Labor Day Weekend

Week of Aug. 26, 2013

Labor Day Weekend traditionally marks the end of summer for vacationers and students. It similarly signals for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship contenders that it’s go or go-home time.

Sunday’s AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET ESPN, Performance Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM Radio) is the next-to-final race before this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™ field is set. Three spots in NASCAR’s postseason have been spoken for; nine remain.

Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer and Matt Kenseth have qualified. Up to four competitors could join them late Sunday night although the focus remains on those drivers on the outside looking in – among them former NASCAR Sprint Cup champions Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon, ranked 11th through 13th.

Keselowski is four points out of the top 10. Positions nine through 13 are spanned by just 24 points.

Sam Hornish Jr. remains the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship lead with 10 races remaining in this year’s schedule. Hornish’s lead, however, is anything but comfortable – six points over Austin Dillon with 39 markers covering the current top five-ranked drivers.

None of the top five has been able to win at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which hosts Saturday night’s Great Clips/Grit Chips 300 (7:30 p.m. ET ESPN2).

Two milestones await NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams on Sunday. They’ll compete outside the borders of the continental United States for the first time. The Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park near Toronto marks the first series road race to be held in 13 years.

Four-time series champion Ron Hornaday Jr., a three-time series road-race winner, is the only entered driver to compete in the most recent left-and-right-turn event held in June 2000 at Watkins Glen, N.Y.