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With the dust, recriminations and racing from the Glen in the rear-view, the teams and stars of the IndyCar Series now go from one of the more scenic spots on the calendar to one of the more interesting........Music City USA, a/k/a Nashville, Tennessee, state capitol and host of round 11 of the 2007 IndyCar Series season, the Firestone Indy 200 at the nearby Nashville Superspeedway.

This track is a challenging beast for drivers and teams for two principle reasons..........
--1: at 1.33 miles, techincally the track is considered a "superspeedway" but it drives like a cross btwn. Milwaukee and Texas
--2: with an abrasive concrete surface, tires wear faster, meaning that Firestone has to bring its' hardest compounds to the track(meaning that teams who can get a handle on mechanical grip often do better than those who don't)

For those who find the track's secrets, there is a great benefit at the end.........since 2001, the winner of the race has received one of the most unique trophies in auto racing(next to the Borg-Warner Trophy at Indy, of course! ), a custom Gibson guitar to the winner.

Here is the event schedule for the Firestone Indy 200........................
Practice Session #1....................11 am-1 pm, 13 July 2007
Practice Session #2....................2:30-4:30 pm, 13 July 2007
Qualifying Session......................6:15 pm, 13 July 2007
Race.........................................7:30 pm, 14 July 2007
(all times U.S. EDT; +1 hr. U.S. CDT/-4 hrs GMT)

Broadcast partners.............
a}Television--ESPN
b}Domestic AM Radio--IMS Radio Network
c}Domestic Satellite--XM Satellite Radio Ch. 144, XM Sports Nation and Ch. 145, IndyCar Racing
d}International simulcast--United States Armed Forces Network

Event: Firestone Indy 200, round 11 of the 2007 IndyCar Series season
When: 7:30 pm, 14 July 2007
Where: Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn.

Race Distance: 200 laps, 266 miles
Track Distance: 1.33-mile concrete oval*
*--one of two concrete ovals on the schedule; the other is the Milwaukee Mile in W. Allis, Wisc.

Previous Winners............
2001--Buddy Lazier
2002--Alex Barron
2003--Gil de Ferran
2004--Tony Kanaan
2005--Dario Franchitti
2006--Scott Dixon

Track facts................
Frontstretch--2,494 feet banked at 9 degrees
Backstretch--2,203 feet banked at 6 degrees
Turns banked at 14 degrees
Track width--55 feet from outside wall to (asphalt) track apron

Entry List.......................................
Tomas Scheckter, #2 Indy Vision on Joost
Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske
Vitor Meira, #4 Delphi
Sarah Fisher, #5 AAMCO Transmissions
Sam Hornish, Jr., #6 Team Penske
Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola
Scott Sharp, #8 Patron Tequila
Scott Dixon, #9 Energizer Lithium
Dan Wheldon, #10 Target
Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11
Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply Co.
Buddy Rice, #15 RollCoater/Racing for Kids
Jeff Simmons, #17 Ethanol
Ed Carpenter, #20 Hitachi Power Tools
A.J. Foyt, IV, #22 Indy Vision on Joost
(R)Milka Duno, #23 CITGO
Marco Andretti, #26 NYSE Group
Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club/Vonage
Kosuke Matsuura, #55 Panasonic/Autobacs

Here are some of the storylines going into this weekend's race in Music City USA...............

~~It's a whole new concrete jungle.......while there are two concrete ovals on the calendar(Milwaukee and Nashville), the two tracks are completely different animals; the Mile's billiard-smooth while Nashville is to racetires what a coarse grinder is to a block of cheese. Forget about horsepower; the teams that can figure out the handling setups here will do well

~~Can he continue to lead? Dario Franchitti continues to lead the points but with the resurgent Scott Dixon on his heels, can the Scotsman win at his adopted home track or will his 47-pt lead over the Kiwi shrink some more?

~~Local links........besides Franchitti, who resides in the Nashville area, the race is a home event for Firestone, whose American HQ's are located in Music City; expect thousands of Firestone employees, family and friends to be at the track over the weekend

Nashville Practice Session #1 top-5..............

1st} Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing.............................22.947 sec/203.950 mph
2nd} Dan Wheldon, Target/Ganassi Racing..........................23.049 sec/203.047 mph
3rd} Danica Patrick, Andretti-Green Racing.........................23.075 sec/202.813 mph
4th} Dario Franchitti, Andretti-Green Racing........................23.084 sec/202.737 mph
5th} Marco Andretti, Andretti-Green Racing.........................23.090 sec/202.689 mph

Nashville Practice Session #2 top-5......................

1st} Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing................................22.889 sec/204.463 mph
2nd} Danica Patrick, Andretti-Green Racing............................22.952 sec/203.908 mph
3rd} Dario Franchitti, Andretti-Green Racing...........................22.993 sec/203.543 mph
4th} Dan Wheldon, Target/Ganassi Racing..............................23.002 sec/203.460 mph
5th} Marco Andretti, Andretti-Green Racing.............................23.027 sec/203.237 mph

Qualifying Order for the Firestone Indy 200..................

(by group)
Group 1--Franchitti, Castroneves, Andretti, Rice, Simmons, Fisher, Kanaan, Foyt, IV., Dixon
Group 2--Wheldon, Sharp, Carpenter, Patrick, Matsuura, Manning, Meira, Scheckter, Hornish, Jr.

Qualifying Primer..................
--each driver gets one or two warm-up laps before beginning their qualifying run
--each driver gets two laps to set their fastest lap(either lap 1 or lap 2 counts)
--should a team withdraw a driver from the qualifying queue, they can still make a qualifying attempt BUT they will only get one qualifying lap

Qualifying about to begin.................Franchitti will be the first out; Team Penske has pulled the #3 of Castroneves out of the line, so they will go to the end of the line and will get only one qual. lap

Franchitti was 3rd fastest on the combined charts; finishes his run w/a time of 22.956 sec

Marco Andretti now heading out on-track..........

Andretti was 5th fastest on the combined charts; finished 5th at the Glen.....although out of the championship hunt, watch out for him come racetime tomorrow night

1st lap, 23.021 sec; running along the low-side of the track
2nd lap, 23.010 sec; provisionally P2

Buddy Rice coming up to speed; 15th on the combined charts..has driven consistently for Dreyer & Reinbold the past few races

1st lap.......23.316 sec
2nd lap faster, 23.314 sec, provisionally P3

Jeff Simmons and the #17 Ethanol entry now on-track.......ran in the top-10 in both sessions

One thing everyone's commenting on is how much more bumpy the track surface is from past years.......

1st lap, 23.116 sec, knocks Rice from P3
2nd lap, 23.019 sec, provisionally P3

Rice's DRR teammate, Sarah Fisher, perparing for her qualifying run; Fisher was 16th on the combined charts, just over 200 mph

Rice in his post-qual. interview, mentioned that DRR's short-oval package is getting better w/each race; unlike past years, they are getting better each race

1st lap, 23.340 sec, provisionally P5
2nd lap, 23.326 sec, provisionally P5; appeared to be climbing the hill going through turns 3-4 on each qual. lap

Tony Kanaan coming up to speed; 6th on the combined charts following the two afternoon practices

1st lap, 22.973 sec, provisionally P2
2nd lap, 22.969 sec, provisionally P2

provisional top-5 at the moment
Dixon, Franchitti, Kanaan, Andretti and Simmons

Dixon now the provisional polesitter w/a speed of 204.414 sec