This Week in Auto Racing March 28 - March 30

Posted: Tue Mar 25 1:34 PM

By Steve Schwarz, Motorsports Editor

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - The Sprint Cup Series returns to the track after a week off, but the most interesting event of the weekend should be the first race of the IndyCar Series after the off-season unification of CART and the IRL.

NASCAR

Sprint Cup

Goody's Cool Orange 500 - Martinsville Speedway - Martinsville, VA

It will be the second consecutive short track race for the Sprint Cup Series and a great place for floundering Hendrick Motorsports, the dominant force in 2007, to get back to its former level.

Last year's Goody's Cool Orange 500 was an all-Hendrick affair with Jimmie Johnson edging teammate Jeff Gordon for the win. Former HMS driver Kyle Busch finished fourth. In the October event at the 0.526-mile flat track, Johnson won again, beating Ryan Newman, Gordon and Busch to the checkered flag.

But 2008 has been a completely different start for HMS with Johnson and Gordon struggling out of the gate. After five races in 2007, Gordon held a 28-point lead in the championship with Johnson in third place. This year, Johnson is 13th in the standings and the 2007 Sprint Cup champion has just one top-five in the first five events. Gordon is 14th overall with two top-fives, but two DNFs (did not finish), more than he had in 36 events in 2007.

In his first year with HMS, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is leading the team. Replacing Busch who had found a home at Joe Gibbs Racing, "Junior" has been solid, although not spectacular. The No.88 Chevy has earned four top-10s while leading a total of 91 laps.

That's a far cry from Busch, the points leader, who has led at least seven laps in every race and a total of 336 laps. The No.18 JGR Toyota driver holds a 30-point edge over rejuvenated Greg Biffle, 33 points over Kevin Harvick and 37 over Jeff Burton.

But at Martinsville, Hendrick Motorsports has won four of the last five events. Gordon has a stunning record there with six poles, seven wins and 24 top-10s in 30 starts. Johnson is just as good, if not better with one pole, four wins and 11 top-10s in 12 starts.

So if HMS is going to get back to their 2007 form, Martinsville is the perfect spot for them to start.

However, it might not be possible for HMS to return to the dominant form of 2007. Last year it seemed that HMS was ready for the introduction of the COT (Car of Tomorrow), while the other teams were not as well prepared. That definitely changed in the off-season. Roush Racing, who admitted they didn't do the work on the COT in 2007, put in long hours testing over the winter and was obviously ready for this new year.

Carl Edwards, who did a lot of the testing, has been rewarded with two wins (California, Las Vegas) and the Roush Racing team as a whole has rebounded well. Biffle is second overall with four top-10s, Edwards would be a top-10 team if not for a 100-point penalty and perennial "Chaser" Matt Kenseth is in line for another championship run sitting 11th in the standings.

Meanwhile, Richard Childress Racing has all three of its drivers sitting comfortably in the top-10. Harvick is third overall with Burton in fourth and Clint Bowyer in ninth place.

The first five races of 2008 has shown balance among the manufacturers as well. All four automakers have visited Victory Lane. Dodge took the big one - Daytona behind Ryan Newman, Ford has the two wins from Edwards, Burton won in a Chevrolet and Toyota won for the first time ever - in Atlanta with Busch.

Perhaps no team will dominate in 2008.

That would make the race to make the "Chase" a wild scramble among maybe 20 drivers and fun to watch. The first test in that hypothesis will be Sunday at Martinsville. If HMS doesn't take control, then maybe we will have a wide-open championship unlike any we have had in a long time.

Craftsman

Kroger 250 - Martinsville Speedway - Martinsville, VA

After three events in NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series, it should be renamed the "Kyle Busch Series."

Busch has been masterful against the combination of veterans and rookies which make up the truck races. Busch finished second to Todd Bodine in the season opener, then has won back-to-back events in California and Atlanta. "Rowdy" is scheduled to race again this week so more of the same is expected in Martinsville.

But if Busch doesn't dominate, there are plenty of other drivers, mainly veterans ready to challenge.

