This Week in Auto Racing July 22 - 24

This Week in Auto Racing July 22 - 24

Lebanon, TN (Sports Network) - While the Sprint Cup Series takes a break this weekend, the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series compete at Nashville Superspeedway. The IZOD IndyCar Series is in Canada for its second race in a row with the Honda Indy Edmonton, and Formula One heads to the Nurburgring for the German Grand Prix.

Nationwide Series

Federated Auto Parts 300 - Nashville Superspeedway - Lebanon, TN

As the Sprint Cup Series takes a week off, the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series run at Nashville Superspeedway for the second time this season. Nationwide and trucks competed at Nashville in April.

Last Saturday, Kyle Busch became just the third driver to win 100 NASCAR races by taking the checkered flag for the Nationwide event at New Hampshire. He joined Richard Petty and David Pearson as the only drivers with 100 or more wins in NASCAR.

Busch's win column includes 22 in Sprint Cup, 29 in trucks and 49 Nationwide, which placed him in a tie with Mark Martin for most career victories in that series.

"We're halfway to my number," Busch said. "I always said it's 200, and whether it's relative to Richard [Petty] or to David Pearson, that's not what I'm out here for. It's for myself and myself only and to be able to achieve a goal. You set your goals high and you try to get out there and do it. If I set a goal that I knew I could reach, then it wouldn't really be a goal. It's off in the horizon, it's a few years down the road, but hopefully one day we get to 200."

Win No.101 won't be until at least next week in Indianapolis. Busch is not competing at Nashville.

Drew Herring is scheduled to drive the No.18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing in Saturday's 300-mile Nationwide race. Herring started on the pole and finished 12th in the May 22 event at Iowa, driving the No.20 car for JGR.

Josh Richards will be behind the wheel of Busch's No.18 truck on Friday at Nashville. Richards made his truck debut earlier this month at Kentucky, starting 24th and finishing 29th in the No.15 Toyota for owner Billy Ballew.

Despite a 12th-place finish at New Hampshire, Elliott Sadler slightly padded his lead in the series point standings. Sadler holds a seven-point advantage over Reed Sorenson, who placed 15th.

Sorenson's first Nationwide win came at Nashville in 2005. Sadler competed at this track for the first time in April, finishing 13th.

"We're looking forward to going back this weekend and running a lot better than we did the first time," Sadler said. "It was a great wake-up call to our race team. We are definitely prepared and better understand what we want out of these cars than we were the first time going to Nashville. That was my first time racing at night at that track."

Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards are the only Sprint Cup regulars competing in this race. Keselowski is the defending race winner. Edwards won here earlier this year.

Forty-five teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Federated Auto Parts 300.

Camping World Truck Series

Lucas Deep Clean 200 - Nashville Superspeedway - Lebanon, TN

Matt Crafton's season rebounded in a big way with a victory in last Saturday's race at Iowa Speedway. Crafton held off Austin Dillon at the finish to claim his second career Camping World Truck Series win but his first since May 2008 at Charlotte (79 races ago). He also moved from seventh to fifth in the point standings, as he trails leader and ThorSport Racing teammate Johnny Sauter by 44 points.

Prior to Iowa, Crafton had finished 18th or worse in four consecutive races, including a 32nd-place finish earlier this month at Kentucky. His engine expired early in that event.

"Our win at Iowa Speedway was exactly what we needed," Crafton said. "After the struggles we've had in the last four weeks, it means so much to me, the team and all the sponsors that believe in me. It was a huge momentum-builder for the team, and I'm hoping that we can take that momentum into Nashville."

Crafton has finished no worse than seventh in his last four truck races at Nashville.

Sauter comes to Nashville with a 22-point advantage over Dillon. Rookie Cole Whitt is 26 points behind the lead.

James Buescher has been one of the hottest drivers in the series lately. Earlier in the season, Buescher failed to qualify at Phoenix and then finished 35th at Martinsville. Since Martinsville, he has posted seven straight top-10 finishes and climbed from 20th to fourth in points (-36).

Buescher finished fifth at Nashville in April.

"We have learned a lot since our last outing [at Nashville], and I am looking for a strong performance on Friday night," Buescher said. "[Crew chief] Michael Shelton and all the guys on the No.31 Chevrolet are doing a great job each and every week. We are consistently running inside the top-five and bringing trucks to the track capable of winning."

Todd Bodine won at Nashville last August. Bodine, the defending series champion, is not on the preliminary entry list for Friday's 200-mile event. Last week, Randy Moss Motorsports and Germain Racing teamed up to put Bodine in the No.5 Toyota for Iowa. He finished 10th there.

Thirty-three teams are scheduled to compete in the Lucas Deep Clean 200.

Dillon and Elliott Sadler are those drivers pulling double duty at Nashville this weekend.

