The end of the racing season isn’t quite in sight at this point of the year, but we’ve entered the phase where looking ahead — to championship races, Chases and Countdowns — is a temptation. Rather than bench racing too much this week, let’s focus instead on what’s going on locally and nationally this weekend.

A staple of local sports — baseball, hockey or auto racing — is the nightly promotion, and this weekend Skagit Speedway has an interesting one going.

Saturday is “Jon &Kate + 8” night at the three-tenths mile banked clay oval in Alger.

Two adults and eight kids get in for $35, with the 410, 360 and Sportsman Sprints, and Outlaw Hornets set to race beginning at 7 p.m.

Although speedway officials promise to keep out the paparazzi and tabloids, they’re not saying if a messy divorce is included in the price of admission. Fans are encouraged to film their own reality-show videos at the speedway and post them on YouTube.

My wife and I have seen the show a few times — neither of us is too fond of either of these people — but I love the idea. Great thinking going on up there in Skagit County.

After an exciting weekend of drifting, Evergreen Speedway returns to oval-track and figure-eight racing this Saturday, with the Super Late Model, Super Figure Eight, Street Stocks, Mini-Stocks, Hornets and Youth Hornets on tap to race beginning at 7 p.m.

Also on Saturday at Evergreen, the Mini-Stock division is conducting a school supply drive to benefit the Sky Valley Food Bank, which hands out more than 700 backpacks to kids of all ages each year.

There will be drop boxes in the infield and the grandstands and the supplies needed include 2-inch three-ring binders, backpacks, wide- and college-ruled paper, No. 2 pencils, glue sticks, colored pencils, pens (black, blue or red), rulers, erasers and crayons.

After a couple weeks off, the NHRA Full Throttle Series returns to action this weekend at Brainerd, Minn., for the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals (qualifying at 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday on ESPN2, final eliminations at 7 p.m. Sunday on ESPN2).

Including this weekend, there are just three events left in the regular season for drivers to make it into the top 10 in points before the Countdown to 1 playoff. The Top Fuel and Pro Stock fields are mostly set, but the bottom three spots in both Funny Car and Pro Stock Motorcycle are in play.

Speaking of countdowns there are just four races left in NASCAR’s Race to the Chase, with the top 12 drivers getting a chance to compete for the Sprint Cup.

Vancouver, Wash., native Greg Biffle is 10th in the standings, followed by Mark Martin and Matt Kenseth.

Sitting in 13th, less than 100 points behind Biffle, is Kyle Busch, with No. 14 Brian Vickers and No. 15 Clint Bowyer another 100 back. Busch’s season has imploded a little earlier this year, but I believe he will make it into the Chase — which means someone else is going to fall out. Most likely in my mind? Kenseth.

Both the Cup and Nationwide series are sharing a title sponsor at Michigan International Speedway this weekend while the trucks take another weekend off. The Cup Carfax 400 is slated for Sunday (11 a.m., ESPN) and the Nationwide Carfax 250 is set for Saturday (noon, ESPN2).

Can anyone tell me how it got to be August already? Pick up the sports page these days and what do you find? Stick-and-ball sports are once again filling what space there is.

As excited as I am about the Seahawks and Bulldogs (Georgia, that is) hitting the gridiron again, let’s not forget that the racing season still has months to run. In fact, NASCAR’s Cup season runs until Nov. 22 — that’s two and a half weeks after the World Series is over and Week 11 of the NFL’s 2009 campaign.

If you’d like to get more auto racing into your reading routine, you can sign up for my twice-weekly e-newsletter, which gives you all the links to racing stories in your inbox. Just drop me a line at swhitmore@heraldnet.com.

After another o-fer weekend of picks, I’m pretty much still right where I was about two months ago. I need to correctly pick a winner in NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle and Evergreen Speedway’s Super Figure Eight division to complete my Grand Slam of Prognostication.

Let’s just dive right in, shall we?

Michigan International Speedway is a special place to me, but also to Roush Fenway Racing. Let’s go with a Roush sweep for the weekend, with Greg Biffle winning Sunday’s Cup race and Carl Edwards taking the Nationwide race on Saturday.

Farther to the west, Brainerd has the Minnesota Military Museum, the Mille Lacs Indian Museum and the Charles Lindbergh History Site for anyone not interested in inhaling the NHRA’s nitro fumes. But for those more interested in going really, really fast, let’s say the winners will be Brandon Bernstein (Top Fuel), Bob Tasca (Funny Car), Jeg Coughlin (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

I’ve taken a vacation from picking local winners, but this weekend I’m going to go out on a limb and say Shane Sawin wins the Super Figure Eight feature.