Local racer Dallas Colodny scored another top-five finish last Saturday night in the Late Model division at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, Calif., despite having his front suspension knocked out of alignment in a first lap incident. Colodny is currently fourth in points, just two points out of third, and leads the rookie point standings five races into the 18-race season.
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Tonight is the first "Super Saturday" show at Reno-Fernley Raceway's 3/8 mile clay oval. The show features two stock car divisions (Pro4 and Pure Stock Mini) on the big oval, mud drags in the infield, and flat track motorcycle and quad races on a short infield oval. Racing starts at 6 p.m. and general admission is $7, $5 for seniors, kids 5 and under are free. Tailgate area and skybox seating are also available. See www.nevadaracer.com for complete information.
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Two-thirds of the Indy 500 field is set as third-day qualifying begins today at 9 a.m. Helio Castroneves, who less than a month ago was looking at a possible end to his racing career and a prison sentence, is back on top of the racing world with his pole qualifying effort. Castroneves is going for his third Indy victory. His Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe will start next to him, with Target-Ganassi driver and 207 Indy winner Dario Franchitti rounding out the front row. As expected, the three top teams (Penske, Target Ganassi, and Andretti-Green) took nine of the eleven first-day qualifying spots, three each. Graham Rahal of Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing and KV Racing's Mario Moraes were the two exceptions.
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Just about everybody who qualified last weekend is safely in the field. Times on the second weekend are usually slower, and when bumping begins it is the slowest driver in the field (no matter what the grid position) who is bumped. Due to Indy qualifying rules locking in 11 cars each day of qualifying, some cars farther back in the field will have faster times than cars ahead of them.
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For instance, second-day qualifier Rafael Matos in 12th starting position qualified faster than seventh-place qualifier Mario Moraes, and 13th-place Paul Tracy was faster than ninth-place Will Power. However, I anticipate that nearly all the bumping will take place among the cars qualifying today.
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There are 17 cars listed on today's qualifying sheet to fill the final eleven grid positions. Tomorrow is "bump day", the traditional last-chance day to make the Indy field. Of the 17 cars on today's qualifying list, four do not have drivers assigned. There are also a number of backup "T" cars which could be assigned for bump day.
But with six solid hours of Indy qualifying on VERSUS each day there's a lot of "fill" the broadcast team has to do. My advice is to TiVo the whole thing, then watch the qualifying runs while zapping the fluff. (The people who buy commercial time will NOT like me saying that).
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Tonight is the 25th annual NASCAR Sprint (formerly known as the All-Star) race from Lowe's Motor Speedway. Eighteen race winners from 2008-2009 plus past winners of the All-Star race and past Cup champions of the last 10 years are in the race (Dale Jarrett and Terry Labonte declined their invitations).
Three drivers will be added to the field from the Sprint Open"the top two finishers and one driver selected by fan vote. Last year the fan vote favorite, Kasey Kahne, went on to win the All-Star race.
Television coverage of the Open starts at 4 p.m. this afternoon, with the Sprint immediately following. The 100-lap Sprint will be run in four segments with a mandatory green-flag pit stop and four-tire change at 25 laps, and a 10-lap final shootout with only green flag laps counting.
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Here are some interesting Sprint facts:
- The winner has gone on to win the Cup title nine times in 24 years. Jeff Gordon has the most wins (three) of any active driver, tying the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.
- There were only 12 drivers (winners from the 1984 season) in the inaugural 1985 event. Although the Sprint is a non-points race, there is a big payout at the end.
- The winner will receive $1,022,975 plus bragging rights, which will make for an exciting finish!