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES

Edmonton Indy - City Centre Raceway - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Same location, different course.

This weekend's IZOD IndyCar Series race will be contested at the Edmonton City Centre Airport for the fourth consecutive year, but the course will be significantly different than it was in 2010.

Last November, IndyCar announced its intention not to return to Edmonton for the 2011 season after city officials and event promoter Octane Motorsports Event Inc. were unable to reach an agreement on the race course changes. However, the city and the promoter reached a settlement on providing upgrades, and IndyCar put Edmonton back on the schedule two months later.

Octane sought to retain one of the airport's runways, but the city moved all air traffic to that take-off and landing strip after closing a companion runway following last year's IndyCar race here.

IndyCar teams will spend time during Friday and Saturday's practice sessions getting familiar with the new 2.256-mile, 13-turn airport course.

"It's going to be a difficult thing for a driver, because there's no markers, and it's very difficult to pick out the braking points, the apexes of the corners," Dario Franchitti said. "The track is so wide, and there's no physical boundaries. When you're approaching from a half-mile away at 180 mph, you're trying to pick out this corner from a distance. It's pretty interesting."

Canadian Alex Tagliani drove on the course during a promotional tour here last week.

"You'll see crazy speed and amazing action," Tagliani said. "IndyCar really needs places like this for passing. It's going to absolutely be one of the best courses we'll have this season."

Franchitti, the two-time defending series champion, comes to Edmonton with a comfortable 55-point lead over Will Power, who has failed to finish the last two races due to wrecks. Power and Franchitti were tied in points after last month's race at Milwaukee.

"It's very tough to have two DNFs in a row," Power said. "All I can say is we'll keep working hard and hopefully come back strong at Edmonton."

Power won his first race in this series at Edmonton in 2009. He finished second here last year.

Franchitti has finished third and fifth in his two starts at this course. His Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Scott Dixon, won the inaugural race at Edmonton in 2008 and then claimed his second victory here last season.

The 2010 Edmonton race ended with its share of controversy and temper tantrums. Helio Castroneves was leading the event when he was black-flagged for blocking his Team Penske teammate Power just after a restart with three laps remaining. After failing to serve his drive-through penalty on pit lane, IndyCar officials penalized Castroneves 20 seconds and placed him at the tail end of the lead lap, which resulted in a 10th-place finish.

Furious with the decision, Castroneves confronted two race officials on pit road and made physical contact with one of them after the event had concluded. Days later, IndyCar slapped the Brazilian with a $60,000 fine and placed him on probation for the remainder of the season.

Twenty-six teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Edmonton Indy.

FORMULA ONE

German Grand Prix - Nurburgring - Nurburg, Germany

The 2011 Formula One season resumes this weekend with the German Grand Prix, which returns to the 3.2-mile (5.148-kilometer) Nurburgring circuit. Last year's German GP was contested in Hockenheim.

Germany's Sebastian Vettel enters his home race with an insurmountable 80- point lead over second-place and Red Bull Racing teammate Mark Webber.

Vettel has finished either first or second in the first nine grand prix this season. The defending world champion is seeking his first win in his home country. He finished third in last year's German GP and second in the 2009 event, held at the Nurburgring.

"One of the objectives a Formula One driver sets for himself is to win his home race," said Vettel, who has already won six races this season. "Of course, you always give 100 percent, but at a home race, you're always more motivated, simply because you feel at home. This year, we're back at the Nurburgring, which is one of the better and more modern tracks."

Michael Schumacher, the seven-time F1 titleholder, Nico Rosberg, Nick Heidfeld, Timo Glock and Adrian Sutil are also competing in front of their home crowd.

After winning last week's British Grand Prix in Silverstone, Fernando Alonso moved to within 92 points of Vettel. Alonso claimed his and Ferrari's first victory since last October in the Korean Grand Prix.

"Hopefully, we can have some more wins and good races," Alonso said. "As far as the championship, we are very far away from Sebastian, so we just need to concentrate race after race and try to win everywhere we go. Then we'll see if they [Red Bull] make some mistakes, because with no mistakes, it is difficult to recover from the gap in the championship."

Alonso won the 2010 German GP under a cloud of controversy. Felipe Massa was robbed of a potential win after his Ferrari team instructed him to move aside and allow Alonso to take the lead with 20 laps remaining. Shortly before Alonso made his winning pass, Massa's race engineer, Rob Smedley, told his driver over the radio that "Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understand the message?" Massa finished second.

Shortly after the conclusion of the race, F1's governing body, the FIA, determined Ferrari breached sporting regulations and fined the Italian team $100,000. Race stewards determined Ferrari gave team orders to Massa, which interfered with the race result.

Ferrari maintained their action did not constitute a team order.

Alonso won the German GP for the first time in 2005 when he drove for Renault.