Last year, Mike Skinner won both Martinsville races. He edged Bodine in the first race and beat Jack Sprague to the checkered flag in the second. No driver has ever won three in a row at a Craftsman Series short track. Dennis Setzer won at Martinsville in 2002 and 2003, but finished second the next year. Twice before (at Mesa Marin and O'Reilly Raceway Park), Skinner has had back-to-back wins on a short track, but failed in his bid for three straight.

Ron Hornaday Jr., the defending series champion, is also pretty good on short tracks. Two times in his career he has won back-to-back on short tracks (Bristol and Louisville) but he too came up short in an attempt to "Three- Peat."

Hornaday Jr. is third in the standings. After a bad start in Daytona (25th) the defending champion has returned to form with a fifth in California and a second place in Atlanta. Veterans Bodine and Johnny Benson are also threats to win the race.

There are also a couple of newcomers in the truck series top-10. Chad McCumbee is fourth overall and Phillip McGilton is in 10th place.

If you are looking for a new face to watch, try Chrissy Wallace. If the last name sounds familiar, it should. Chrissy is the 19-year-old daughter of Mike Wallace. In 2007 she was the first female driver to win a late model stock car race at historic Hickory Motor Speedway. Should she qualify for the race, she will become the ninth female to compete in the truck series. Chrissy will drive for Germain Racing in the No.03 Toyota.

"Obviously, this is a big opportunity for me," said Chrissy Wallace. "I have to thank the Germains, Mike Hillman and Toyota for putting this deal together. Our goal is to go out there and run a smart race and finish."

Father Mike, a four-time winner in the truck series, will spot for his daughter.

INDYCARS

GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300 - Homestead-Miami Speedway - Homestead, FL

It's been an interesting off-season in American open-wheel racing. Every year it seemed that we would hear stories of unification of the CART and IndyCar Series, but this year it final came to pass.

In February the two became one...well almost.

Following the first two events of the 2008 IndyCar season the drivers will split up with half racing in Motegi, Japan and half racing in Long Beach, CA. Both events will earn championship points.

But what the unification has done is make for a full IndyCar field for the first time in years. It appears as if up to 26 cars might start the season opener in Homestead.

Despite the defections of 2008 IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti and three-time series champion Sam Hornish Jr. to NASCAR, there is still plenty of talent left in the series.

Two-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves is still racing here as are IndyCar Series champions Tony Kanaan, Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon. Kanaan earned a series-high five victories in 2007.

"I'm confident that the last five years I've been in the championship hunt until the last race, so I'm not expecting any less," said Kanaan on the IndyCar website. "I'm fully aware that we're going to have more teams, more cars, more good teams, and the competition is probably going to get even higher."

Wheldon has won the season opener the last three years, but hasn't won the championship since 2005.

"The latter part of the season just didn't fall our way," said Wheldon of his 2007 season. "From a car standpoint, we didn't always have the best one over a race distance. From a driving standpoint, I made a couple of mistakes."

There are veteran CART drivers Justin Wilson, Bruno Junqueira, Graham Rahal and Oriol Servia although four-time series champion Sebastien Bourdais found a ride in Formula One.

"I think for us (former CART drivers) it's going to be tough, especially these first couple of races," said Graham Rahal, son of 1986 Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal. "Especially on the ovals for myself, because I've only ever done one before."

Danica Patrick is still here and desperately seeking the win that has eluded her. And of course there is still an Andretti (Marco) and a Foyt (A.J.IV) in the series.

Andretti came into the series with much fanfare and immediate success. In 2006, his first year, he finished seventh overall and won a race - at Sonoma. But his sophomore campaign was much more difficult and although he collected six top-fives, he couldn't find his way back to Victory Lane.

"The first approach is you forget about last year. Everything that happened, a lot of it was out of my hands -- some of it being my mistake, but it was bad luck," said Andretti.

"I can tell you Marco Andretti is on a mission this year," he continued. "I'm going for a championship. That's what we're racing for. I think it's realistic."

The unique combination of drivers, who haven't raced much together, should make for the most interesting race of the weekend.