This week in motor sports

Friday, March 22, 2002 | 9:19 a.m.

WINSTON CUP Food City 500

Site: Bristol, Tenn.

Schedule: Today, qualifying (Fox Sports Net, noon). Sunday, race (Fox, 9:30 a.m.).

Track: Bristol Motor Speedway (oval, .533 miles, 36 degrees banking in turns).

Race distance: 266.5 miles, 500 laps.

Last race: Sterling Marlin went from worst to first to win the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington. Marlin overcame a pre-race engine problem to become the first driver this season to win two races.

Last year: Elliott Sadler earned his first career victory at the Food City 500 where Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon made contact on the final lap, sending Stewart spinning. Stewart raced around the track on the cooldown lap and hit Gordon's car on pit road. NASCAR fined Stewart $10,000 and placed him on probation until Aug. 29.

Next race: Samsung/RadioShack 500, April 7, Fort Worth, Texas.

Driver standings: 1. Sterling Marlin, 825. 2. Ryan Newman, 726. 3. Matt Kenseth, 682. 4. Rusty Wallace, 677. 5. Jimmie Johnson, 667. 6. Jeff Gordon, 664. 7. Jeff Burton, 650. 8. Ward Burton, 640. 9. Mark Martin, 638. 10. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 621. 11. Kurt Busch, 614.

On the net: www.nascar.com BUSCH GRAND NATIONAL Channellock 250

Site: Bristol, Tenn.

Schedule: Qualifying was this morning; Saturday, race (FX, 9:30 a.m.).

Track: Bristol Motor Speedway.

Race distance: 133.25 miles, 250 laps.

Last race: Jeff Burton became the second Busch driver to lead every lap and first to accomplish the feat at Darlington Raceway at last week's Darlingtonraceway.com 200. He has won from the pole twice this season, including the previous race at Las Vegas.

Last year: Matt Kenseth won the crash-filled Cheez-It 250 in Bristol, Tenn. Kenseth led the final 48 laps at Bristol Motor Speedway and easily beat Tim Fedewa to the finish line for his 12th career Busch victory.

Next race: O'Reilly 300, April 6, Fort Worth, Texas.

Driver standings: 1. Jason Keller, 597. 2. Greg Biffle, 585. 3. Jack Sprague, 584. 4. Kenny Wallace, 558. 5. Michael Waltrip, 556. 6. Jeff Green, 548. 7. Johnny Sauter, 536. 8. Randy LaJoie, 525. 9. Mike McLaughlin, 486. 10. Scott Riggs, 479.

On the net: www.nascar.com INDY RACING LEAGUE California 400

Site: Fontana, Calif.

Schedule: Saturday, qualifying, 11 a.m.; Sunday, race (ESPN, 12:30 p.m.).

Track: California Speedway (d-shaped oval, 2 miles, 14 degrees banking in turns).

Race Distance: 400 miles, 200 laps.

Last race: Helio Castroneves led a one-two Team Penske sweep of the Bombardier ATV Copper World Indy 200, winning by 2.1421 seconds over teammate Gil de Ferran. Castroneves earned his second career IRL win and first since the 2001 Indianapolis 500.

Last year: Inaugural race.

Next race: Nazareth Indy 225, April 21, Nazareth, Pa.

Driver standings: 1. Sam Hornish Jr., 89. 2. Helio Castroneves, 85. 3. Gil de Ferran, 80. 4. Eliseo Salazar, 62. 5. Jeff Ward, 44. 6. Al Unser Jr., 41. 7. Jaques Lazier, 40. 8. Billy Boat, 38. 8. Airton Dare, 38. 10. Felipe Giaffone, 37.

On the net: www.indyracingleague.com CHAMPIONSHIP AUTO RACING TEAMS

Last race: Cristiano Da Matta ran a nearly flawless race to successfully defend his Monterrey Grand Prix title on March 10. The Brazilian now has three straight CART victories.

Next race: Toyota Grand Prix, April 14, Long Beach, Calif.

Driver standings: 1. Cristiano da Matta, 21. 2. Dario Franchitti, 16. 3. Christian Fittipaldi, 14. 4. Michel Jourdain Jr., 12. 5. Alex Tagliani, 10. 6. Scott Dixon, 8. 7. Patrick Carpentier, 6. 8. Paul Tracy, 5. 9. Max Papis, 4. 10. Oriol Servia, 3.

On the net: www.cart.com NASCAR TRUCKS

Last race: Ted Musgrave passed Robert Pressley with 12 laps to go, then held him off to win the Craftsman Anniversary 200 at Darlington Raceway.

Next race: Advance Auto Parts 250, April 13, Martinsville, Va.

Driver standings: 1. Robert Pressley, 360. 2. Ted Musgrave, 360. 3. Brian Rose, 317. 4. David Starr, 301.

5. Carlos Contreras, 259. 6. Lance Norick, 258. 7. Travis Kvapil, 254. 8. Rick Crawford, 246. 9. Jason Small, 238. 10. Jon Wood, 238.

On the net: www.nascar.com FORMULA ONE

Last race: Ralf Schumacher broke his brother Michael's Malaysian Grand Prix winning streak, leading a 1-2 finish for Williams-BMW that challenged Ferrari's grip on Formula One.

Next race: Brazilian Grand Prix, March 31, Sao Paulo.

Driver standings: 1. Michael Schumacher, 14. 2. Juan Pablo Montoya, 12. 3. Ralf Schumacher, 10. 4. Kimi Raikkonen, 4. 5. Eddie Irvine, 3. Jenson Button, 3. 7. Mark Webber, 2. Nick Heidfeld. 2. 9. Mika Salo, 1. Felipe Massa. 1.

On the net: www.formula1.com NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION

Last event: Larry Dixon grabbed an NHRA national event victory for the second time this season by defeating Top Fuel rival Kenny Bernstein at Gainesville Raceway. Tony Pedregon, Darrell Alderman and Craig Treble won their respective categories.

Next race: SummitRacing.com Nationals, April 7, Las Vegas.

Driver standings: Top Fuel -- 1. Larry Dixon, 333. 2. Kenny Bernstein, 228. 3. Tony Schumacher, 206. 4. Doug Kalitta, 183. 5. Cory McClenathan, 182. Funny Car -- 1. John Force, 250. 2. Del Worsham, 216. 3. Tony Pedregon, 202. 4. Ron Capps, 199. 5. Gary Scelzi, 175. Pro Stock -- 1. George Marnell, 220. 2. Warren Johnson, 219. 3. Jim Yates, 207. 4. Bruce Allen, 202. 5. Tom Hammonds, 187

On the net: http://www.nhra.com