GEARING UP

What’s new in motor sports heading into this weekend:

1. The major open-wheel circuits return Sunday with the IndyCar Series at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, the Formula One series in Istanbul for the Turkish Grand Prix and the Champ Car World Series holding the Grand Prix of Belgium on the 2.6-mile Zolder circuit for the first time.

2. The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series moves to the 0.533-mile Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway for the Sharpie 500 on Saturday night.

This race could present some unexpected wrinkles. After Kyle Busch won the March race there, the track was given a new concrete surface. The field also will be using NASCAR’s new Car of Tomorrow.

“Nobody really has any laps there” since the resurfacing, said five-time Bristol winner Jeff Gordon. “It’s going to be like going there for the very first time.”

3. Drivers and fans agree that the Bristol track is like no other. It’s a bowl-like speedway with 36-degree banking that’s entirely surrounded by grandstands.

Consider: Bristol is only slightly longer than a half-mile, yet it has a seating capacity of 160,000. The two-mile California Speedway, by contrast, is nearly four times longer -- yet has 68,000 fewer seats.

4. Jeremy McGrath, a seven-time champion in Supercross off-road motorcycle racing, is scheduled to drive a late-model stock car at Irwindale Speedway on Sept. 1 as part of his migration to stock-car racing.

McGrath, 35, is scheduled to drive the No. 57 Chevrolet owned by High Point Racing, which has won the track’s late-model championship the past two years with owner/driver Tim Huddleston and Travis Thirkettle.

5. In local racing Saturday night, late models head the lineups at Perris Auto Speedway, Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino and Irwindale Speedway. The Irwindale track also will have a giant TV screen in the infield so fans can watch the Sharpie 500 in Bristol.

--

james.peltz@latimes.com