GEARING UP

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

1) After winning the last four NASCAR Nextel Cup races, Jimmie Johnson heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway focused on finishing 18th or better to clinch his second straight championship.

Johnson has never won on the 1.5-mile oval just south of Miami. But if the El Cajon native does win again, he would be the first Cup driver to win five straight races since Richard Petty in 1971. And it would be Johnson’s 11th win of the season, the most since Jeff Gordon won 13 in 1998.

2) Johnson leads Gordon, his teammate, by 86 points in the title chase, a lead even Gordon conceded is probably too big to overcome.

But Gordon should not be counted out, said drag racer Tony Schumacher, who earlier this month made a dramatic comeback at the final race in Pomona to win his fifth NHRA Powerade Series title.

“If a champion driver like Jeff Gordon is in mathematical contention, you don’t bet against him,” Schumacher said.

3) Leo and Greg Mansell, sons of former Formula One champion Nigel Mansell, were named drivers for Walker Racing’s cars in the second-tier Atlantic division of the Champ Car World Series next year.

Their first race is scheduled in April on the streets of Long Beach, just before Champ Car’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

4) Irwindale Speedway hosts the 67th annual “Turkey Night Grand Prix” on Thanksgiving night featuring USAC national and western series midget cars.

The race will be 98 laps in honor of the car number used by the late J.C. Agajanian, patriarch of the California family that has been a longtime USAC race organizer.

5) Ending their seasons Saturday night, Perris Auto Speedway has sprint cars and late-model stock cars, Ventura Raceway also has sprint-car racing and Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino features late-model cars.

--

NEXTEL CHASE

Nextel Cup standings through 35 of 36 races:

*--* Driver Points Behind 1. Jimmie Johnson 6,572 -- 2. Jeff Gordon 6,486 86 3. Clint Bowyer 6,331 241 4. Kyle Busch 6,185 387 5. Tony Stewart 6,169 403 6. Matt Kenseth 6,103 469 7. Kevin Harvick 6,093 479 8. Jeff Burton 6,089 483 9. Carl Edwards 6,067 505 10. Kurt Busch 6,056 516 11. Martin Truex Jr. 6,009 563 12. Denny Hamlin 5,973 599 *--*

--

STAT OF THE WEEK

* Former open-wheel star Juan Pablo Montoya, above, holds a 21-point lead over David Ragan for rookie-of-the-year honors in the Nextel Cup Series.

--

LIFE IN THE FAST LANE

Kyle Busch, 22, NASCAR Nextel Cup driver,

on the 2007 season:

‘I’ve grown up a lot, on and off the track. I’ve learned how to deal with things better.’