Newz Forum: AUTO: NASCAR: This Week in Racing

Associated Press.

Nextel Cup

Race: Tropicana 400
Site: Joliet, Ill.
Schedule: Friday, qualifying (Speed Channel, 4 p.m.); Sunday, race (NBC, 3:30 p.m.)
Track: Chicagoland Speedway (tri-oval 1.5 miles, 18 degrees banking in turns)
Race distance: 400 miles, 267 laps.

Last race: Jeff Gordon, starting from the pole for the third consecutive race, recorded his second straight win at the Pepsi 400 in Daytona. His Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson finished second.
Last year: Ryan Newman stretched his last tank of fuel and won the Tropicana 400.
Fast facts: Johnson has four straight top-five finishes, nine in his last 10 races, and 12 this season. He leads Dale Earnhardt Jr. by 27 points in the championship race. ... Tony Stewart has two top-five finishes in his last three starts at Chicagoland Speedway. ... Kevin Harvick won the first two Cup races at Joliet in 2001 and 2002. ... The 2001 race marked the first Cup event in Illinois since 1956, when Fireball Roberts won at Soldier Field in Chicago.
Next race: New England 300, July 25, Loudon, N.H.

Busch

Race: Tropicana Twister 300
Site: Joliet, Ill.
Schedule: Friday, qualifying (Speed Channel, 2:30 p.m.); Saturday, race (NBC, 2 p.m.)
Track: Chicagoland Speedway (tri-oval 1.5 miles, 18 degrees banking in turns)
Race distance: 300 miles, 200 laps
Last race: Mike Wallace jumped from fifth to first on the last lap and won the Winn-Dixie 250 at Daytona Beach, Fla. The victory snapped Wallace's 137-race winless streak in Busch races dating to 1994.
Last year: Bobby Hamilton Jr. overpowered the field, leading all but a handful of laps in winning the Tropicana Twister 300. Hamilton took the lead from polesitter Casey Mears on the third lap and led 186 of the 200 trips around the 1 1/2-mile oval, including the last 53.
Fast facts: NASCAR penalized Jason Leffler 11 finishing positions to 13th at Daytona for bumping Michael Waltrip on the final lap. ... David Green finished 34th for the second time in four weeks at Daytona and dropped to sixth in the standings. ... Jason Keller has three top-10 finishes in as many starts at Joliet. ... There has not been a repeat winner in the race's three-year history.
Next race: New England 200, July 24, Loudon, N.H.

Craftsman Truck

Race: Built Ford Tough 225
Site: Sparta, Ky.
Schedule: Friday, qualifying, 6 p.m.; Saturday, race (Speed Channel, 8 p.m.)
Track: Kentucky Speedway (oval, 1.5 miles, 14 degrees banking in turns)
Race distance: 225 miles, 150 laps
Last race: Carl Edwards overcame a first-lap accident to win the O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway. But Edwards' Ford failed inspection after the race because it did not meet the minimum height requirement. NASCAR officials said it's possible the truck failed because of damage from the accident.
Last year: Edwards raced to his first truck victory, beating Ted Musgrave by 3.568 seconds in the Built Ford Tough 225.
Fast facts: Dennis Setzer finished a season-worst 25th at Kansas and had his lead in the championship standings shrink to 34 points over Edwards. ... Shane Hmiel has failed to finish four of the 10 events this season after a crash knocked him out of last weekend's race. ... The race replaced the event at the Louisville Motor Speedway, which was the smallest track in the series.
Next race: Dodge Dealers Ram Tough 200, July 17, Madison, Ill.

Champ Car

Race: Grand Prix of Toronto
Schedule: Friday, qualifying, 2 p.m.; Saturday, qualifying, 1:45 p.m.; Sunday, race (Spike, 4 p.m.)
Track: Toronto street circuit (temporary road course, 1.755 miles, 13 turns)
Race distance: 166.725 miles, 95 laps
Last race: Bourdais took advantage of a first-lap crash that knocked out polesitter Paul Tracy and won the Cleveland Grand Prix for the second straight year. Bourdais, who already has three victories this season, finished 15.130 seconds ahead of Newman-Haas teammate Bruno Junqueira.
Last year: Tracy led every lap of the Molson Indy and easily beat Michel Jourdain Jr. to win on his home track in Toronto for the first time in 10 years.
Fast facts: Tracy has 11 top-10 finishes in 12 starts at Toronto. ... The polesitter has won each of the last two Toronto races and three times overall. ... Newman-Haas drivers have recorded three 1-2 finishes this season. ... Adrian Fernandez won his first Champ Car race during the 1996 event. ... The series will be competing in consecutive weekends for the first time this season.
Next race: July 25, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Formula One

Race: British Grand Prix
Site: Silverstone, England
Schedule: Saturday, qualifying (Speed, 9 a.m.); Sunday, race (Speed, 7:30 a.m.)
Track: Silverstone Circuit (road course, 3.194 miles, 14 turns)
Race distance: 191.64 miles, 60 laps
Last race: Michael Schumacher continued his dominance by winning the French Grand Prix for the seventh time. Schumacher has won nine of the first 10 races this season and has a 22-point lead over Rubens Barrichello in the championship standings.
Last year: Ferrari's Barrichello won the British Grand Prix, ending the recent dominance of Williams-BMW. Barrichello finished 5.4 seconds ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya of Williams-BMW in a race disrupted on the 12th lap when a man ran onto the track.
Fast facts: Jarno Trulli is the only other winner this season, taking the Monaco Grand Prix in May. ... Ralf Schumacher will be sidelined until at least September because he cracked two vertebrae in his back after crashing at the U.S. Grand Prix on June 20. ... Jim Clark and Alain Prost are the only drivers with five victories at Silverstone. ... The Silverstone Circuit is known for high-speed corners and high wind due to the open nature of the course. The track was built on a World War II airfield.
Next race: German Grand Prix, July 25, Hockenheim