=== This Week in Auto Racing May 13 - May 15 ===

by Steve Schwarz, Motorsports Editor

Philadelphia, PA (My Sportsbook) - While Nextel Cup, Busch and the Craftsman Truck Series are all in action, Pole Day for the 89th running of the Indianapolis 500 at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be the highlight of the weekend.

NASCAR

Nextel

Chevy American Revolution 400 - Richmond International Raceway - Richmond, VA

Following another stunning performance by Greg Biffle last Saturday night, the series will once again compete under the lights this weekend, this time at the 0.75-mile short track in Richmond, Virginia.

Biffle snatched his series-leading third win (tied with Jeff Gordon) from Ryan Newman following a late race pit stop. With new tires, Biffle passed three drivers on the final two laps for the victory.

Now its on to Richmond where the No.16 Roush Racing Ford has struggled. In his five Nextel Cup starts at RIR, he has just one top-10 (eighth last fall) and finished 20th or worse three times. That bodes well for the other drivers since Biffle is one the hottest driver in the series.

Also "slumping" of late is Nextel Cup points leader Jimmie Johnson, if you can call finishing 15th, 20th and seventh slumping.

The No.48 Lowe's Chevrolet started the season with five top-fives in the first seven events. Even while leading 55 laps last Saturday night, the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet did not seem to have what it took to win the race. During his hot streak, it seemed as if he was in position to win every time.

While Johnson's teammate/owner Gordon and Biffle are the only drivers within 200 points of the leader, the real battles over the first 26 weeks are at the bottom end of the top-10. Barring a complete collapse, Johnson, Gordon and Biffle will qualify for the "Chase for the Nextel Cup," but the more pressing question is who will join them.

The difference between sixth (Mark Martin - 1,226) and 15th in the standings (Jeremy Mayfield - 1,133) is just 93 points or one bad race. At the moment, all 15 drivers are eligible for the "Chase" which allows any driver within 400 points of the leader to participate. But it isn't likely to stay that way. Last year just the top-10 were ultimately eligible and in 2003 Matt Kenseth had such a huge lead after 26 races that only the top-10 would have competed had the "Chase" been in use that year.

Kenseth and the No.17 Ford team has been the one Roush Racing team which has not been on its "game" so far this season. While Biffle, defending series champion Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards have all given the "Cat in the Hat," Jack Roush, victories and Martin has been his usual solid self, Kenseth is mired in 24th place with just two top-10s to his credit.

Kenseth is 554 points behind Johnson and 154 points away from qualifying for the "Chase." In his championship season he collected 25 top-10s and just two DNFs. This season he already has two DNFs and was not on the lead lap in four others. Typical of his season was last week at Darlington when he was three laps off the pace.

"I fought that race car all night," said Kenseth. "It was exhausting. The guys kept working and working on it, but it just didn't come around. It's a huge disappointment."

Kenseth is not the only "big name" driver in danger of missing out on the "Chase." Others in a bit of trouble include Michael Waltrip, Sterling Marlin, Kasey Kahne, Ricky Rudd and Bobby Labonte.

There are 16 races left before the "Chase for the Nextel Cup" begins so there is time to get back into the fight, but for those who are struggling, they had better begin their charge this Saturday at Richmond.

Busch

Funai 250 - Richmond International Raceway - Richmond, VA

Through the first 11 events of the 2005 Busch Series schedule, full-time Busch drivers have won four times (Carl Edwards - 1, Reed Sorenson - 1, Martin Truex Jr. - 2). That is one less than last year through the same number of races.

But while the Busch Series regulars may have less wins than last year, they are dominating the standings this season. Particularly the young Busch Series racers.

Carl Edwards leads the series with 1,612 points. He has accumulated his points through consistency - nine top-10s. The rest of the top-five includes 25-year- old Clint Bowyer, 19-year-old Sorenson, 24-year-old Truex Jr. and Ashton Lewis Jr. at the ripe old age of 33.

Truex Jr., the defending series champion, has been hot of late, winning at Talladega and finishing third last week.

"We were just one pit stop away from being perfect," said Truex Jr. after the Darlington race. "But we won last week (at Talladega) and third here. We're on the comeback trail."

The other drivers had better look out. A confident Truex Jr. is a tough man to beat.

