Fearless predictions: Race Day U.S.A.

If you go by miles alone, this is the biggest weekend of auto racing all season long.

Sunday — Race Day U.S.A., as it was called by someone during the Cup qualifying show on SPEED yesterday — the racing starts with the Indy 500 and wraps up in Charlotte with the Coca Cola 600.

1,100 miles in all.

If you look beyond our shores to include the Monaco Grand Prix, set for very early in the morning our time on Sunday, the total goes up to a shade more than 1,261 miles.

The weekend kicks off on Saturday with a 300-mile Nationwide race in Charlotte and a 125-mile Truck Series race in Mansfield, Ohio.

All told, that makes 1,525 miles of racing nationally and 1,686+ with Monaco.

And I’ll bet Kyle Busch wishes he could run each and every mile.

So what are we waiting for? On to the picks.

In addition to a daily stream of driver features and news from the track (found under the National/International Racing section), the Associated Press moved a nice package of Indy 500 background information, including fast facts and figures (CLICK HERE), a quiz (CLICK HERE) and profiles of all the drivers (CLICK HERE).

I haven’t got a lot of seat time watching these guys and gals run this season, so I’m looking forward to this race.

I’m going to say that in his sixth attempt Tony Kanaan will finally get his name etched on the Borg-Warner Trophy.

I can remember when this race was called the World 600.

It was a pleasant surprise to see Kasey Kahne’s Dodge on the front row alongside Bad Boy Busch and his Toyota.

But this race is a marathon, not a sprint, and I’m still not sold on the Dodge CoT, so I’m afraid the confidence boost Kahne got from winning the All-Star Race won’t put him in Victory Lane on Sunday.

And I’m wondering if the engineers at Joe Gibbs Racing successfully un-did whatever they did to the engines — all three cars had problems either before or during the All-Star Race.

Barring an upset from a lesser team (which is always possible in this race) that leaves a Roush-Fenway Ford or a Chevy from either Richard Childress or Hendrick.

I’m going with Kevin Harvick from RCR to win, but wouldn’t be surprised or unhappy with Greg Biffle or Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Points leader Clint Bowyer has been too quiet in the Nationwide Series the past few races, and he needs a win on Saturday to keep Busch behind him.

I’m going to say Johnny Benson gets the win in a race that is sure to have quite a few yellow flags.

There may be a local connection in this race. Former Daytona 500 winner Derrike Cope of Spanaway is on the NASCAR.com entry list, as is his niece, Angela Cope of Puyallup.

This would be Angela Cope’s Truck Series debut, but NASCAR’s media site does not list either Cope on the qualifying order list. Both would have to qualify on time, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

Also, watch for John Wes Townley in the No. 09 truck. Townley is from Watkinsville, Ga., which is a very small town that I lived in while stationed in nearby Athens.

I always enjoyed watching highlights of this race on “Wide World of Sports” as a kid, the cars winding through streets of Monte Carlo, flashing past the waterfront and then hitting that hairpin curve.

Sticking with the “who’s fastest” theory of picking Formula One races, I’ll say Lewis Hamilton wins.