Toyotas Light Up Speedway

For the first time in its eight years, California Speedway will hold a start-to-finish race under the lights tonight when the NASCAR Craftsman Trucks test the state-of-the-art lighting system with the American Racing Wheels 200.

The race, which will start at 7:30, will be illuminated by 517 light poles that will provide 3 million watts of power per hour over the Fontana speedway.

Toyota, which this season became the first foreign manufacturer to compete in a NASCAR series, dominated qualifying Friday by taking the first four positions.

Travis Kvapil, who won the Craftsman series championship last year driving a Chevrolet Silverado, took the pole with a speed of 178.669 mph in his Toyota Tundra and veteran Mike Skinner was to have started alongside him after qualifying at 177.708, but both will be starting at the rear of the field.

Kvapil later crashed during practice, and Skinner’s truck needed an engine change after qualifying. Kvapil escaped injury when a tire went flat during final practice and his truck hit the wall and he’ll have to drive his backup truck in the race.

Rookie David Reutimann, driving for Darrell Waltrip’s team, and Hank Parker Jr., who won a Busch series race at California Speedway in 2001, will move up from the second to the first row in Toyotas.

Shane Hmiel, winner of last week’s truck race in Las Vegas, was in the fastest Chevrolet, good for fifth, and the fastest Ford was Carl Edwards in sixth. They, too, will move up a row, as will the rest of the field.

Edwards left immediately after qualifying for Talladega, Ala., where he will take part in drafting practice this morning for Sunday’s Nextel Cup race, then fly back for tonight’s race. He will return to Talladega immediately after tonight’s race.

“I think running the Cup race here last month got me a lot of experience that is really going to pay off in the truck,” said Edwards, who finished sixth in the Pop Secret 400, a race that started in daylight and ended under the lights Sept. 5.

“It’s going to be fast racing under the lights, since it’s a temperature-sensitive race track. There will be more grip so it will be harder on the trucks. It will be a real test on the engines and the setups.”

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Dan Wheldon, one of Michael Andretti’s four drivers, had the fastest practice lap for the Indy Racing League cars, hitting 217.225 in his Honda-powered Dallara. Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice was next at 216.94. They will qualify today at 2:30 for Sunday’s Toyota Indy 400.

“It’s always good to be back in sunny California,” said Wheldon, who is Tony Kanaan’s nearest challenger for the IRL championship. “I used to live here, so this is one of my home races, so to speak.”

The IRL season ends Oct. 17 at Texas Motor Speedway.

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Thiago Medeiros, driving for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, will try to win the Menards Infiniti Pro Series championship today by merely starting in the California 100, scheduled for 4:30.

The 22-year-old Brazilian holds a 95-point lead over Paul Dana, a Northwestern graduate with a degree in journalism.

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This Weekend at Fontana

NASCAR Craftsman Trucks

American Racing Wheels 200

* When: Today, race (Speed Channel, 7:30 p.m.).

* Where: California Speedway (D-shaped oval, 2 miles, 14 degrees banking in turns).

* Race distance: 200 miles, 100 laps.

INDY RACING LEAGUE

Toyota Indy 400

* When: Today, qualifying, 2:30 p.m.; Sunday, race (ESPN, noon).

* Where: California Speedway

* Race distance: 400 miles, 200 laps