Craftsman

UAW/GM Ohio 250 - Mansfield Motorsports Speedway, Mansfield, OH

The truck series makes its second ever trip to the 0.44-mile Mansfield Motorsports Speedway. In last year's inaugural event, Jack Sprague beat out short track "specialist" Dennis Setzer by 0.394 seconds to take the victory.

Sprague, who started the race on the pole, held the lead until his first pit stop on lap 82 when most of the top-10 pitted under caution for tires and fuel. He was able to move through the field to the front when the trucks that didn't pit on lap 82 finally came in for their stops. He didn't look back from there and despite 13 cautions, controlled the second half of the race.

But the three-time champion has struggled this season and sits in 11th place in the standings, 190 points behind leader Ted Musgrave.

Musgrave seized the top spot with a win two weeks ago at the Gateway International Raceway. It was his fifth consecutive top-10 performance of the season and he edged past defending series champion Bobby Hamilton in the title chase. Musgrave holds a slim 13-point margin (796-783).

Unlike the Busch Series top-five which is replete with youngsters, the Craftsman Truck Series top-five reads like the "home for the aged." The "youngest" driver in the top-five is 39-year-old Ricky Craven who sits third overall behind 49-year-old Musgrave and 47-year-old Hamilton. Forty-eight year-old Jimmy Spencer and 41-year-old Todd Bodine complete the top-five.

So much for this being a developmental series for Busch and Nextel Cup racing.

It seems that young and upcoming drivers bypass the truck series and are now sent directly to the Busch Series. The truck series, while fun to watch, is no more than a "legends" race.

IndyCars

MBNA Pole Day - Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Indianapolis, IN

Now that the first leg of the Triple Crown, the Kentucky Derby, has been run, the next "big" event in sports (with all due respect to the Preakness and the never ending NBA playoffs which will extend into Mid-June) is the Indianapolis 500.

The action begins this week with testing and continues to build momentum as the month progresses until the race on the final Sunday in May.

Monday began with the Rookie Orientation Program. Danica Patrick, the talented and photogenic Rahal-Letterman Racing driver was the talk of the session when she posted a lap of 222.741 m.p.h. on Monday.

"I was given a good car by Buddy (Rice) and Vitor (Meira) with all the hard work they did last year," said Patrick after Day 1. "This event is amazing. There are a lot of media and a lot of things going on. It was opening day and there were fans out there."

Others who participated in Rookie Orientation included 2004 Champ Car Series champion Sebastien Bourdais, Ryan Briscoe, Jeff Bucknum, Patrick Carpentier, Paul Dana, Tomas Enge and Scott Mayer.

For the next few days we will hear many quotes from drivers and owners and register many times around the 2.5-mile speedway, but the fun really begins on Saturday with MBNA Pole Day.

The drivers will all be shooting for the pole position which should be won with a four-lap average speed of around 225 m.p.h. Buddy Rice won the 2004 pole with an average of 222.024 m.p.h. He went on to win the "500" over Tony Kanaan in a rain-shortened event to become the 18th driver in the 88-year history to win in his first start. He was also the 17th driver to win from the pole which means that the pole winner takes home the Borg Warner trophy just over 19% of the time.

More important however, is to start in the top-10. Sixty-four of 88 (72.7%) winners have come from inside the top-10.

Another storyline that we will hear ad infinitum for the next three weeks is that of Michael Andretti and his failure to win a race as a driver, but his possibilities of reaching the winner's circle as an owner.

Andretti, who owns a record 42 CART victories, made 14 starts in the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing," but never drank milk from Victory Lane. He collected four top-fives, however his best finish was as a runner-up to Rick Mears in 1991.

"Indianapolis means so much to me, personally and professionally," said Andretti to indycar.com's Dave Lewandowski. "Maybe I wasn't meant to win it as a driver, but maybe I'm meant to win it 10 times as an owner. That's the way you have to look at it."

As an owner, Andretti has the most powerful team in the series. His drivers sit one (Dan Wheldon), two (Tony Kanaan), four (Bryan Herta) and ninth (Dario Franchitti) in the championship after the first four events. The team swept the 2004 championship finishing one-two with Kanaan and Wheldon.

"However much we want to win it, I would double it, triple it, quadruple it to win it for him," said Wheldon. "We've won a lot of individual IRL races, but this is the one everybody wants to win, no doubt."

No doubt when the field is lined up on Sunday, May 29th there will be 33 drivers and teams with one goal in mind - win the 89th Indianapolis 500.

The long road to Victory Lane begins on Saturday.