Fearless Predictions: Monster Weekend

So much to cover, so little time — what else is new? Let’s get to it, then.

Four more champions will be crowned this Saturday night at the Short Track Championship and Fan Appreciation Nite.

Two champions we already know — John “Cowboy” Carlson has the Super Figure Eight title wrapped up and Seth Funden clinched the Stinger 8 crown — but that doesn’t mean the races are meaningless. Even in the divisions with a champion already decided, there is potential for movement in the top five.

The Street Stocks and Hornet championships will be decided on Saturday, with strong finishes in both heat races and features being important for drivers in contention.

Something else to watch for will be Joselyn “Jaws” Lafleur, last season’s Stinger 8 rookie of the year, racing in three of the four features on Saturday. Besides competing in the Stinger 8 race, Lafleur intends on running in both the Hornet and Street Stock races.

The Chase moves to Dover’s Monster Mile this weekend, bringing the Nationwide Series with it, while the Camping World Truck Series hits Sin City.

Sunday’s Sprint Cup AAA 400 (11 a.m., ABC/Ch. 4) is Round 2 of the 10-race Chase, and right now it looks like the championship is Mark Martin’s to lose. Martin, the top seed with four wins entering the Chase, beat Juan Pablo Montoya in a three-lap shootout last weekend in New Hampshire for his fifth win of the season.

Kyle Busch may not have made it into the Chase, but he’s still the points leader in the Nationwide Series. Busch and the insurance frauds will be racing at Dover on Saturday in the Dover 200 (12:30 p.m., ESPN2). Cousin Carl Edwards and Talladega Cup winner Brad Keselowski and chasing Busch for the title, but unless his second-tier season goes seriously off the rails he’ll still be at the NASCAR championship banquet this year.

Lights! Cameras! Action! Arguably the best racing on a weekly basis has been in the truck series this season, and that should continue in Saturday’s Las Vegas 350 (6:30 p.m, SPEED). With Busch on the East Coast, Ron Hornaday could have an easier time of it, but don’t count out defending winner Mike Skinner, Todd Bodine or No. 2 in points Matt Crafton.

Last weekend’s first-round massacre of Countdown contenders — 12 of 20 drivers in the Nitro divisions ran just once on Sunday at zMax Dragway in Concord, N.C. — probably won’t mean much in the long run, but sure made for an exciting show.

There are five more events in the Countdown to 1, starting with this weekend’s O’Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals (qualifying 9:15 p.m. Saturday; eliminations 4 p.m. Sunday; all on ESPN2) at Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas.

Isn’t that a mouthful of an event name? Let’s just go with “Fall Nationals” from now on, shall we?

I would expect less turmoil in the standings this week as the “haves” recover from their upset stomachs. And hopefully ESPN2 won’t feed viewers a steady diet of John Force-Tony Pedergon clips, too.

I’ve been watching the developments in the Renault race-fixing scandal with amusement but not surprise. There is so much money involved in Formula One, it is such a hugely popular series everywhere else in the world, that I imagine the idea seemed good — at the time — to the folks at Renault as they were preparing for last year’s Singapore GP.

Of course, the problem with a secret like that is just too big to be kept quiet, especially after the team summarily fired the driver who knew the dirt: Nelson Piquet Jr. Ready, fire, aim.

This Sunday all eyes will be on Renault and defending winner Fernando Alonzo as Formula One returns to the Far East for the Singapore Grand Prix (5 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. tape replay, SPEED). That’s a bit of a shame, because there is a pretty good battle going on for the championship.

In the last race at Monza, Jenson Button rebounded from a string of poor finishes to climb the podium as runner-up to his Brawn GP teammate, Rubens Barrichello. With four races left including Singapore, Button has a 14-point lead over Barichello, and No. 3 Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull is 26 points back.

Last weekend was good and bad for me, pick-wise. I correctly guessed Kyle Busch would win the Truck race, Scott Dixon would finish first in the IndyCar race in Japan, and Mike Edwards would take Wally for Pro Stock at the NHRA Carolinas Nationals.

But, I also stepped out and said some drivers/teams would do poorly in the NHRA and NASCAR playoffs, and that most certainly did not happen (See: Robert Hight winning the NHRA Top Fuel event)

This is my last chance to complete the Grand Slam of Prognostication, because the final Super Figure Eight race of the season is on Saturday at Evergreen Speedway. That’s the only division I haven’t guessed right so far, but I’ll play it safe and say John Carlson finishes my slate.

For NASCAR, I’m going to go with Jeff Gordon for the Cup race at Dover and Matt Kenseth moonlighting in the Nationwide event. For the Trucks, I like two-time and defending winner Mike Skinner.

I’m thinking order returns to the topsy-turvy world of drag racing this weekend in Texas, so let’s say Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), Ron Capps (Funny Car), Jason Line (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) hoist some Wallys.

In Singapore, I’m going with Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari, who has reportedly agreed to remain with the team through the 2010 season.