Sprint CupRace: Pepsi 500 When: Sunday, 3:15 p.m. Where: Auto Club Speedway (Fontana, Calif.) Qualifying: Friday, 6:30 p.m., SPEED Track length: 2 miles Race distance: 500 miles (250 laps) Last year’s winner: Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet Qualifying record: Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 188.425 mph (Feb. 25, 2005) Race record: Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 155.012 mph (June 22, 1997) On the air: TV—ABC; radio—WRVA (1140) Nationwide Race: Copart 300 Where: Auto Club Speedway When: Saturday TV: ESPN2, 4:30 p.m. Camping World Truck Race: Kroger 200 Where: Martinsville Speedway When: Oct. 24 TV: SPEED, 12:30 p.m.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. Longtime NASCAR fans deride the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship as manufactured drama that has ruined the racing. Try telling that to the five drivers who used Kansas Speedway to gain points on leader Mark Martin. “I think that’s why they made the Chase,“ four-time series champion Jeff Gordon said after chipping 19 points off his deficit Sunday.

When: 2 p.m.
  Where: Kansas Speedway
  Track length : 1.5 miles
  Race distance: 400 miles (267 laps)
  Defending champion: Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet
  Qualifying record: Matt Kenseth, Ford, 180.856 mph (Oct. 8, 2005)
  Race record: Mark Martin, Ford, 137.774 mph (Oct. 9, 2005)

PRICE CHOPPER 400
  (Tomorrow at Kansas City, Kan.)
  (Car no.), Make  Speed
  1. (5) Mark Martin, Chevy————————————-175.758
  2. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevy———————————-175.279
  3. (25) Brad Keselowski, Chevy————————————-175.205
  4. (26) Jamie McMurray, Ford————————————-175.200

KANSAS CITY, Kan.—Mark Martin has another pole in his race to win the Chase. Martin turned a lap of 175.758 mph on a cool, windy day on the 1.5-mile oval at Kansas Speedway, earning his career-best seventh pole of the season. The 50-year-old will start on the front row with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in tomorrow’s Price Chopper 400, the third of 10 races in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. Oh boy, another easy victory for Jimmie Johnson. Just what NASCAR didn’t need in its bid to use an exciting championship race to spark its sagging ratings. With a runaway win Sunday at Dover International Raceway, Johnson stepped up and practically dared the competition to wrestle the Sprint Cup from his grasp. He’s going for a record fourth straight championship and is prepared to embarrass the 11 drivers in his way.

DOVER, Del.—Gentleman, stop your wagering. The idea of putting $5 to win on the No. 5 has gone bust at Dover. This could have been the weekend when gamblers and sports fans wagered on the NASCAR race at the Dover Downs casino and walked over to the Dover International Speedway to see if they picked a winner or should tear up their ticket.

With his win last week, Mark Martin joined Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson as the only active drivers with at least 40 victories. DOVER, Del. The oldest driver in Sprint Cup happens to be the best one in the sport this season. He’s won more races than Tony Stewart. Has more poles than Jimmie Johnson. He has earned more respect than any other driver in the garage and is the sentimental favorite to win his first Cup title.

DOVER, Del.—Jimmie Johnson will go for the Dover sweep from the pole. Johnson turned a lap of 157.356 mph yesterday at Dover International Speedway and will start first for only the second time this season. He led a career-high 298 laps in May to win at the Monster Mile. “A pole today will make the start of the weekend much better and give us a lot of direction and momentum moving into (Sunday),“ Johnson said. “It does carry you, and there is an aspect of momentum. But at the same time, you’ve got to go out and perform.“

All four of Jeff Gordon’s Cup championships came before the Chase playoff was instituted in 2004. “Do I wish that we had the old points system? Sort of,“ Gordon said. DOVER, Del. His career championship count has been stuck on four since 2001. Jeff Gordon might as well have reset that number to zero since the inception of Cup’s playoff system.

LOUDON, N.H. It’s been seven years since Mark Martin legitimately challenged for the championship. Now he’s got his best shot at the title that’s so painfully eluded him over 27 years in NASCAR. He’ll only have to deal with Jimmie Johnson. And Jeff Gordon. And Tony Stewart. Oh, don’t forget Denny Hamlin. Or Juan Pablo Montoya.

NEW YORK—Three-time defending NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson’s whirlwind day came to a close when four Knicks City Dancers presented him with a cake to celebrate his 34th birthday. In between, there was a pie-throwing contest at “Live! with Regis and Kelly,“ fashion advice from Brian Vickers to Kurt Busch, and Ryan Newman’s attempt to toss popcorn across a room and into someone’s open mouth.

Denny Hamlin jumped out of his car, removed his helmet, pumped his fists a few times and made a beeline across the track to pick up the checkered flag. After jogging back to his car, which he left parked at the bottom of the track, Hamlin climbed back in and did a burnout in front of adoring fans. Finally, after so many hometown heartaches at Richmond International Raceway, Hamlin could crow.

Denny Hamlin continued to run up his laps-led meter at Richmond International Raceway in the early going last night. Hamlin, a former Chesterfield resident, started third. He passed Martin Truex Jr. on the first lap, then took the lead from pole-sitter Mark Martin on Lap 3. Hamlin was so dominant that he lapped Max Papis on Lap 31. Shortly after passing Papis, Hamlin opened a 1.31-second lead.

The focus was on the cars from Joe Gibbs Racing from the beginning at Richmond International Raceway last night. Former Chesterfield resident Denny Hamlin led almost from the beginning and won, his second victory of the season and his first home-track Sprint Cup triumph. Hamlin started in the third position. He passed Martin Truex Jr. on the first lap, then took the lead from pole-sitter Mark Martin on Lap 3.