Infineon Raceway and Milwaukee Mile

Earnhardt In Victory Lane, In Pursuit Of Series Point Lead

Kyle Busch is hearing the footsteps. Dale Earnhardt Jr. broke a 76-race winless streak this past Sunday at Michigan International Speedway, and as a result closed the gap between himself and Busch, the NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader. Earnhardt, third in the standings, trails Busch by only 84 points.

The last time Earnhardt led the series points: after race 27 at New Hampshire in 2004.

Earnhardt has yet to win a road race in NASCAR Sprint Cup competition. In eight career starts at Infineon, he has yet to post a top-10 finish. The track likely also posts some other, inner challenges to Earnhardt. In 2004, during a sports car practice session for another racing series, a Chevrolet Corvette he was driving crashed and burst into flames. Earnhardt escaped serious injury.

Emphasis On Winning: Earnhardt Win Boosts His Potential Chase 'Seeding'

Earnhardt's win at Michigan had ramifications both immediate and down the road: He earned 10 bonus points that will be applied toward his "seeding" if he makes the 12-driver Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR's "playoffs" contested over the final 10 races.

The Michigan victory places Earnhardt fifth in the current seeding lineup. Kyle Busch, with four victories, is the prospective top seed.

Prior to the Chase, all drivers who qualify have their point totals re-set to 5,000. Bonus points for victories are then applied, meaning that right now, Busch has a potential starting total of 5,040, with Earnhardt at 5,010.

Gordon Always a Favorite

At this point last season, Jeff Gordon had four wins and was first in the points standings. This year, he's still in the top 12, but has yet to visit Victory Lane. That could all change this weekend. Gordon is the all-time leader in road course wins with nine – five of which have come at Infineon Raceway. He last won there in 2006 and won three straight from 1998-2000.

Montoya Returns To Site Of Historic Win

Juan Pablo Montoya's struggles this season are well-documented; he's 22nd in series points. Chances are he welcomes this week's stop; Montoya notched his NASCAR Sprint Cup win – and his only one, to date – last year at Infineon Raceway.

Seeing Red (Bull): Teammates Vickers, Allmendinger On The Upswing

Team Red Bull's drivers – Brian Vickers and AJ Allmendinger – are looking better all the time in their respective Toyotas. Vickers has posted consecutive top-five finishes at Pocono (second) and Michigan (fourth); Allmendinger had consecutive top-20 runs (12th and 19th).

Allmendinger -- from Los Gatos, Calif. -- has had past success on road courses; in the 2006 Champ Car season he won four road-course events.

Vickers is closing in on the top 12 in points – and a potential berth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. He's 16th in points, 97 out of 12th.

Road Course Ringers Time to Shine?

Races at the Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen International road courses add a wrinkle to the event, and another challenge to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regulars – the road course ringers.

This season is no different. This Sunday’s field will include road course aces Boris Said, Brandon Ash, Max Papis, Ron Fellows, Brian Simo and Marcos Ambrose, who his also a regular in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Said is the most successful of the bunch, with four top-10 finishes in eight starts at Infineon Raceway.

But the surprising statistic to this storyline: A road course ace hasn’t won a road course event in over 30 years. The last to do so was Mark Donohue at Riverside International Raceway in 1973.

Ken Clapp Central To Track's 40 Years, 20 NASCAR Events

Infineon Raceway will be hosting its 20th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday – the highlight of the track's 40th anniversary season.

The person responsible for bringing NASCAR to Northern California back in 1989, Ken Clapp, will be on-hand all weekend and will be inducted into the raceway's Wall of Fame on Friday.

Clapp, who has spent nearly 60 years in auto racing, was also instrumental in the creation of Infineon Raceway.

Clapp, from Danville, Calif., worked for NASCAR in a variety of capacities for more than 20 years and was a personal mentor of Chairman/CEO Brian France.

Clapp's resume spans many different areas in racing:

• From 1966-2006, he promoted 4,150 single-day NASCAR-affiliated racing events in Calif., Washington and Oregon.
• From 1967-1970, he was a VP at Infineon Raceway, where he promoted NASCAR late model races, IndyCar Series events, Trans Am sports car racing, NHRA drag racing and motorcycle events.
• He promoted more than 40 "World of Outlaw" Sprint Car events in Oregon and Calif.
• From 1977-99, Ken served as a Commissioner on the NASCAR National Commission.
• Other key roles at NASCAR: 1970 - 1983: Director of PR and Marketing for Western US, Japan, Australian and Mexico; 1983-1995: NASCAR VP of Western Operations; 1995-1999: NASCAR VP of Marketing Development; 1999 – present: Sr. Consultant to NASCAR Digital Entertainment.
• From 1990-2002, he made 17 trips to Japan to plan the NASCAR Japan exhibition effort.
• In 2002, he was inducted into the West Coast Hall of Fame and in 2006 inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame (Calif.).

Kenseth Comeback: Former Champion ‘Chasing the Chase'

Matt Kenseth has proven it before – never, ever, count him out.

After making the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in each of the four seasons since its 2004 inception, earlier this season it looked as if Kenseth might not make it five-for-five in 2008.

After race No. 10 (Richmond), Kenseth was in 22nd place, 204 points out of the Chase cut-off of 12th place.

Unbelievably, he has made up all but 14 points of that deficit thanks to five consecutive finishes in the top-seven, including a third-place finish at Michigan this past Sunday.

This improbable launch up the standings isn't a new practice for Kenseth. In 2005, Kenseth was in 24th place after race No. 14 (Pocono). It took him only until race 25 (Fontana) to climb back into the top 10. (In 2005, the top 10 drivers made the Chase.)

Tight Races Throughout The Standings

Though NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader Kyle Busch picked up 11 points on second-place Jeff Burton this past weekend, he finds another driver in hot pursuit – Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Earnhardt, 145 points out of first going into Michigan, closed the gap considerably with his dramatic win. Earnhardt slashed the deficit by 61, and is now only 84 points behind Busch.

And it gets tighter as you go down the standings – especially at the all-important 12th-place position.

Clint Bowyer failed to crack the top 20 for his fourth consecutive race, and has fallen from fourth after his win at Richmond all the way to 12th. There's more bad news. That 12th-place cushion couldn't be much smaller. Bowyer is only 10 points ahead of 13th place David Ragan, and 14 points ahead of 14th place Matt Kenseth.

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

Milestone Marker: Kenny Wallace To Join Exclusive Club

Kenny Wallace has over 750 starts in NASCAR's national series and No. 400 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series is slated for Milwaukee. A start Saturday will put Wallace in select company – only two other drivers have 400 starts in the series. Tommy Houston was the first and ended his career with 418 before Jason Keller (whose last win was at Milwaukee in 2003) passed Houston last fall and holds the current mark at 438 – and counting.

Wallace's first series start came at Martinsville in 1988. He's accumulated nine wins and 10 poles. He'll be sharing his monumental start with brother, Mike, and nephew Steve who are also entered at Milwaukee.

Logano An Immediate Hit

His crew chief, Dave Rogers, said it best. "Three races, two poles, one win. He's okay." "He" is Joey Logano, an 18-year-old talent who is living up to plenty of hype. He'll make his fourth start for Joe Gibbs Racing Saturday at The Milwaukee Mile and goes in as one of the favorites. Logano became the youngest driver in series history to win when he did so from the pole at Kentucky last Saturday eclipsing the mark set by Casey Atwood at Milwaukee in 1999 (18 years, 10 months, 9 days). Logano was 21 days past his 18th birthday. The No. 20 car won the race and pole at Milwaukee last year and this year has won a series-best seven races with four different drivers. But the one constant has been Rogers at the helm.