This Week in Auto Racing September 7 - September 9

Autoracing Betting Lines

09/05/2007 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The final week of the Nextel Cup "regular" season and the IndyCar Series finale highlight this week's action.

NASCAR

Nextel Cup

Chevy Rock & Roll 400 - Richmond International Raceway - Richmond, VA

The 12 participants in Nextel Cup have all but been determined, however in racing anything is possible. At least that's what Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his multitude of fans are thinking.

"I don't know much about the system," said a tired and sweaty Earnhardt after Sunday's race. "I never cared to. I just go out and run as hard as I can. It doesn't look like we're going to make it, but we're not going to quit trying until they tell us we're not in."

When the green flag drops both Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex Jr. will clinch positions nine and 10 in the "Chase" leaving just two spots available. The two spots will go to two of three drivers: Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick or Earnhardt Jr.

For Earnhardt Jr. the best scenario involves him leading the most laps (10 point bonus) and winning the race to earn the maximum points - 195. If he does that, he will still need Kevin Harvick to finish 33rd or worse or Kurt Busch to finish 37th or worse.

Neither prospect is very likely.

In his last eight starts, Busch has collected two wins and six top-10s. All season long, Busch has finished 37th or worse only two times and is one of the hottest drivers in the series at this time.

Harvick, the 2007 Daytona 500 and Nextel All-Star Challenge winner, has not been as good as Busch or for that matter Earnhardt Jr. of late, but he hasn't needed to be. Only three times this season has "Happy" finished 33rd or worse and he finished seventh at Richmond in May.

After the 12 competitors for the "Chase" are determined this week, the series will rank the "Chase" drivers based on their number of wins in the first 26 weeks.

Jimmie Johnson, who has five wins this season, will start the 10-race "Chase" with 5050 points, or 5060 if he wins Saturday night's race. He will have the most points at the start although if his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon wins at Richmond they will both start with the same amount of points. The least points any driver can start with in the "Chase" is 5000 points. Drivers accumulate points under the same point structure as in the regular season and after 10 races the 2007 Nextel Cup champion will be determined.

Busch

Emerson Radio 250 - Richmond International Raceway - Richmond, VA

Carl Edwards continues his parade to the 2007 Busch Series championship, although he has stumbled of late. In his last five Busch Series starts Edwards has four finishes of 26th or worse. Despite the troubles, the driver of the No.60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford still leads by a whopping 654 points over Kevin Harvick and 657 over David Reutimann.

At California, Jeff Burton won for the third time this season and the 25th time in his Busch career, edging Kyle Busch for the victory. Nextel Cup drivers dominated the California race taking the top-11 positions. The win moved Burton into sole possession of fourth-place all-time, ahead of Busch Series great Tommy Houston.

Harvick won last year's Emerson Radio 250 beating Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth. Over the final 50 laps and despite a record-tying number of cautions, the battle was for second place and back as Harvick completely dominated the event. He led a total of 154 laps and took the checkered flag 0.925 seconds ahead of second place. The win gave Harvick a 619-point lead in last year's championship and one that he never relinquished.

This year's entry list includes a large number of Nextel Cup drivers including Harvick.

INDYCARS

Chicagoland Indy 300 - Chicagoland Speedway - Joliet, IL

The championship battle is tight and the teams involved don't particularly like each other, the perfect recipe for a great final race at the Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Tony Kanaan is the long shot, sitting 39 points behind his Andretti Green Racing teammate Dario Franchitti. He has been Franchitti's "wingman" for most of the season, but two wins in the last three events have left him still mathematically alive heading into Sunday's finale. However, with a maximum of 53 points available by winning and leading the most laps, his hopes are slim at best. Franchitti would have to finish no higher than 13th and Dixon no higher than 16th.

No, the likely winning of the 2007 IndyCar championship will either be Franchitti or Scott Dixon.

After winning at Richmond in late June Franchitti held a commanding lead in the title chase. Then Dixon went on a tear, winning three straight and four of six. Going into last week's race at Belle Isle in Detroit, Dixon actually held a four-point advantage over Franchitti.

There was also griping from Dixon's Target Chip Ganassi team that Kanaan had been "blocking" Dixon at Infineon which started some bad blood between the two teams.

Then all hell broke loose on the final lap at Detroit, changing both the standings and starting another round of accusations between AGR and Ganassi.

It was the final lap of the time-shortened Detroit Indy Grand Prix with Dixon in third and Franchitti behind him in fourth place. But Dixon wanted a shot at second and he made an ill-advised move to try and get around Buddy Rice. The two drivers collided and here is where AGR and Target members disagree.

AGR claims that Dixon saw Franchitti trying to slid around the accident and let his race car spin into Franchitti on purpose. Dixon claims that had nothing to do with why he spun up the track - it was just a racing incident.

"I'm protesting this," said Michael Andretti right after the race.

"You know, some people think it was intentional," said Franchitti. "I just know that, apart from the blocking thing, Scott has raced me cleanly all year and I've raced him cleanly. So going on past form this season, I don't think he would have done it intentionally. I don't know, though. As I say, my owners have a different opinion of it.

"I said this was going to be a hell of a championship battle, and it's gonna be," said the 2007 Indy 500 winner. "We want to win and they want to win. On the track, we don't take any prisoners, either team."

Too bad most people will be watching the opening day of the NFL season, this might just be that great finish that no one sees.

FORMULA ONE

Italian Grand Prix - Autodromo Nazionale di Monza - Monza, Italy

The racing circuit at Monza is the fastest in the Formula One Series and one that almost every driver enjoys.

"The Monza track is unlike any other we race on during the season, - it is all about high speeds," said two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso.

It is also the home for Ferrari's "tifosi" the rabid fans who follow the "Prancing Horse."

"It will be really special to feel the heat of the tifosi," said Kimi Raikkonen. "I can't wait to see all the flags with the Prancing Horse on the grandstands."

Raikkonen sits in fourth place in the championship, but just 16 points behind the leader - impressive rookie Lewis Hamilton. He is one point behind Felipe Massa, his teammate at Ferrari.

Massa was masterful at Istanbul, winning the pole and finishing 2.275-second ahead of Raikkonen for his third victory of the season.

But both Ferraris will have to put up as good an effort this week if they want to close on Hamilton and second place Alonso, both of McLaren.

"Monza is a historic circuit, so it is quite special when you go there for any driver, said Hamilton. "It is a great track. I had my first race there last year in GP2, and it was a very memorable weekend because it was where I won the championship."

After the race, McLaren will be involved in two court cases which might change things completely. On September 13th McLaren will appear in front of the FIA as part of the "spying" case in which a McLaren team member received documents from a Ferrari employee. McLaren was not penalized any points in the first hearing, but nothing is impossible.

Six days later McLaren will appeal a penalty incurred at the Hungary Grand Prix in which their were denied any constructor points for a qualifying incident between Hamilton and Alonso.