Philadelphia, PA (Best E Casino) - It's a busy week in racing with events in Magny Cours, Milwaukee, Iowa and Sonoma, California. The highlight of the week should be Juan Pablo Montoya trying to defend his Toyota/Save Mart 350 title on Sunday.
NASCAR
Sprint Cup
Toyota/Save Mart 350 - Infineon Raceway - Sonoma, CA
The NASCAR marathon season heads to California for a change of pace - a road course race. It is the first of two such races - the second is scheduled for August 10th in Watkins Glen, NY.
It was just one year ago that Juan Pablo Montoya stunned the NASCAR regulars and "road-course ringers" with his victory at Infineon.
Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick and Montoya were first through third with just 20 laps remaining. Montoya got around Harvick, but McMurray was putting a gap between himself and the Colombian.
Montoya closed in on McMurray with 11 laps to go and tried to pass McMurray in turn 11 with nine laps to go, but he couldn't hold on. He got ahead, but locked up the tires and McMurray re-took the lead. On the next lap, however, Montoya made the pass in turn two and the lead was his.
Montoya was low on fuel as were many others, but he wasn't about to stop and he made it to the checkered flag four seconds ahead of Harvick as McMurray ran out of gas.
Montoya's early success at Infineon and his solid performances elsewhere helped open-wheel drivers to get access into NASCAR. His win certainly sped up the process that brought Dario Franchitti, Sam Hornish Jr., Jacques Villeneuve and Patrick Carpentier to the NASCAR scene.
So far, results have been mixed, but this week at Sonoma should be fun to watch. Franchitti and Carpentier along with "ringers" Ron Fellows, Brandon Ash, Brian Simo, Boris Said and "Mad" Max Papis should give the NASCAR regulars a run for their money.
As always, Jeff Gordon, Robby Gordon, Tony Stewart and Montoya should be among the leaders.
Montoya has struggled a bit in 2008 and is 22nd in points, 276 points out of the final "Chase" position currently held by Clint Bowyer. But this week should be a kick-start to Montoya's effort to make the "playoffs."
Gordon hasn't struggled as much as Montoya, he is ninth in the standings and solidly in the "Chase," but he has yet to visit Victory Lane. Last year at this time he already had four wins and a huge lead in the championship. For Gordon, the Infineon Raceway might be just the venue for victory No.1.
Gordon is the all-time leader in road course wins with nine - five of them at Infineon. He last won there in 2006 and won three straight from 1998-2000. In 15 starts, Gordon has five poles, five wins and 11 top-10s.
The only other active driver with more than one win at Infineon is Stewart. The No.20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver has one pole, two wins and five top-10s in nine starts.
Stewart is 11th in the standings, just 20 points ahead of 13th-place David Ragan, and has yet to taste victory. But Stewart usually heats up just as summer arrives and a look at the calendar says it's just about that time of year. Between 2003-2007 16 of Stewart's 17 wins have come after June 15th.
It should be a great race.
Nationwide
Camping World RV Rental 250 - The Milwaukee Mile - West Allis, WI
While fifth-place Kyle Busch declared himself out of the championship running, the Nationwide Series race still has star power at the top of the charts. Sprint Cup driver Clint Bowyer leads the series with 2,336 points by accumulating a win among 13 top-10s in 16 starts.
Behind Bowyer is rising young star Brad Keselowski in the JR Motorsports No.88 Chevrolet. The Rochester Hills, MI native has put together a string of four consecutive top-seven results, including a win at Nashville, to jump to second place overall.
Behind Keselowski are Sprint Cup drivers David Reutimann and defending champion Carl Edwards. The four drivers should compete all season for the drivers title.
But over the past couple of weeks the spotlight has been on 18-year-old rookie Joey Logano. Logano turned 18 on May 24th at which time he became eligible to drive in the Nationwide Series and in the three races since then has won two poles and posted two top-10s including a record-breaking win last Saturday in Kentucky.
At 18 years, 21 days old, Logano broke NASCAR's record for youngest winner of a Nationwide Series event. The old mark was 18 years, 10 months set in 1999 by Casey Atwood.
Logano has shown that he can handle the pressure despite being so young. He was put in superior equipment, in a race car that had already won six times in 2008, which added even more pressure to the hype that was already surrounding the Middleton, CT native. He responded by finishing sixth in his first start, leading the race in his next start and winning the race in his third outing.
"Three races, two poles, one win. He's okay," said crew chief Dave Rogers in an understatement. Rogers should know, he prepares the No.20 JGR Toyota that has won with Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and now Logano behind the wheel.
For once, the reality has lived up to the hype. Logano is the "real deal" as none other than Mark Martin said over a year ago. He along with Keselowski will likely be driving full-time in the "Cup" Series by 2009.
Craftsman
Camping World RV Rental 200 - The Milwaukee Mile - West Allis, WI
It appears that having the Craftsman Truck Series points lead is not a good thing. The past five points leaders have all fallen out of the top spot after the next race.
