The Chase begins in New Hampshire, Italian GP, NHRA action too

NASCAR’s fifth annual Chase for the Championship opens Sunday at the Sylvania 300 in Loudon, N.H., where 12 drivers begin a 10-race “playoff” for the Sprint Cup. But unlike most playoffs and tournaments that systematically eliminate losers, every Chase driver plays every game--along with 31 other drivers who can’t win the Cup but can impact who does.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a 1-mile, relatively flat, hard-to-pass track where drivers cover 300 laps quickly. Denny Hamlin won in the summer of 2007 and Clint Bowyer won the fall race that opened the ’07 Chase. Kurt Busch won this summer’s rain-shortened race after Tony Stewart dominated, leading almost half the laps before losing after a late-race pit stop.

Among Chase drivers, Jeff Burton leads with four New Hampshire wins. Jeff Gordon has three, Jimmie Johnson and Stewart two each, and Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Bowyer have one each. Kurt Busch (three), Ryan Newman (two) and Robby Gordon and Joe Nemechek (one each) are the only non-Chasers in Sunday’s field with NHMS wins.

Kyle Busch, who has won eight times so far this year, opens the playoff with a 30-point lead over six-time winner Carl Edwards, a 40-point lead over four-time winner Johnson and 70-point leads over one-time winners Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bowyer, Hamlin and Burton. Kyle Busch’s lead is 80 points over winless Stewart, Greg Biffle, Gordon, Harvick and Matt Kenseth.

Teams will practice Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, qualify Friday afternoon at 3:15, then race Sunday afternoon at 2. The Craftsman Truck Series has a 200-lap support race at 3 Saturday afternoon.

WHERE: New Hampshire Motor Speedway

WHEN: Sept. 14

TV: 1 p.m. Eastern, ABC

DURATION: 300 laps

TRACK LENGTH: 1.058 miles

LAST YEAR’S WINNER: Clint Bowyer

FORMULA ONE ITALIAN GRAND PRIX

Monza, by all accounts, is one of the Grand Prix calendar’s most colorful events to attend. The Ferrari-mad tifosi always come out in droves, and the atmosphere at the circuit is nothing short of fantastic, with even the most jaded of journalists always sure to make the trip. But after the stunning conclusion to last weekend’s Belgian GP, it is going to take a lot for the Italian event to provide anywhere near the same entertainment. Perhaps there is a ray of hope, though, as the forecast calls for rain throughout the weekend.

Damp and changing conditions certainly brought the Belgian race to life, with McLaren-Mercedes team leader Lewis Hamilton throwing down with Ferrari’s defending world champion, Kimi Raikkonen. The two title contenders swapped the lead back and forth several times and ran off the road together as rain fell--before Raikkonen finally lost control and smashed into a trackside barrier, effectively handing the race to Hamilton.

But once Hamilton had celebrated on the podium and completed the postrace press conference, the race stewards announced that they were adding 25 seconds to Hamilton’s overall time because they felt he gained an unfair advantage on Raikkonen when he cut a chicane. Never mind that Hamilton immediately allowed Raikkonen to repass him, before Hamilton outbraked the Ferrari into the first turn to take the lead once more. Until McLaren’s appeal is heard, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa is the Belgian GP winner, and he now trails Hamilton by just two points with six races remaining. Raikkonen is 19 points out of the lead, and given his overall performances lately--Belgium excluded--he appears to be out of the title fight.

WHERE: Autodromo Nazionale Monza

WHEN: Sept. 14

TV: 7:30 a.m. Eastern, Speed

DURATION: 53 laps

LAST YEAR’S WINNER: Fernando Alonso

OTHER RACES OF NOTE:

NHRA CAROLINAS NATIONALS

WHERE: Lowe’s Motor Speedway

WHEN: Sept. 14 (final eliminations)

TV: 7 p.m. Eastern, ESPN2

LAST YEAR’S WINNERS: None (new event for 2008)

CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES CAMPING WORLD RV RENTAL 200

WHERE: New Hampshire Motor Speedway

WHEN: Sept. 13

TV: 2:30 p.m. Eastern, Speed

DURATION: 200 laps

LAST YEAR’S WINNER: Ron Hornaday

Source: http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080911/FREE/809119975/1002/FREE