske teammate Kurt Busch right behind him. When Stewart ducked to the bottom of the track in hopes of hooking up with his JGR teammate Kyle Busch, Newman had a clear shot at the lead and help already behind him. It was no contest as he and Busch powered their way to a one-two finish.

Expect another last-lap lead change to determine the Aaron's 499 winner.

Nationwide

Aaron's 312 - Talladega Superspeedway - Talladega, AL

Should Kyle Busch choose to run full-time in the nationwide Series, he will become the third man in a three-man race for the championship.

After winning his third straight race, this one on the road course in Mexico City, Busch has pulled to within 66 points of series leader Clint Bowyer. "Rowdy" Busch could easily have notched six Nationwide wins in 2008. Busch and Tony Stewart were the two fastest cars in the season opener at Daytona and the veteran Stewart edged his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate. At Atlanta, Busch led 153 laps and was the best on the track but with 25 laps to go Busch's right-front tire went flat causing him to crash into the first-turn wall to ruin another great performance. In Nashville, Busch led 125 laps when he spun his Toyota.

Busch will try for a record tying fourth straight win, matching Sam Ard's streak which he established in 1983.

But in the Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series it is consistency that wins championship, not flashes of brilliance. There is no "Chase" in either series, therefore staying away from the bad finishes is the way to win it all.

And that's how Bowyer has engineered his lead in the series. Bowyer has won just once, but collected seven top-10s and finished lower than 20th just one time - a 25th-place result in Daytona.

Carl Edwards has used a similar method to get to second in the standings. Without a win, his six top-10s and a finish no lower 14th has him just nine points behind Bowyer.

Any of these three drivers can win on a given weekend which sets up fun Saturdays throughout the season. This week should be no exception.

Craftsman

O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 - Kansas Speedway - Kansas City, KS

With his scheduled filled to the brim, Craftsman Truck Series points leader Kyle Busch will be forced to skip this week's truck event at the Kansas Speedway.

"With Kyle's schedule at Joe Gibbs Racing this weekend, there was no way he could make the race in Kansas," owner Billy Ballew said. "We looked at all the scenarios but it just wasn't feasible."

Driving the No.51 Billy Ballew Toyota will be Shane Sieg, who has a high standard to maintain. Busch leads the series with 645 points in four races, two of which he won and he came in third in another.

"It's a great opportunity to get back behind the wheel," Sieg said. "I know I have big shoes to fill but I just want to bring a good finish home to keep Billy as the team owner point leader."

Todd Bodine is ready to take advantage of Busch's absence and by earning just 36 points can take over sole possession of first place in the standings. Of course he must also stay ahead of defending series champion Ron Hornaday Jr., who is just 30 points behind Bodine, Dennis Setzer, who is just 32 points back and Rick Crawford who is 34 markers behind.

Erik Darnell won last year's race, his first, beating second-place Crawford by a whopping 10.440 seconds. The race was never in doubt for Darnell who led by eight seconds with 24 laps to go and maintained the huge margin over the remainder of the race. Darnell will be back to defend his title.

INDYCARS

Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 - Kansas Speedway - Kansas City, KS

Helio Castroneves might be the least-interviewed series points leader this week. What with "media darling" Danica Patrick winning last weekend in Japan, the talk in open-wheel racing is about her, 19-year-old Graham Rahal's win in St. Petersburg or the finally ended feud between the IndyCar Series and the Champ Car Series.

The two series "split" for the final time as both the Twin Ring Motegi and city of Long Beach hosted events on the same weekend.

After a 22-hour rain delay, the race in Japan turned out to be one of historic proportions as Patrick became the first woman to win an major open-wheel race.

Patrick was nowhere near the top early on, but Castroneves, Patrick and Ed Carpenter topped off their fuel tanks just after a Roger Yasukawa spin on lap 142. They hoped by getting a few caution flag laps, and via fuel conservation, to have enough fuel to reach the checkered flag.

The strategy worked and on lap 197 of 200, Patrick sailed around Castroneves for the lead. She saw the white flag with a three-second lead. Patrick charged into Turn 3 and came out of Turn 4 with the engine still going strong and made history.

"Dreams really do come true," Patrick said. "You just have to be persistent enough."

The following day, Sunday, Will Power took control on the streets of Long Beach to end the Champ Car Series era with a solid win. Drivers in both races earned IndyCar points.

Now its on to Kansas where the drivers will reunite and race together for the rest of the season.

Castroneves, with three top-fives in three starts, owns a 12-point lead over Scott Dixon. Dixon won the season opener in Homestead and finished third last week in Japan, but a 22nd-place finish on the streets of St. Petersburg (mechanical problems) is the reason he isn't at the top of the charts.

Behind Castroneves and Dixon is Patrick - 14 points back. She has finally got the "800-pound gorilla off her back" and can go racing each week without having to answer the question "When will you win a race?"

Of course, it shouldn't be too long before we hear the question - When will you win Indy?

But that probably won't start until after this week's race when all eyes will turn to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Don't overlook Dan Wheldon, the 2005 Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar Series winner. He is just 27 points back and is the defending Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 champion. Wheldon dominated the race leading 177 of 200 laps en route to a whopping 18.4830 victory.

FORMULA ONE

Spanish Grand Prix - Circuit de Catalunya - Barcelona, Spain

It's been three weeks since the Formula One Series took to the track and when we last left them it was beginning to look like Ferrari was ready to "take over."

Ferrari's Felipe Massa was way too strong for anyone in Bahrain and his teammate Kimi Raikkonen won in Malaysia before that.

For Massa it was a huge race with rumors floating around that the team might already be looking for a new driver (Fernando Alonso?) after his failure to finish either of the first two events. But Massa responded with a great race. He started second behind BMW's Robert Kubica, but beat the Polish driver to the first turn.

"Starting second didn't change anything because I had a good start," said Massa, who was fastest for most of qualifying, but started second on the grid.

After the first round of pit stops, Massa's lead was more than five seconds. In Malaysia his driver error cost him and his Ferrari team a points finish, but in Bahrain, the Brazilian was perfect and easily collected the win. The badly needed 10 points jumped Massa to sixth in the championship, nine points behind his teammate.

Between Massa and Raikkonen are four drivers, both BMW entries and two from McLaren.

Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica have been solid over the first three events, posting five points-scoring results and helping their team lead the manufacturer's championship by one point.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton won the season opener in Australia, but has been less than spectacular since. His teammate, Heikki Kovalainen has three top-five finished and has been one of the big surprises this season along with BMW's performances.

Now its on to Barcelona, where Massa is the defending champion as he beat Hamilton in the 2007 race by more than six seconds.

With three weeks since the last race, the teams have spent a lot of time testing and tweaking their cars.

"Looking into the next race I feel very confident we can do a better job," said Hamilton. "The car is feeling better and I feel a little bit more comfortable in it."

It should be interesting to see who has made the most improvements during the break. With three races in the next five weeks the championship picture should become much clearer.