Courtesy of The Associated Press
All times Central (U.S.)
NASCAR Sprint Cup
Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500
Site: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (oval, 0.526 miles)
TV schedule: Friday, practice (11 a.m., Speed), qualifying (2 p.m., Speed); Saturday, practices (9:30 a.m. and 10:50 a.m., Speed); Sunday, race (noon, Fox)
Race distance: 263 miles/500 laps
2009 winner: Jimmie Johnson
Fast facts: The race marks the switch to the traditional spoiler from the rear wing that was introduced in 2007. NASCAR decided during the off-season to go back to the spoiler, partly in a hope that it improves competition. Martinsville was the earliest the change could be made because of the planning needed for such a technical change. ... Jimmie Johnson has won five of the last seven races at the track and six of the last 11. He has 50 Cup victories to tie Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson for 10th place on the career list. ... Denny Hamlin won the 2008 spring race and 2009 fall event at Martinsville. ... Kevin Harvick leads the series standings with 774 points, one more than Matt Kenseth. Johnson is third, 14 points behind Harvick. ... Richard Petty won a record 15 Cup races at the track, four more than Darrell Waltrip. Jeff Gordon leads active drivers with seven Martinsville victories.
www.nascar.com
NASCAR Camping World Trucks
Kroger 250
Site: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (oval, 0.526 miles)
TV schedule: Friday, practice (noon, Speed), qualifying (3:30 p.m., Speed); Saturday, race (12:30 p.m., Speed)
Race distance: 131.5 miles/250 laps
2009 winner: Kevin Harvick
Fast facts: Kevin Harvick, who won at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 6, has won three straight starts in the series and five of his last nine. He finished last season with consecutive victories at Phoenix and Homestead-Miami, then skipped the season-opening race at Daytona. He has seven victories in 102 Trucks starts. ... Johnny Benson, the 2008 series champion, is driving the No. 15 Toyota for Billy Ballew Motorsports. Benson won the 2008 fall race at Martinsville for the last of his 14 series victories. ... Former Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan is making his Trucks debut. The first series driver from India, Karthikeyan will race the No. 60 Chevrolet for newly formed Starbeast Motorsports. ... Rick Crawford is making his series-record 325th start, all for Tom Mitchell and Circle Bar Racing. Crawford has five victories, including the 2004 Martinsville spring race. ... Todd Bodine leads the season standings with 340 points, four more than Daytona winner Timothy Peters. ... Peters won the October race at Martinsville. ... Toyota has won six of the last eight races at Martinsville.
www.nascar.com
IZOD IndyCar
Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
Site: Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. (street course, 1.8 miles)
TV schedule: Sunday, race (2:30 p.m., ABC)
Race distance: 181 miles/100 laps
2009 winner: Ryan Briscoe
Fast facts: Australia’s Will Power won the rain-shortened season opener on March 14 in Sao Paulo, passing Ryan Hunter-Reay with three laps to go. The race ended at the two-hour time limit with only 61 of the 75 scheduled laps completed. ... Dario Franchitti is making his 200th major open-wheel start. He has 23 victories, 13 in 84 IndyCar races. ... Helio Castroneves won at St. Petersburg in 2006 and 2007. ... Danica Patrick was 15th in Sao Paulo.
www.indycar.com
NHRA
NHRA Four-Wide Nationals
Site: Concord, N.C., zMAX Dragway
TV schedule: Saturday, qualifying (6 p.m., taped, ESPN2); Sunday, final eliminations (4 p.m., taped, ESPN2)
2009 winners: Inaugural event.
Fast facts: Six-time defending series champion Tony Schumacher won the Gatornationals on March 14 for his first Top Fuel victory of the year. Tim Wilkerson (Funny Car), Jason Line (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won. ... The event is the first in NHRA history with racing in four lanes instead of the traditional two. A center wall separates the second and third lanes. ... Schumacher leads the Top Fuel standings. ... John Force, the Funny Car leader, won the season-opening race in Pomona, Calif., to end a 20-month victory drought. The 60-year-old Force has an NHRA-record 127 victories and 14 season titles. ... The series will return to zMAX Dragway in September for the Carolinas Nationals.
www.nhra.com
Formula One
Australian Grand Prix
Site: Melbourne, Australia, Albert Park (road course, 3.3 miles)
TV schedule: Friday, practice (12:30 a.m., Speed); Saturday, qualifying (1 a.m., Speed); Sunday, race (1 a.m., Speed)
Race distance: 191.12 miles/58 laps
2009 winner: Jenson Button
Fast facts: Spain’s Fernando Alonso led Ferrari to a 1-2 finish March 14 in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher was sixth in his first race in three years. ... Schumacher is driving for Ross Brawn-led Mercedes GP. The 41-year-old German star has won a record 91 races, four at Albert Park. ... Jenson Button is driving for McLaren. Button was seventh in Bahrain, while new teammate Lewis Hamilton was third. ... Teams are no longer allowed to refuel during races, forcing them to start with about 330 pounds of fuel.
www.formula1.com
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