Defending Series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. was leading the standings after the sixth race at Charlotte, but Todd Bodine, Rick Crawford, Hornaday Jr. again and this week Johnny Benson have all taken turns leading the points.
What will happen this week in Milwaukee, no one knows, but Benson will try and buck the trend at a track that has been very good to him.
Benson has won the last two races there and racked up some impressive statistics. In the last 400 laps, Benson has been no lower than 15th and has a Driver Rating of 140.6.
In last year's victory, Benson beat Hornaday Jr. by almost one second. Benson led Hornaday Jr. for most of the race, but with seven laps to go Jack Sprague spun to give Hornaday Jr., the "King of Restarts," one last shot at him.
The green flag dropped with four laps to go but, Hornaday Jr. couldn't find a way around Benson. He peeked to the inside - nothing was there. Benson managed to edge out to a five-length lead as they saw the white flag and he held it all the way to the checkered flag for his first victory of 2007 and second consecutive win at the historic Milwaukee Mile.
INDYCARS
Iowa Corn Indy 250 - Iowa Speedway - Newton, IA
The 2008 IndyCar season is looking eerily similar to the 2003 season in which Scott Dixon was a dominant force en route to a title.
Five year's ago, Dixon won three of the first seven races. He has done the same thing this season, winning the opener at Homestead, the Indianapolis 500 and two week's ago in Texas.
At Texas, Dixon started on the pole and led 58 of the 228 laps. He was a contender from the drop of the green flag in the No.9 Target Chip Ganassi car, running in the top-three for the most of the race. Dixon passed Marco Andretti for the lead on lap 222 just before Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay made contact to end the race under caution.
"We just want to win this championship," said the focused points leader. "I'm sorry to see it end under caution, but it's a great way to get some points for this championship."
Thirty-five points behind Dixon in the standings is Helio Castroneves. The Brazilian has seven top-five finishes in seven starts this season, but despite being fourth all-time with 12 victories, has yet to win a race in 2008.
At TMS, Castroneves recovered from an early pit speed violation to finish second.
"We had a great car, a winning car," Castroneves said. "I'm upset because I feel like we had a great chance."
Penske Racing and Penske drivers are rarely satisfied with second place, so expect Castroneves to visit Victory Lane very soon.
Behind Dixon and Castroneves in the standings are Dixon's teammate Dan Wheldon and Andretti Green Racing's Tony Kanaan. While most of the AGR coverage has been about Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti, it is the more consistent Kanaan that is a threat to win a championship. Kanaan has five top-five in the seven races so far.
In last year's inaugural Iowa Corn Indy 250, Dario Franchitti avoided numerous accidents to edge out AGR teammate Andretti. This is the first of six races in six weeks that should give us a clearer view on the championship.
FORMULA ONE
French Grand Prix - Circuit de Nevers - Magny Cours, France
The Formula One points leader doesn't drive a Ferrari. The Formula One points leader doesn't drive a McLaren Mercedes. No to the shock of nearly everyone, the points leader is Poland's Robert Kubica and he drives a BMW Sauber.
The 23-year-old Krakow native posted the first win of his career and the first win for BMW Sauber to grab the championship lead from his more well-known counterparts at Ferrari and McLaren.
But is should not be that big a surprise given the performance of the BMW Sauber this spring. After finishing ninth at the season opener in Australia, Kubica has finished in the top-four in each of the last six races, including four podium finishes and the win in Canada. He also won the pole in Bahrain.
Kubica won in Canada by being fast and being lucky. Lewis Hamilton slammed into Kimi Raikkonen instead of Kubica as they sat side-by-side waiting to leave pit lane.
"I have to thank Lewis that he chose Kimi and not me," said the surprisingly funny points leader.
"I did not expect to be leading the championship after seven races, as our car is not the absolute fastest on the grid," Kubica added. "However, we have total reliability. We've made huge improvements. Added to which, the pit crew have done a great job, as has everybody in the team."
His teammate, veteran Nick Heidfeld, has finished in the points five times including a pair of second-place finishes at Australia and Canada. Together they have accumulated 70 points placing them in second place in the manufacturer's standings.
Despite the great start by BMW Sauber, the favorite to prevail at season's end is still one of the Ferrari drivers. Felipe Massa is just four points back in a tie for second place with Hamilton and the current World Champion, Raikkonen, is in fourth place just seven points behind Kubica.
Raikkonen won last year's race on the high-speed Circuit de Nevers course and Massa finished right behind him as Ferrari dominated in 2007. Massa led most of the race, but after the final round of pit stops it was Raikkonen with a 1.8-second lead which he would never relinquish. Kubica finished fourth behind Hamilton.
The Ferrari comes into this race with more straight-line speed that either McLaren or BMW and barring a mechanical failure or driver error should take the victory. McLaren's Hamilton will be further handicapped by a 10-place grid penalty for the accident in Montreal.
"It's an interesting track because it has all kinds of corners - high-speed, low-speed, high-speed chicanes, a hairpin and heavy braking," said Kubica. "I hope we will again have some improvements on the car that will help us to close the gap to Ferrari and McLaren."
