=== This Week in Auto Racing November 3 - November 6 ===
by Steve Schwarz, Motorsports Editor
Philadelphia, PA (Best E Casino) - For the first time in history, the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series will make a second trip to Fort Worth, Texas and it couldn't come at a more exciting time with just three races left in the season and the championship on the line.
NASCAR
Nextel Cup
Dickies 500 - Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, TX
And then there were three. Just three races remain in the 2005 "Chase for the Nextel Cup."
The 10-driver field has also been cut in size, realistically to five teams that have a chance to taste champagne at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. The bottom three drivers - Rusty Wallace (-257), defending champion Kurt Busch (-260) and Jeremy Mayfield (-310) are dead and buried while Roush Racing teammates Mark Martin (-143) and Matt Kenseth (-155) are on life support.
That leaves Ryan Newman (-107), Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 winner Carl Edwards (-107), Greg Biffle (-75), Jimmie Johnson (-43) and points leader Tony Stewart to do battle over the final 913 laps (1213.5 miles).
They will race on two 1.5-mile ovals (Texas, Homestead) where Roush Racing has performed very well in the past and on a one-mile oval in Phoenix.
Stewart, the 2002 Nextel Cup champion, has seven career starts at TMS earning four top-10s. But the No.20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver also has two DNFs (did not finish), including a 31st-place result in April when his Chevrolet blew an engine.
Still, Stewart finished ninth at Atlanta to record his 17th top-10 in the last 19 events.
By contrast, Johnson has four starts and four consecutive top-10s at TMS. He finished third there in the spring. The No.48 Hendrick Motorsports driver has an average finish of 6.50 at TMS, the best of any "Chase" driver.
Biffle won the April event in dominating fashion leading a race-high 219 laps. The No.16 Roush Racing Ford driver really needs to win again this week and would be the fourth consecutive driver to sweep events at one track in the last four events. Johnson (Lowe's), Jeff Gordon (Martinsville) and Edwards (Atlanta) all accomplished the same feat over the last month.
The last time the series saw four or more sweeps in one season was 1985 (five). That season Bill Elliott collected four of them (Pocono, Michigan, Darlington, Atlanta) while legendary Dale Earnhardt won both times at Bristol.
Edwards has just one start at TMS, finishing 19th, but the youngster is brimming with confidence after his win in Atlanta. The former substitute teacher has three top-fives in the last five races.
The forgotten man is Newman, the "Rocketman," who is better known for winning poles than winning races. The South Bend, IN native has now earned 34 poles in 149 starts (22.81% win ratio), by far the best in NASCAR's long and storied history.
But winning races has been much tougher for the No.12 Penske Racing driver. He has 12 career Nextel Cup victories, but eight of them came in 2003. Newman started on the pole in April, but led just one lap all afternoon before finishing a disappointing 16th.
Expect a big effort from Biffle and Edwards as Roush Racing has done so well on 1.5-mile ovals, but with Stewart on such a great roll as well, even winning may not gain them enough points.
It should be a great race.
Busch
O'Reilly Challenge - Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, TX
As in the Nextel Cup Series, just three races remain in the 2005 championship.
Defending Busch Series champion Martin Truex Jr. again leads all drivers, holding a 100-point margin over second place Clint Bowyer and more than 370 points over Carl Edwards, who sits in third place. But no matter what happens this week, Truex Jr. can not clinch his second consecutive title.
While the series took a week off, Truex Jr. did not. The Mayetta, NJ native posted his first career IROC win last Saturday at Atlanta and finished second in the overall series standings behind Mark Martin. He also qualified eighth for last Sunday's Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 Nextel Cup race, before an accident left him in 40th place.
But winning this weekend might be a more difficult task since Ryan Newman will be entered in the Busch event as well as his regular duties in the "Cup" series. Newman will be seeking a record sixth consecutive Busch Series win when he takes the green flag on Saturday.
Newman did not race two weeks ago at Memphis Motorsports Park when Bowyer took the victory to chop 20 points off Truex Jr.'s lead. Truex Jr. won the pole, but it was Bowyer who dominated the race, leading 137 of 250 laps en route to a 0.552-second victory over J.J. Yeley.
When the series last visited TMS in April, Nextel Cup drivers Kasey Kahne and Greg Biffle finished one-two. Bowyer secured a solid sixth-place finish while Truex Jr. did not finish the race after an accident and was posted in 35th- place.
Should lightning strike a second time, the two combatants would enter the final pair of races in a virtual tie.
Craftsman
Silverado 350 - Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, TX
Ted Musgrave is now just three weeks from accomplishing his dream of winning a Craftsman Truck Series championship. After four years of coming close, the Franklin, WI native can almost touch the brass ring.
Musgrave finished second overall in the 2001 championship and third in 2002, 2003, and 2004. The 2003 finish was particularly painful because the title was still up in the air for several minutes after the final checkered flag. NASCAR officials black flagged Musgrave for passing before the final restart with two laps to go.
The race came down to a restart with two laps to go and the three remaining championship contenders (Travis Kvapil, Dennis Setzer and Musgrave) next to each other on the track and within eight points of each other in the standings.
Musgrave tried to jump the start and was in the process of passing Setzer on the inside as the two drivers were crossing the start/finish line. This is against the rules as only passing on the outside of a driver is permitted before the start/finish line. Musgrave was black flagged though he continued to race.
After the race, officials placed Musgrave 14th and he finish the season 18 points behind champion Kvapil.
This time around, Musgrave enters the race at TMS with a 51-point lead over Setzer. He has posted six top-10s in the last seven races to come from more than 200 points down to his current position.
When the series made its first stop in June at Fort Worth, Setzer posted a solid third-place finish while Musgrave could only manage a 14th-place result.
CHAMP CARS
Gran Premio Telmex-Tecate - Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez - Mexico City, Mexico
The Champ Car Series will finish out the 2005 season with an anticlimactic event in Mexico City following Sebastien Bourdais' title winning drive at Surfer's Paradise in Australia.
Bourdais won the Lexmark Indy 300 and clinched his second consecutive Champ Car Series title.
Bourdais was consistent throughout the year posting six wins and 12 top-10s in 12 starts. The Frenchman's worst finish was a sixth in Milwaukee. Over the last two years Bourdais has earned 13 wins and 16 poles in 26 starts. He is the first back-to-back series winner since Gil de Ferran swept to titles in 2000 and 2001.
"It's just a great feeling," Bourdais told a Champ Car teleconference mid week. "I clinched the Championship and to top it off with a win is always good...The goal for next year is simple; become the second driver to win three crowns in a row (Ted Horn 1946-1948).
Bourdais won last year's season finale, beating then teammate Bruno Junqueira by 4.604 seconds.
As the Frenchman reached the mid-point of the 63-lap event, his lead was more than 16 seconds. But it was evidently too easy for Bourdais and on lap 41, with no one around him, he spun in turn 14.
Bourdais managed to keep his engine running, miss the outside retaining wall and return to the track with his lead still intact. But the margin was down to just 5.287 seconds.
Bourdais remained calm and rebuilt his lead to 10 seconds in a matter of seven laps. He then relaxed and cruised to the checkered flag and his first Vanderbilt Cup.
