This Week in Auto Racing July 12 - 14

 

The Sports Network

Forty-three teams are on the preliminary entry list for the CNBC Prime the Profit 200.

Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, who won at Daytona, and Paul Menard are those Sprint Cup Series regulars entered in this race. Ryan Preece, Brett Butler and Chad Hackenbracht are scheduled to make their Nationwide debuts at New Hampshire.

Camping World Truck Series

American Ethanol 200 - Iowa Speedway - Newton, Iowa

The fourth time could be the charm for Chase Elliott in the Camping World Truck Series.

Elliott, the 17-year-old son of 1988 NASCAR Cup Series champion Bill Elliott, has been stellar in his first three career truck starts, all of them coming this season. He has finished sixth, fifth and fourth in starts at Martinsville, Rockingham and Dover, respectively. In fact, his average finishing position of 5.0 tied him with Kurt Busch (2000 rookie of the year in trucks) for the best three-race debut in the series.

On Saturday, Elliott is expected to make his fourth start in the series at Iowa Speedway. This 0.875-mile racetrack might very well be where he scores his first truck victory. Elliott picked up his first NASCAR touring series win in 2012 at Iowa, taking the checkered flag for the K&N Pro Series race.

"I think this racetrack is a lot of fun," Elliott said. "I think it puts on some great racing, and the place is known for that in the past. I feel like if we can get up there and just put together a mistake-free weekend and just have everything go our way, I think we'll be just fine."

Elliott is driving the No. 94 Chevrolet in trucks this season, with Lance McGrew serving as his crew chief. Elliott is scheduled to compete in the July 24 race at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.

When trucks most recently ran at Iowa last September, Ryan Blaney became the youngest race winner in series history. Blaney was 18 years, 5 months and 15 days old when he scored his first truck victory.

Could Elliott top Blaney's record?

"I haven't thought about it a whole lot," Elliott said. "For me, we are just there to win like everybody else is and try to do a better job than the next guy. So I haven't really put a whole lot into my age and how old I am and how old the rest of these guys are. Just more so our personal program and what we need to do to be a little bit better."

Matt Crafton comes to Iowa with a 22-point lead over Jeb Burton. Ty Dillon won two weeks ago at Kentucky and moved to within 40 points of the lead.

Thirty-five teams are on the preliminary entry list for the American Ethanol 200.

IZOD IndyCar Series

Honda Indy Toronto - Streets of Toronto - Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The IndyCar Series will hold its second doubleheader of the season this weekend on the streets of Toronto.

Last month, a doubleheader was held at Detroit's Bell Isle Park. Mike Conway won the first race (Saturday), and Simon Pagenaud scored his first career victory in IndyCar in the second event (Sunday). It was the first time in series history that two full-distance races took place at a venue on the same weekend.

The third and final doubleheader in 2013 will occur at Houston's Reliant Park, which is a new venue on the series schedule this season, on Oct. 5-6.

Race 1 at Toronto is scheduled for Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET, and race 2 is slated for Sunday at the same time. If a driver wins both events here, that person will collect a $50,000 bonus.

Ryan Hunter-Reay, the defending IndyCar champion, won last year's race in Toronto. Hunter-Reay posted his third consecutive victory. The Andretti Autosport driver won at Milwaukee and Iowa prior to Toronto.

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