The NASCAR Sprint Cup and NationwideSeriesrun under the lights at the historic Darlington Raceway,while Formula Onecompetes in Europe for the first time this season with theTurkish Grand Prixin Istanbul.NASCARSprint Cup SeriesShowtime Southern 500 - Darlington Raceway - Darlington, SCDenny Hamlin is liking his chances of winning this weekend atDarlingtonRaceway after a solid performance at his home track inRichmond, VA this pastweek.Hamlin won his charity race at Richmond on Thursday and thenfollowed up witha victory in the Nationwide event the next day beforefinishing second to hisJoe Gibbs Racing teammate, Kyle Busch, in Saturday's 400-lapSprint Cup Seriesrace.One year ago, Hamlin benefited from a late-race mishap from bothJeff Gordonand Jeff Burton to win a Sprint Cup event at Darlington forthe first time.Burton passed Hamlin for the lead just before the 11th and finalcaution camewith 26 laps remaining. One lap prior to the caution, Gordonwas attempting tomake his final pit stop of the race, but missed the pitentrance when he wasblocked by Tony Stewart.During the caution, Hamlin took two tires only and exited thepits first toreclaim the lead. NASCAR penalized Burton after he ranover his air hose,
aion RMT.Hamlin, who led 104 of 367 laps, finished nearly two secondsahead of polesitter Jamie McMurray for his third win in the last sixSprint Cup races."I think we have a great shot to win there," said Hamlin, who iscurrently17th in points,
ro RMT. "We won there last year. This is what we needwith our team isto get back on track."Hamlin also won last year's Nationwide race at Darlington,claiming his firstweekend sweep in NASCAR. He became the first driverto win both races here onthe same weekend since Mark Martin did it in September1993.Darlington is 1.366 miles in length and has a unique egg-shapedlayout, makingit one of NASCAR's most challenging tracks.Prior to it being repaved in timefor the May 2008 races, Darlington's rough, sandy surfacemade havoc for teamsas far as tire management. The track's surface remains smoothand quitespeedy."The track is very narrow on entries and exits, so you're alwaystrying toround the place as much as you can," Busch said. "You can'treally run side-by-side there. Anytime you get alongside somebody, youbasically have to letthem go. It's a very big give-and-take type track. It's a lotharder to passnow with the fresh asphalt than what it used to be."Busch won the '08 race at Darlington.Every driver at one time or another has earned a "DarlingtonStripe," a markleft on the car when it rubs against the track's outerwall."It's just one of those tracks where you can be riding around byyourself butmake the slightest little bobble and end up in the wall,"seven-timeDarlington race winner Jeff Gordon said. "We've seen it eatup race cars andcompetitors over the years. It's not as tough these days asit used to be whenthe pavement was extremely worn out, because you were reallyon the edge backthen."Forty-seven teams are on the preliminary entry list for theShowtime Southern500.Darlington Raceway has rededicated its media center -- the JimHunter MediaCenter. Hunter, the former vice president of corporatecommunications forNASCAR, passed away last Octoberfollowing a year-long battle with cancer. Hehad also served as the track president of Darlington prior tohis appointmentat NASCAR.A plaque featuring a photo of Hunter has been installed near themain entranceof the track's media center.Nationwide SeriesRoyal Purple 200 - Darlington Raceway - Darlington, SCElliott Sadler is quickly moving up the ladder in the NationwideSeries pointstandings. After posting top-five finishes in five of thelast six races,Sadler has jumped from 12th to second in the rankings. He isjust six pointsbehind leader Justin Allgaier, heading into Friday's race atDarlingtonRaceway.Sadler has not competed in a Nationwide event at Darlingtonsince 1999 when hefinished 24th. He did run in the Camping World Truck Seriesrace here inMarch, placing seventh."We learned in the truck series race a couple of months ago thatthe track isbecoming a lot different since it's starting to age again andtire wear isstarting to be an issue again," Sadler said.Sadler finished a season-best fourth last Friday atRichmond.Denny Hamlin will attempt to win his second consecutiveNationwide race.Hamlin led 199 of 251 laps at Richmond to claim his 11thcareer victory in theseries.Hamlin has started on the pole and won in his last threeNationwide races atDarlington. He did not compete here from 2008-09.Last year at Darlington, Hamlin held off Kyle Busch in a seriesof late-racerestarts to win. Hamlin and Busch opted not to pit during around of stopsunder caution with less than 35 laps remaining. The finalcaution for anincident involving Matt Kenseth set up a five-lap shootout tothe finish.After missing Richmond, Busch returns to Nationwide competitionat Darlington.Forty-one teams are on the preliminary entry list for the RoyalPurple 200.FORMULA ONETurkish Grand Prix - Istanbul Park - Istanbul, TurkeyThe "European season" on this year's Formula One calendar beginswith thisweekend's Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul.F1 last ran on April 17 in China. McLaren's Lewis Hamiltonovercame a pre-racefueling issue and then passed defending world championSebastian Vettel fromRed Bull with less than five laps remaining to win theChinese Grand Prix.With the win, Hamilton moved to within 21 points of Vettel, whobegan theseason with back-to-back victories in Australia andMalaysia.Hamilton started second and won last year's Turkish GP atIstanbul Park."It's a great modern track, with a real variety of corners,plenty of high-speed stuff and a place where you really feel the benefit ofhaving the carproperly hooked up beneath you," Hamilton said.The Istanbul road course has an unusual anti-clockwise layoutand featuresthe legendary "Turn Eight," which effectively is four lefthand turns allstrung together. It is one of the most challenging corners onthe F1 circuit."For this race, I think we'll be seeing drivers working quitehard to lookafter their tires throughout the race, particularly in TurnEight, which isfast and bumpy," Hamilton said. "It's one of the mostdemanding corners fortires anywhere on the calendar."This is also a circuit where KERS [Kinetic Energy RecoverySystem] Hybridwill be a major benefit. Most of the straights come afterlow-speed corners,so there's plenty of scope for using KERS Hybrid, mostnotably out of turn tenand out of the final corner."The first six Turkish GPs have been won from either the first orsecondstarting positions. Kimi Raikkonen placed his McLaren car onthe pole and wonthe 2005 inaugural race in Istanbul. Felipe Massa won thenext three eventsfrom the top starting position. Jenson Button snapped Massa'sstreak in Turkeyin 2009 when he drove for Brawn GP. Button startedsecond.When F1 ran last season's Turkish GP at the end of May, Vettelsuffered damageto his car during an incident with teammate Mark Webber, thepole sitter, andhad to retire with a 22nd-place finish.Vettel has finished 17th or worse in three of his first fourraces in Turkey.He placed third in the 2009 event."Turkey is a hard track on tires, and it's usually quite hotthere," Vettelsaid. "I especially like the place, as it's where I had myfirst F1 testdrive,
アラド戦記 RMT. Our car should be strong there, but of course we haveto respect ourcompetitors and can never take anything for granted. Peopleare pushing hard,but we are pushing very hard too to maintain ourstrengths."